Volunteers ease emotional burdens of victims

Thursday, Jan. 23, 2003 | 10:09 a.m.

After a 3-year-old girl died from stab wounds at 5:26 a.m. on Wednesday in the University Medical Center's Trauma Center, her mother asked to see her daughter one last time.

A volunteer with the Trauma Intervention Programs of Southern Nevada -- or TIP -- called the coroner's office and got permission for the mother, Tamara Bergeron, to hold Kristyanna, TIP manager Marian Thomas said.

"After all, the last time she had seen that little girl was when she was put on a helicopter (in Mesquite)," Thomas said.

The child was the victim of a stabbing in a Mesquite RV park next to the CasaBlanca resort that left her sister, Brittney, 10, in critical condition with multiple wounds.

For nine years TIP volunteers have worked with victims' families, police and medical officials to ease tragic impacts for everyone.

"We do emotional first aid," said Thomas, who is on call 24 hours.

The injured girl was kept in the UMC Pediatric Intensive Care Unit through Wednesday night, UMC spokesman Rick Plummer said. Doctors expect the child to survive.

The volunteer who stayed with the mother has been with TIP for four years and was nearing the end of her 12-hour shift after starting at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.

"She's been on a lot of baby calls before, but this was so full of rage, so unusual," Thomas said, adding that volunteers can receive counseling for traumatic cases.

After the distraught mother had seen her child, another volunteer persuaded the woman to hand her bloody clothes, even her shoes, to Metro's crime scene investigators.

"She did not want to give them up," Thomas said.

The volunteer had stopped and picked up extra clothes and a pair of shoes, Thomas said, then explained to the mother that police might find a hair, a fiber or another piece of evidence on her clothes.

TIP has about 36 volunteers who receive 55 hours of training and three hours of mandatory continuing education every month. They serve three 12-hour shifts each month.

A new chapter of TIP will open in Laughlin next month.

"I still call us the best-kept secret in town," Thomas said. "It seems nobody knows we're here until they need us."