LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — From car crashes to house fires and the many homicides that happen across Southern Nevada every year, there's a group of volunteers who've pledged to help affected people called the Trauma Intervention Project.
CEO Jill Roberts said 2022 marked a record year for their services as they were called to assist emergency responders 1,911 times.
Roberts said the team has responded to 59 calls, including five homicides, in the first 11 days of 2023 alone.
"The type of person who wants to do this just wants to give back," she said at a banquet recognizing the volunteer's hard work.
Roberts said local first responders will bring TIP field crews on the scene to provide immediate support services for victims, their families, witnesses, and more.
The process, she said, begins with their dispatchers like Frankie Ridlen.
"Unfortunately, not a lot of people know about [TIP] unless it's some kind of tragedy," Ridlen said, "but we're there during the deaths or notifications. Any kind of traumatic experience."
Volunteers like Jenny Boeve said visiting scenes and hearing victims' stories can be difficult, but helping people at their lowest has felt like the right thing to do.
"Being able to give that support that they need, especially when they don't have family here, it's an unbelievable feeling to be with them," Boeve said.
She said TIPS training has even helped her in her personal life.
Boeve said her husband, a Henderson Police Officer, has benefited from the communication techniques she learned at TIPS Training Camp.
"If you help heal the first responder, you help heal the community," she said.
Roberts said the increased call load has put pressure on the 70 volunteers currently working with TIPS, and she called on anyone who has a big heart and the will to serve the community to lend a hand.
"When they're on these scenes, they're working with people who are in their worst moments, who don't know where the ground is underneath them, and they're able to help them find their footing," she said.
Potential donors or volunteers can apply through the TIP website.
Roberts said a TIP Training Camp has been scheduled for the coming Spring.
