Vicki and Daniel Bell were longtime friends with another husband and wife couple. One day in March they received a call from the wife saying her husband had died in his sleep — it was a sudden, unexpected loss.

When the Bells got to her house, there were medics and a medical examiner. “I just didn’t know what to do,” Vicki Bell says of the scene at her friend’s house. 

Right after the 911 call, Bridget Byfield, the director of Lane County’s Trauma Intervention Program (TIP), came to the house. Vicki recognized TIP — her sister had told her about it, since she works with many clients as a hairdresser. 

TIP is a national nonprofit organization founded in 1985 with 15 affiliates serving over 250 cities across the U.S. Specially trained volunteers respond to traumatic incidents to support survivors and families in the first few hours following a tragedy. The Lane County chapter launched in April 2023, and responds to an average of 15 to 20 calls a month.

TIP hosts the Heroes with Heart Award dinner on August 16 to honor heroes in the community who respond to traumatic experiences. The nominees include police officers, sheriff’s deputies, a member of White Bird’s CAHOOTS and more.

Byfield hopes to honor and show gratitude to people who don’t get in the news but are making a big impact on the community. “They show sensitivity and compassion day to day,” Byfield says. 

Tracy Tesler, a volunteer for TIP, heard of the program coming to Lane County and joined the initial training class in March 2023. The training is a total of 55 hours on evenings and weekends in a two-week period. She says participants come from a variety of backgrounds and are compassionate, patient and flexible. 

 Tesler says she has always been interested in getting involved in supporting people in need. She has a full-time job as a dentist in Springfield and volunteers her time to the program. 

“It is different from firefighting that requires physical risks,” she says. TIP volunteers are not counselors and are different from CAHOOTS. “We are just able to help them not feel alone,” Tesler says. She is “finding it to be very satisfying work, dealing with many different types of people, in very difficult days for them.”

TIP service operates 24-7, and volunteers take three 12-hour shifts a month to make that happen. Tesler is now a team lead, in which she contributes another 10 shifts a month. There are 57 TIP volunteers in Lane County, which Byfield says is “an excellent number for an area this size.”

TIP volunteers on call are notified by first responders when they feel they need additional support at a scene. Having TIP volunteers available to support those at the scene enables first responders to leave to go to other calls.

“We don’t get a warm welcome sometimes; we are just there to support them,” Tesler says. She says volunteers are trained to observe the situation to see how they can be of the most help. TIP volunteers tend to check in with survivors and others at the scene, too, because Tesler says those folks often need support and someone to talk to.

Bell says Byfield was “really wonderful” as she stayed at the house for a while. “She was right there,” she says. Byfield suggested Bell and the wife go take a walk when the funeral home showed up — to have some space in an overwhelming situation. Byfield also followed up with the wife and Bell to make sure they didn’t need anything a few days later.

The TIP dinner event includes a silent auction, which is the organization’s biggest fundraiser of the year.  There will also be a wine pull, raffles, a 50/50 (heads or tails) game and a madhouse dessert dash. 

“I think TIP is incredibly valuable,” Vicki says.  

 Heroes with Heart Awards Dinner is from 5:30 pm to 8 pm, Saturday, August 16, at Veterans Memorial Building, 1626 Willamette Street. Tickets are $60 for an individual dinner or $450 for a table of eight. You can also donate to support the program in Lane County at TIPLaneCounty.org/donate.

This story has been updated.