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They said there'll be snow in Christmas
They said there'll be peace on earth
But instead it just kept on raining
A veil of tears for the virgin birth
I remember one Christmas morning
A winter's light and a dismal
This is New Wisco weekend
For WISS, WGBW and Civic Media News
I'm Lisa Hale your host
It's time for our cover story
What could be described as the worst day of someone's life
There's a group of volunteers in Winnebago and Outagami counties
that are there to help
These dedicated, compassionate people
come with a warm shoulder
and information and resources to help
They're called the victim crisis response team
Cheryl Dingman is their volunteer coordinator
and community outreach manager
and she joins us on New Wisco weekend
Hi, how you doing?
I'm good, how are you?
I'm doing very well
Tell me what it is exactly that you guys do
Sure, so we are also known as VCRs
So that might make it a little bit easier for people to understand who we are
But law enforcement gets unseen
and then they will determine and ask the victims
if they would like some extra support
They have to have that permission from them in order to pay us out
So then they will tell this batch, dispatch pages us out
So we all get a phone call and we all get a text message
and then whoever's on call
they are the ones that respond
So what do you do when you respond to an incident?
So when we respond and I'll use
let's use domestic violence as an example
So when we get unseen
the first thing is the officers will give us a little brief synopsis
of what the situation was
they will let us know if the offender is in custody or not in custody
or if they're going to bail out
because that all plays a part in how long we're going to be unseen
and how quickly we need to get right down to the
gist of everything that needs to be dealt with
So we have a bunch of resources that we use
we have different domestic violence shelters that we refer to
depending on the counties
and we cover all of them in a bagel, all of them out of gamey
and then we have we talk about like the power and control
we talk about if there's children unseen
we talk about the effects of domestic violence
and the long-term effects that it can have
We go through all of those different things
just to help them understand that
number one they're not alone in this
number two there are ways to get out of it
but a lot of them feel so stuck that they can't get out of it
so our job and our goal is to support them
in helping them make those decisions
we can't tell them what to do but we can lay them out in front of them
and then help guide them in the best way that potentially could help them
The VCR is not just a group of say therapists
that go to crisis situations
these are people who come with resources and actual help
correct so I have a team of about I think we're at 48 volunteers right now
so myself and my director are the only two paid positions
and then I am the volunteer coordinator and the community outreach manager
and I do all the training for the volunteers
I do all the interviewing for the volunteers
and then I will give them everything that they need to go out
and serve these people in our community
What are the types of resources that you share with people
like let's say since our theme this week is finding closure
one of the things that you have to find closure from is a death
so let's say that there was a sudden death
and you know the police are there and all this
what are some of the things that you guys would do
So I think in the moment people don't really realize
when that sudden death happens everything that's going to come after that
and because you're in that moment of flight or freeze
their mind goes into survival mode
the adrenaline takes over they sit there and they try to just take in that moment
so some of the things that will leave
let's just say I'll use an example of
let's say grandma passed away in her sleep
that could be a sudden death to somebody
whereas maybe a suicide could be a sudden death for somebody else
but we are leaving a list of all the funeral homes and all the counties that we serve
we cannot recommend a funeral home
we just give them a list and let them do their homework
so it has all the phone numbers all of the addresses
we have a list of what to do next
and that list is actually four pages long
people don't realize how much needs to happen
but there's no timeline on it
it's just oh I never thought that I needed to contact the Social Security Office
oh I didn't realize that the banks had all of this information
I didn't realize I needed to contact life insurance
and sometimes maybe you need an attorney
maybe you need to figure out what all has to go into the obituary
there's a list of all these things that we put on this on this form
that we give them and it's just called what to do next
I really like that because you know as somebody who has gone through stuff like that
you sit there and you're like frozen
but as you said it's flight or freeze
and it's what do I do?
who do I call?
I don't know what's next
this is something that's never happened to me before
so what are the types of events that the VCR does come out to?
we actually go to every and anything that you can imagine
so we'll have what we call a PNB which is a pulsus number either
so that could just be somebody passing away in their sleep
it could be an overdose
it could be a suicide
it could be domestic violence
it could be a death notification
law enforcement will bring us with them to notify a family of someone's death
maybe somebody passed away in another state
and then now the family lives here
then they will reach out and say can you go with us
because while they're the ones that actually deliver that news
we are the ones that are there to scoop them up
and help support them
that shocking information
let's just getting dropped into their lap
homicides
I've been on several of those
and those are very long calls
fraud
there's a lot of fraud going on
so while we don't always get paged to that scene
we will deal with it over the phone
so we have different levels of things that we do
our main one is that we get paged out by law enforcement
sometimes the scenes aren't safe for us to be on scene
sometimes we will go to the police station and meet those victims
because that offender has taken off
but it's not safe for us to all be at the house
so we will bring the victim to the police station
sometimes the victim doesn't want anybody on scene in that moment
but yet they opt in for victim services
so we will make that phone call
and get them connected to resources
and we just call those
our crime support resolution
what we do
so we have different levels of different things that we do
and we have different volunteers that just really excel
at those different levels of some don't go on scene
some just do all the phone calls
let me ask you this too
if somebody thought
this is something that I would like to be a part of
I think I can help
I'm empathetic
I'm sympathetic
how would they volunteer with you
on our website which is victimcrisisresponse.org
there is a place to fill out an application on there
we only do trainings twice a year
because they are very in depth
and because this isn't just something
that you wake up and decide you want to do
you really have to feel called
to do something like this
because it's not for everybody
I think a lot of people have this idea
that they want to be able to help people
and I love that about people
but once you get into the crux of it
and what it all entails
then they think
ooh I didn't know that it was going to be this in depth
I didn't know that I was going to see this
or experience that
or the lasting impact
it can have on you after you leave that call
there are several
calls I'll just speak for myself
that I have been on
that I'll never forget
they have a lasting impact
I've had to kind of take some time
to process it
to talk to somebody about it
so I'm really big
on the self-care of my team
because
what we walk into
it's
TV has fantasized
what trauma really is
and when you walk into somebody's home
and maybe
their loved one has
died by suicide
and that's the last thing they saw
that that doesn't go away
and when you sit with somebody
in that and you allow them
and give them a safe place
to grieve, to show their emotions
to just let down their
guard
and just really sit in that grief
of what they've just lost
it has a lasting impact
so not everybody can do this job
and these are volunteers
like these people are giving up their time
their days off to go out
and help serve somebody else
so a lot of my volunteers
have regular day jobs
or jobs in general
and on their time off
or when they're you know
they could be home with their family
they could be in the warmth of their own home
but they're choosing to get up
at two o'clock in the morning
to deliver the news of another death
there's a lot of death that we deal with
a lot and that cannot be easy
it's not
I'm not going to say that it is
because there are days that
if it starts to get robotic
then you shouldn't be in this anymore
if you start to lose that care
and that empathy
and that desire to want to make a difference
because it just becomes so
regular for you
then you shouldn't be doing this anymore
if you are
or about your job
here in the Fawke cities
that you want to mention that we haven't touched on
I think probably the one thing I want to let people know is that we are
a 501c3 organization
our funding to get cut
big-time through the government
so we have had to really find
other resources to help keep this going
but
the
one of my team and the desire to
want to go out and make a difference in the community
and to be able to
leave a lasting impact
I mean that's what keeps us going
I mean people recognize it
they see it
they throw fundraisers for us
of families that we've helped in the past
they've reached out and said we want to keep doing this every year for you
that's
I would say
I don't think people realize
that you have this group of volunteers
that are literally just giving
everything that they have
and they're not getting paid to go out and help other people
that
it's amazing
a lot of people will say that we are
like unsung heroes
is what they call us
and I love that for my team
I love that people recognize it
and we're quiet
people don't even know that we exist
because we are an extension of law enforcement
they're the ones who pay us out
and they follow them in
they introduce us
we kind of free up them
so they can do their investigation
and then we will sit with that family
and kind of keep them occupied
and do what we need to do
so that they can do what they need to do
Where does somebody go for more information
or to help you?
I would say our website
the victimcarsisresponse.org
and there's a place to donate
on there if you choose to donate
if you choose to donate
a lot of our questions
about anything
and then the phone numbers are listed on there as well
Sheryl Dingman
thank you very much for joining us
thanks for having me
I really appreciate it
it is the holiday season
and you may be asking yourself
why is the theme of new whisko weekend this week finding closure?
well this is the last new whisko weekend for a while at least at civic media
this has been one of the most rewarding shows I've ever been a part of
and I hope that you have enjoyed each and every issue we've put together
each theme and show has been a labor of love to share with you the good things in Northeast Wisconsin
and a look at the news in our state
this is not goodbye
it's see you later
coming up on new whisko weekend
doctors and recital in our musical segment
