News & Events

Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Office Critical Incident Debriefing

Description:

Following the death of a deputy sheriff during a high speed chase and shooting incident on Aug. 14, Sunny and I were asked to attend a large CISM debriefing held at the Kalamazoo Expo Center to offer comfort and support to the attendees and CISM team members. We arrived ahead of the prescribed time and oriented ourselves to the space. We assisted with welcoming and directing participants into one of two rooms (those on scene in one debriefing room; support staff and significant others in another debriefing room). We were joined in our efforts by a HOPEful, Kristen Smith and her Golden Retriever, Comet. Sunny and Comet know each other well but we maintained appropriate distance and split our work between the two spaces. Sunny and I attended the debriefing with support staff and significant others and then joined the other one upon specific request of the CISM organizer, Deb Schauer. Upon entry into that space, we stayed on one side of the large circle of attendees while Kristen/Comet stayed on the other. We were thanked several times for our efforts and this exposure/networking led to a deployment request for HOPE from the Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Office [KCSO] for the funeral and memorial for the fallen deputy, Ryan Proxmire, this Sunday, Aug. 22.

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