{"id":22348,"date":"2025-05-09T16:41:35","date_gmt":"2025-05-09T16:41:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-county-crisis-team-honored-as-red-cross-community-champion\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T04:12:50","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:12:50","slug":"montezuma-county-crisis-team-honored-as-red-cross-community-champion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-county-crisis-team-honored-as-red-cross-community-champion\/","title":{"rendered":"Montezuma County crisis team honored as Red Cross community champion"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The
The CIP Team in Denver. (From left to right: Dante Downey, Charlee Sharp, Quinn Deffenbaugh and Matt Teague.) EMT Brant Kreun was unable to attend. (Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

A crisis intervention program that serves Montezuma County was recognized for its dedication and community service at a statewide ceremony on Saturday, May 3.<\/p>\n

Our local Community Intervention Program, minus one member, traveled to Denver for the 10th annual Red Cross Rocky Mountain Heroes.<\/p>\n

It was one of 10 statewide\u201d community champions\u201d honored at the event, and six others were honored with lifesaving awards, said Ann Vastmans, a Red Cross spokesperson.<\/p>\n

Vastmans said the event is a fundraiser, but ultimately aims to \u201crecognize people making a difference in the community \u2026 and people that embody Red Cross\u2019s mission.\u201d<\/p>\n

That mission, as stated on the American Red Cross website, <\/a>centers on preventing and alleviating \u201chuman suffering in the face of emergencies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe work CIP does is rare,\u201d she said. \u201cThere aren\u2019t many groups or programs like them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team responds to noncriminal calls, in lieu of law enforcement, after 911 dispatches them. CIP has behavioral health clinicians, EMTs and a certified addiction specialist on staff.<\/p>\n

CIP helps \u201caddress immediate needs and connect individuals with ongoing resources,\u201d a news release announcing the achievement reads.<\/p>\n

It \u201chas become a trusted resource and a lifeline for many in the community,\u201d the news release said.<\/p>\n

Quinn Deffenbaugh, an EMT on the CIP team, said that a lot of programs partner with law enforcement, but CIP is unique in that it partners with EMTs.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnecdotally, hearing from law enforcement, EMS, the fire protection district, it\u2019s a big burden off their day\u201d having CIP responding to calls, said Haley Leonard-Saunders, the director of communications at Axis Health System.<\/p>\n

Since 2021, the team has responded 2,728 calls for service.<\/p>\n

Charlee Sharp, a certified addiction specialist on the team, said it was \u201coverwhelming\u201d to be recognized in Denver on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a good way,\u201d added Dante Downey, a peer support specialist on the CIP team. \u201cIt shows we\u2019re doing the right thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was reinforcement; it showed what we\u2019re doing is having impact,\u201d said Deffenbaugh.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am so blessed to be part of this team and honored to serve our community in such a meaningful way,\u201d said Sharp.<\/p>\n

She added, \u201cI really hope we can continue to find a way to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n

The CIP program is funded through June, and is still in search of sustainable funding.<\/p>\n

Leonard-Saunders said that community partners, the towns and the LOR Foundation have been helpful and are \u201cdigging\u201d for grants and funding, \u201cbut it\u2019s hard with the state and federal budgets.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in an unmarked vehicle and fairly anonymous, which can be good,\u201d Deffenbaugh said. \u201cBut the side effect is that in crunch time, when we need support more than ever, we\u2019re not in the front of people\u2019s minds.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, being under the radar means we\u2019re also under the radar for funding,\u201d said Leonard-Saunders.<\/p>\n

To support the CIP team, you can donate online<\/a> or reach out to Haley Leonard-Saunders via email at hleonard@axishealthsystem.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

honored in Denver, and is accepting donations to continue its work<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-22348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22348"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77673,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22348\/revisions\/77673"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22348"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=22348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}