Since being elected to Huntsville town council in the fall of 2006, Mary Jane Fletcher has become very involved in the municipal community.

She chairs three committees of council, as well as the local chapter of Communities in Bloom, and is the council liaison with the Downtown BIA.

But before the hustle and bustle of a town councillor, Fletcher sought community involvement in a much more intimate fashion.

For the past four years Fletcher has been a volunteer with Muskoka Victim Services, a district-wide program of volunteers who assist victims of crime and tragic events.

Now in its 10th year serving Muskoka, the program aims to respond to police-identified emergencies 24 hours a day, seven days a week, providing crisis assistance, practical support and community services referrals to victims.

Fletcher signed up for the program along with two friends because she felt her work life wasn’t giving her the community involvement she desired. She explained that as a volunteer, she is asked to commit to four 12-hour shifts of her choosing per month.

When on duty, volunteers wear pagers, and if they receive a call, they meet up with their team members and proceed to the emergency in teams of two or three. Fletcher explained that volunteers are never sent into a situation that could be potentially dangerous, and they never work alone.

“It’s very extensive training (to become a volunteer),” she said. “They cover many different issues. Police are involved, there’s ambulance that’s involved, coroners involved, funeral homes, sexual assault people and they take you through many different types of tragic crime that we can get involved in or tragic incidents.”

Her first call was a fire where the victim had lost all her worldly possessions. She said she was extremely nervous going out, but added the training gives you all the tools to not only do the job, but also to cope with the trauma yourself.

“My big thing is that you go into a situation and you don’t leave it great, because it’s not great, but you leave it better than you found it and you’ve at least left it where you feel that people can cope,” she said.

Fletcher has attended to fires, accidents and domestic assault cases in her time as a volunteer, and says the things that victims need help with vary from case to case.

Sometimes a domestic assault victim needs someone to babysit the children while she gives a statement to police. Other times, family members dealing with a sudden death need help compiling a list of people to call and notify.

“Even if you dial the phone for them, sometimes that’s what it takes to make the phone calls,” she said.

Fletcher said she feels it’s very important that a volunteer helps, but not get too attached to the victims.

“Some of the people that we become involved with, you’re dealing with them at a really critical point (and) they can become attached really easily,” she said. “So you have to really be aware of where their comfort is and how they’re working with you and you have to maintain that separateness.”

Fletcher said a call can last anywhere from two hours to two days, depending on the situation. She said sometimes during a followup visit, the victim decides they need more help and the team is asked to go back or another volunteer team is called in.

In most cases, Fletcher said she is able to put on a sort of armour to help her deal with the tragedies she witnesses, but some incidents hit closer to home than others.

“(There was a) sudden death. A car accident with young children, my children’s age, and you know how easy it is, that you’re one step away (from being where) the people are that you’re tending to,” she said. “(But) the training that you get through this program certainly equips you to deal with it and knowing you have support gives you that comfort that you can go and help.”

According to the Muskoka Victim Services website, the program offers confidential support to victims by their consent.

The service will respond to a variety of tragic events, including assault, vandalism, fire, homicide, family crisis, missing person, motor vehicle accidents, elder abuse, suicide or threatened suicide, death notification and break and enters.

Another program delivered by Muskoka Victim Services is SupportLink, which provides comprehensive safety planning to male and female victims who are in personal danger because of domestic or sexual assault or stalking.

According to its brochure, the SupportLink program helps victims develop a personal safety plan, provides a cell phone for emergency calls, provides information about and referrals to other services for longer term help, and provides ongoing followup.

If you would like more information on Muskoka Victim Services, log on to its website at www.muskokavs.ca, or call 645-5444 or 1-877-229-2217.