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page 10
daily nebraskan
friday, december 1, 1978
Story and Photographs
by Mary Anne Golon
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Crisis center
stretches funds
to help addicts
UNL student Topher Hansen is an ex
ample of a man who can get more out of a
dollar than most.
Hansen, coordinator of the Drug Crisis
Center, stretches the center's $12,000
annual budget to cover a 24-hour drug
crisis line and outreach service, a walk-in
center and public education programs.
The center, at 140 S. 27th St., is part of
the Open Door Health Center, but is
supported entirely by United Way funds.
Hansen is the only paid employee of the 21
staff members. As coordinator, Hansen
earns $8,100 a year for a job that demands
more than the traditional 40-hour work
week.
Hansen, 23, in addition to working at
the center with the 20 volunteers, lecutres
church and civic groups; gives in-service
training to public servants (police and fire
men); gives Red Cross emergency training
in Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation and
drug overdose aid, and provides 8-hour
workshops for local schools.
All of this is done in association with
other community agencies.
The center's main purpose, Hansen said,
is to "provide a 24-hour information
referral and crisis intervention center with
an emphasis on drugs."
"Caring and genuine concern are the
basic components to dealing with people's
drug problems."
Hansen has high praise for the center's
volunteers, without whom, he says, "the
work couldn't be done."
The volunteers receive on-the-job and
classroom training, Hansen said, including
how to handle calls, emergency medical
skills and crisis intervention.
The center averages about 80 to 85 calls
a month which include about four
emergency calls, he said.
It is considered an emergency call when
"somebody requests that we come out to
where they are to deal with the problem at
hand personally, instead of over the
phone," he explained.
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Coordinator Topher Hansen says caring and genuine
concern are basic to his work.
Volunteers Brian Vanderzee (left) and Jeff Meier
handle a call on the 24-hour crisis line.
Hansen and Vanderzee handle an emergency outreach
call.
Fire Dept. members receive in-service training on drugs
and alcohol from coordinator Hansen and Peg Brown
from the Lincoln Council on Alcoholism and Drugs.
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