By Sharla Steinman
Loveland Reporter-Herald
LOVELAND, Colo. — A Loveland scout dedicated his culminating project to helping the community.
Coen Segerstrom, a senior at Thompson Valley High School, partnered with Thompson Valley EMS CARES, a program that aims to reduce the number of 911 calls through proactive services, to create 60 hygiene kits and 60 food kits for people in need for his Eagle project; his effort will earn him the highest rank in the Boy Scouts of America program.
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“I knew I wanted to do something that really helped the community directly, but also could benefit a public service organization, like Thompson Valley EMS,” Coen said, who is part of Scouting America Troop 81 in Loveland and has spent 13 years as a scout.
On Oct. 6, Coen and other scouts came together at the Trinity Lutheran Church in Loveland, located at 3333 Duffield Ave., to put the kits together, one item after another in an assembly line.
The hygiene kit contains deodorant, toothpaste, a toothbrush, and soap, while the food kits have a variety of different ingredients to make complete meals, like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, spaghetti and vegetable sides. Coen said that with the $1,600 he was able to raise from business owners and community members, he wanted to pick items that would be nutritious, but also last a while.
People are able to reach out to CARES directly for help, but often TVEMS crew members encounter people in need while working and refer them to the program. TVEMS case managers will carry a few kits with them to give to people at their discretion and keep the rest at a storage facility to restock and provide as needed, said Jennifer Hillmann, TVEMS executive director of communications.
“ … Being able to have my kits help them (recipients) get over what you could call the ‘hardest part’ is very nice to know,” Coen said, adding that there is often a waiting period to get resources due to paperwork.
Erik Bailey, TVEMS CARES paramedic case manager, said that he thinks the hygiene and food kits will be a useful intermediary for people who can’t get immediate access to resources.
“There’s always a need for what is in the kits that he’s making,” Bailey said.
In 2017, Thompson Valley EMS became the first organization in the state to register with the CARES program, which stands for Community Assistance Referral and Education Services, said Dave Edwards, battalion chief of community health and special projects. The program connects those in need to low-cost and free resources, or TVEMS will provide them itself.
“(CARES will) help make those referrals to get them the resources that they need, so that if they are overusing 911, or just not as healthy and happy as they can be, we help to supply them with the elements that they would need to do that,” Edwards said.
Coen hopes that the kits propel recipients to continue seeking resources, adding that he hopes “they’re able to use the support made.”
Coen’s father, Stew Segerstrom, was a Life Scout, just one level behind Eagle, Stew said, adding that he thinks it helped motivate Coen to fully complete the program. He said he helped him raise a little money by connecting him with some business partners, but that Coen came up with the idea on his own and “ran with it.”
Coen said the hardest part was getting started.
“It was something I put off for a while,” he said. “But as I started doing it, that fear kind of went away and I got more comfortable.”
Bailey, the case manager, said that his job can provide more benefits to the community with the more resources he is able to share.
“The more we can come together with some compassion, perspective and empathy, we can really make some good things happen,” Bailey said. “(I am) somebody who started volunteering at EMS, it’s great to see people that age still working on those kinds of projects.”
Although this is only the start for the kits, Coen and TVEMS look forward to continuing the project in future years.
“I’m working with a younger scout who is interested in the program and working on growing it,” Coen said. “I’m excited to see what he will be able to do with it.”
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