Gina Medina
Family & Loved Ones Peer Support Director
Gina has served as a Family Support Peer alongside her husband, Claudio, for over 30 years of their marriage. Her primary focus on the impact to the spouses and families of those in public safety expanded exponentially when their son followed in the family tradition of public service. Close calls with her own family members, and direct support to those who experienced line of duty deaths and other unthinkable losses; the missed anniversaries, holidays, birthdays, and being a "single" parent; experiencing first hand and supporting other families through the debilitating illnesses and injuries - visible as well as invisible - of those chronically exposed to horror, pain, death, violence, and terror are some of the more complex and difficult realities Gina has experience "from the inside out" in her countless hours of service as a Peer. She has also been deployed within Incident Management Teams as part of on-going family and loved ones support after several national level tragedies including the 5-fatality Esperanza Fire and the 19-fatality Yarnell Hill Fire.
Equally important for Gina remains the tremendous pride, love, passion, intensity, joy, and gratitude of living the life of, and in support of those who love our first responders. Her resolute faith, profound compassion, endless patience, and quick sense of humor make her the perfect Family & Loved Ones Peer Support Director. Her family of first responders and her life-long relationships with other public safety families and loved ones keeps her proudly at the ready when it comes to loving and supporting the front line behind those who place themselves in harm's way in service of others.
Family & Loved Ones Peer Support Director
Gina has served as a Family Support Peer alongside her husband, Claudio, for over 30 years of their marriage. Her primary focus on the impact to the spouses and families of those in public safety expanded exponentially when their son followed in the family tradition of public service. Close calls with her own family members, and direct support to those who experienced line of duty deaths and other unthinkable losses; the missed anniversaries, holidays, birthdays, and being a "single" parent; experiencing first hand and supporting other families through the debilitating illnesses and injuries - visible as well as invisible - of those chronically exposed to horror, pain, death, violence, and terror are some of the more complex and difficult realities Gina has experience "from the inside out" in her countless hours of service as a Peer. She has also been deployed within Incident Management Teams as part of on-going family and loved ones support after several national level tragedies including the 5-fatality Esperanza Fire and the 19-fatality Yarnell Hill Fire.
Equally important for Gina remains the tremendous pride, love, passion, intensity, joy, and gratitude of living the life of, and in support of those who love our first responders. Her resolute faith, profound compassion, endless patience, and quick sense of humor make her the perfect Family & Loved Ones Peer Support Director. Her family of first responders and her life-long relationships with other public safety families and loved ones keeps her proudly at the ready when it comes to loving and supporting the front line behind those who place themselves in harm's way in service of others.