Homeless girl recovers from
deadly E. Coli infection
SEATTLE (AP) — Brandi Lopez's battle against a serious E.
coli infection left the homeless, si*-year-old girl in the hospi
tal. Ironically, her recovery might put her and her family back
on the street.
When l-opez fully recovers from kidney failure and heart prob
lems related to the infection, she'll have to leave Children's Hos
pital and Medical Center. It also will mean an end to temporary
shatter for her father and brother, who have been staying at Kid's
House, which provides housing for families of sick children.
"1 don't know where we're going to go," said her father Adam
Lopez, a former boxer and truck driver. "It's just me and my
babies."
Brandi was stricken with h. coll infection wnue the singie
parent family was staying at the Lighthouse Mission In Hal
iiughain. where the family went for refuge after moving to Wash
ington from Texas.
Health officials don't know where she contracted the bacte
ria. which is found in cattle feces and intestines and can in
fect humans through tainted, undercooked meat
Brandi and her five-year-old brother. Teddy, are among five
children stricken by E. roll bacteria in Whatcom County last
month. The cases appear to be unrelated, said Paul Chudek. a
county Health Department supervisor
Three of the children were hospitalized. Teddy was released
after a few days of treatment and a six-year-old Lynden girl
remains at Children's Hospital in satisfactory condition.
Brandi was treated for a time at Children's Hospital in Seattle
and then transfered Wednesday to St. Joseph's Hospital in
Bellingham for monitoring until she is ready for discharge. Chil
dren's Hospital spokesman Doan Forbes said Friday.
It is not clear when she will bo released, said nursing su
pervisor Sylvia Smith in Bellingham.
And it is unclear where she will go when she is ready for dis
charge.
"My little girl can't go back on the streets." Lopez said. “She
won't lie able to handle it."
Socdal workers at the hospital were trying to find housing for
the family, and Forbes said A1 Archer, director of Lighthouse
Mission Industries, "has kind of taken it upon himself to find
them housing."
“Anytime we have a man and children we have a crisis," said
Archer said earlier this week.
Lighthouse Mission normally doesn't accept children, hut
took the family in because they had nowhere else to go. Archer
said.
“It's devastating that this happened." Archer said of Brandi's
illness.
Lopez says this is the first time the family has been homeless
— in the past, they made ends meet living on welfare.
They traveled to Bellingham by bus and at first stayed in
motels while Lopez sought help.
But he found he and his kids were at the end of long lists at
some agencies, while others had no services for families with
children — especially those headed by a rrtale single parent.
Lopez said he believes contaminated food or unsanitary bath
rooms at the mission caused the infection.
Three children died during an E. coli outbreak in January that
sickened about 500 state residents. Those cases were traced to
the Jack in the Box fast-food chain, which recentlyset up a trust
fund for many of the victims.
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I Small town copes with youths’ deaths
TONASKET. Wash (AP) — Chad Jackson and
Amanda "Mandv" Brown were tvpical kids, but
when they killed themselves in separate shootings
within a week, this tiny community turned to
uncharacteristic efforts to save the survivors.
Their suicides were the first in memory by any
one so young in this Okanogan Highlands fruit
orchards and ranch town of 1.100 in north central
Washington.
"Its a delicate thing in a small community." said
the Rev Randy Middleton, pastor of the Tonaskot
Community Church who offii cited at Miss
Brown’s funeral
lackson. 20, was found clutching a photograph
of Brown after he shot himself in the head and
died atop her freshly dug grave at the town's i erne
terv overlooking the plat id Okanogan River
Among Ills personal effects, police found love
letters from Brown, IS. and an alarm i lock, found
with Jackson, that was set for the exact time of her
death She died of a self-inflit tod gunshot wound
to the head at her home Nov. 15
Jackson shot himself Nov 21 with a 157 mag
mini handgun his worried father had locked in a
shed after Miss Brown's death. Okanogan Conntx
Sheriff Jim Weed said
His funeral was .Saturday in the Tonaskot Como
ten . about 100 feet from where Miss Brown was
buried.
tv’s mental health agencies Joined the high
school's counselors to answer questions ami talk
to friends of Brown and Jat kson who were hit hard
by the deaths.
letters with information on recognizing suicide
warning signals were sent to parents of junior high
and high school students.
Tonnsknt High School Principal (airy Jorgenson
called in substitute teachers on the Monday after
Jackson’s death so that students could have addi
tional adults to talk to
Senior high students formed peer groups, under
the guidam e of t ounselors, to talk to students who
felt uncomfortable sharing their feelings with
adults
People are blaming themselv es That puts peo
ple at risk and that’s one of our tasks now, helping
people understand that no one’s to blame.” said
Koii Wise of Okanogan County Counseling Ser
vices. a community mental health agent v in
Okanogan.
"It’s very unfortunate, very tragic," said Mike
Mahlmen. another mental health i otmselor " The
whole community is hurting right now What
we re fi« using on is not having any more of it
"Our hope and prayers are that this is going to
stop." Mahlman told .1 group of about four dozen
parents who met .it the high si hool Tuesday night
"We had two young kids in a love relationship that
went sour The last thing we want to do is place
blame We had two young people who made an
unfortunate choice
Sv hool district offii nils drew up lists of students
considered to lie potential suii ide risks, who they
will be watched 1 loselv in the coming weeks ami
months
Described by her family as being ipm k-witted
and outgoing. Brown It*ft a note apologizing to liar
parents and proclaiming liar love for Jackson, but
gave no S}M*< ifi< mason for taking bar own Ilia
"Thov bad talked about breaking up." Wood
said. "That apparently precipitated the Brown
death. The Jackson boy. wo don't know for sure,
but it would follow he was f»*eling soma vicarious
responsibility for her death
Jackson had landed a job at a WalMurt store that
recently opened at Okanogan, about -5 miles
south of here. Me graduated from Tonasket High in
1991. and had begun to expand his circle of
friends after going to work at the discount store
Miss Brown, a freshman, was active in sports
and liked to draw and read, relatives said
While relatives and friends of the two youths
struggled to cope with their deaths, teams of men
tal health workers, clergymen and school coun
selors began round-the-c lock efforts to make sure
the town would lose no more of its youth
prematurely
Groups of mental health workers from the conn
It appears tilings are slowly getting li.u k to nor
rnul." Jorgenson said Indore students left for
Thanksgiving break " That’s what we want to do.
to get things hack to normal again as soon as pos
sible."
Jorgenson said he fearer! news stories about the
deaths might t arise some students to think about
suii ide as a way of getting attention
"The less we romanticize and sensationalize it.
the better off we are.” Mahlman said
"The had part about living in a small town is
that everybody knows what everybody else is
doing." Mahlman said. "But that's also the pre
cious part about being a small community, there's
a lot of oaring."
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CASH FOR BOOKS
momlay-fnday 9 (K) 5 (K) Saturday 9:00-2:00
two locations
QUALITY USED TEXTBOOKS
UNIVERSITY OF OREGON
LANE COMMUNITY COLLEGE
LINFIELD COLLEGE
LAYAWAY NEXT TERM’S BOOKS
no money down
bring your author, title, and edition
find your books - pay by January 8, 1994
Smith Family Bookstore
textbook and general bookstore
(across from Sacred Heart Hospital - near the U of O campus)
768 East 13th Avenue 345-1651
general books
(across from the post office near the Hilton/Hult C'cntcr)
525 Willamette Street 343-4717
textbooks may be sold at cither store
monday-friday 9:00-5:00 Saturday 9:00-2:00