10A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, AUGUST 24, 2015
Gaps: County faces challenges in treating the mentally ill
Continued from Page 1A
A crisis respite center
planned for Warrenton could
also provide an alternative to
jail or hospitalization.
But Clatsop County District
Attorney Josh Marquis said in
July that the county is in crisis
on mental health, and docu-
ments reviewed by The Daily
Astorian under the state’s pub-
OLF UHFRUGV ODZ FRQ¿UP D SHU-
ception that the county is fall-
ing short.
Columbia Memorial Hospi-
tal and Providence Seaside are
QRWFHUWL¿HGWRSURYLGHLQYROXQ-
tary care, custody or treatment
for the mentally ill, so Clatsop
Behavioral Healthcare has to
¿QGDFXWHFDUHSV\FKLDWULFKRV-
pitals elsewhere in the state, a
challenging and often unpre-
dictable process.
Astoria Police Chief Brad
Johnston believes law enforce-
ment is left in an impossible
situation.
“No one wants the police
to be the people that are deal-
ing with the critically mentally
ill,” he said. “Nobody wants it
to become criminalized. No-
body wants force used. Nobody
wants tragedies to occur.
“But, because of a lack of
other resources, the police tend
to be that safety net for all of
the other social agencies. And
we end up being the people that
are responding.
“And we’re responding to
people that professional men-
tal health workers have been
unable to reach, family has
been unable to reach, and then
a stranger in a blue suit is being
asked to come in and solve the
problem.”
Daily Astorian file
Records from Clatsop County, the Astoria Police Department and the Oregon State Po-
lice show the challenges of treating the mentally ill.
vices to discuss ongoing con- society, especially when a lot
cerns with the agency. He said of the current mental illness in
many in the community were our communities is from peo-
“pretty outraged.”
ple making poor choices with
“From the article, it sound(s) the methamphetamine and drug
like another case of denying ad- epidemic.”
mission to someone in need,”
Improving crisis
Somers wrote in an email.
response
“This is the consistent message
Cracks in mental health care
we’ve been hearing.”
Sumuer Watkins, the execu- are not unique to Clatsop Coun-
tive director of Clatsop Behav- ty or other rural parts of the
ioral Healthcare, has been sen- state. The federal government
sitive about public perceptions has prodded Oregon to improve
of the agency and her leader- mental health treatment.
But counties and cities have
ship.
In an extraordinary email complained that federal and
sent to community leaders in state money does not match the
June, Watkins apologized and PDQGDWHOHDYLQJORFDORI¿FLDOV
sought to repair any potential with the responsibility — but
rifts. She said she had heard not the resources — to respond
A tragic suicide
of consistent feedback that to patients in crisis.
The county’s struggle to care she had not been
This year, the
for the mentally ill was brought displaying appro-
state Legislature
into public focus in April after priate leadership
approved an ad-
‘This
Carrie Barnhart, a 54-year-old skills and was de-
ditional $20 mil-
mother of six with a history of fensive and abra- may have lion for housing
mental illness, jumped off the sive.
for people with
been
Astoria Bridge.
mental illnesses
“I am reaching
Astoria Police had respond- out to all commu-
or addictions.
one of
ed to Barnhart’s suicide warn- nity partners that
Lawmakers
ings four times in the months I have personally
the most also adopted a
before her death. The week be- interacted with
change to the
absurd
fore Barnhart killed herself, po- over the last year
law that expands
lice had taken her off the bridge to apologize for
GH¿QLWLRQ RI
failures WKH
after midnight and brought her any offensive be-
mental illness for
to Columbia Memorial Hospi- havior that I may
purposes of civil
of our
tal, where she was evaluated by have exhibited,”
commitment.
Clatsop Behavioral Healthcare Watkins wrote.
In
Astoria,
local
and released after two hours.
Mayor
Arline
“Please know that
system
The Daily Astorian, through this is not the per-
LaMear has ap-
the public records law, request- son that I wish to
a task
that I’ve pointed
ed documents related to suicide be nor has it ever
force to look at
from the county and the po- been my intent. If
homelessness and
been
lice after Clatsop Behavioral even one person
mental health is-
Healthcare chose not to answer has experienced
involved sues that includes
questions about what steps the this with me, I am
Police
Chief
with.’
agency had taken to prevent truly saddened.”
Johnston
and
similar tragedies.
Watkins of Clat-
Clatsop Coun-
— Brad
The documents show, and ty Sheriff Tom
sop Behavioral
WKH QHZVSDSHU KDV FRQ¿UPHG Bergin offered
Healthcare.
Johnston
WKDW WKH VWDWH 2I¿FH RI $GXOW Watkins some en-
Watkins, in a
Astoria police chief
Abuse Prevention and Investi- couragement.
written statement,
gations is conducting an inves-
said Clatsop Be-
“You person-
tigation into Barnhart’s death.
ally have done a great job but havioral Healthcare has com-
While Clatsop Behavior- the problem is that the system mitted to hiring an additional
al Healthcare may have done is broken, not you,” the sheriff worker to coordinate care and
everything available under the wrote in an email.
provide outreach to people in
law to help Barnhart, the docu-
“The bar has been raised need of crisis services, arranged
ments suggest a serious degree so high over the last 20 years for the training of all employ-
of concern about the agency’s to actually identify one with ees in the sanctuary model ap-
performance.
mental illness for detention, is proach to providing services,
County Manager Scott sad to say the least. There are and continued to reduce the
Somers, after reading a news no beds, the facilities that do time between initial assess-
article about Barnhart’s suicide, exist are overwhelmed and let’s ments and treatment.
called a meeting with staffers face it, it’s just easier to walk
Kevin Campbell, the chief
who work on mental health ser- away and ignore people in our H[HFXWLYH RI¿FHU RI *UHDWHU
Astin: Owner ‘needs room to (breathe) from
adoring fans ... and insensitive trespassers’
‘Something
has to give’
DPXVHXPRUDIRUSUR¿WYHQ-
ture, he said.
Astoria-Warrenton Chamber
At the time of the inter-
His Facebook message
of Commerce and the city to view Friday, Astin’s appeal DVNV*RRQLHVSURGXFHU6WHYHQ
help curb the relentless tide of had already reached a quar- Spielberg and director Rich-
tourists.
ter million people. The vast ard Donner to “help establish
“She needs room to preponderance of comments an appropriate tourist outpost
(breathe) from adoring fans and agree with him, he said. And in concert with the city.”
tactless and insensitive tres- he hopes that attitude of un-
But, right now, a private
passers,” Astin wrote.
derstanding reaches the peo- resident owns the home, some-
Asked why he issued his ple who have so far failed to one who has helped carry the
SOHD WR *RRQLHV HQWKXVLDVWV be respectful.
spirit of the movie into the next
Astin said, “I think I was in
Preston, he pointed out, generation, and who deserves
a position to have an impact has gone so far as to open her to sleep comfortably and live
on this story. Everybody, of KRPH WR *RRQLHV IDQV ³7KDW her life in peace, he said.
course, understands the im- kind of generosity needs to be
“I absolutely love how
portance of courtesy,” he said. reciprocated,” he said.
much the movie has grown
“But sometimes we, the pub-
No longer, however, is the in the hearts of people,” Astin
lic, don’t often behave prop- problem limited to fans leav- said. “I think it’s awesome for
erly.”
ing cigarette butts and beer people to make a trip to see,
Sometimes leadership is bottles after loitering about not just the house, but the
required, he said, to encourage the property. The popularity SODFHVZKHUHZH¿OPHG´
people to “tap into the better RI WKH ¿OP $VWLQ VDLG ³KDV
He said he would not want
part of ourselves.”
grown so much something has to diminish that feeling for
Astin, 44, lives in Los Ange- to give.”
people. And he recognizes
les and has starred in other be-
Astin said there are proba- how much time, effort and
ORYHG ¿OPV LQFOXGLQJ ³5XG\´ bly ways for Preston, the city PRQH\ LW WDNHV IRU *RRQLHV
and “The Lord of the Rings” and possibly Warner Bros. to fans be near the site of their
trilogy.
come together and work out cherished childhood movie.
Attempts by The Daily As- a solution in which everyone
“I recognize all that,” he
torian to interview Preston have ZLQV 3HUKDSV WKH *RRQLHV said. “All I’m saying is that it’s
been unsuccessful.
house could one day become important to be respectful.”
Continued from Page 1A
Oregon Behavioral Health Inc.,
which manages mental health
services in Clatsop and several
other counties, said in a state-
ment that the agency has been
working closely with Clatsop
Behavioral Healthcare to im-
prove the lines of communica-
tion with law enforcement and
the justice system.
At a Clatsop County Board
of Commissioners work ses-
sion in July, Scott Lee, the
board chairman, expressed his
FRQ¿GHQFH LQ &ODWVRS %HKDY-
ioral Healthcare and joined oth-
ers in suggesting that the agen-
cy simply needed to publicly
share successful outreach.
But public and private agen-
cies that make life-and-death
decisions often get measured
— fairly or not — by failures.
After near misses or crash-
es, airlines — as District Attor-
ney Marquis said after the work
session — do not get judged by
how many planes land safely.
Submitted Photo
A makeshift memorial under the Astoria Bridge honors
Carrie Barnhart, who committed suicide in April.
er learned the man had a mental
health condition and had expe-
rienced a great digression in the
past few weeks. The trooper con-
vinced the man, after a lengthy
discussion, to be handcuffed and
taken to Columbia Memorial
Hospital for evaluation by Clat-
sop Behavioral Healthcare.
What happened next illus-
trates the shortcomings with the
county’s mental health safety net.
A long wait
A Clatsop Behavioral
Healthcare worker asked the
state trooper — according to
his report — whether he needed
any paperwork about the man.
The trooper said he did not.
Four hours later, the trooper
learned the inquiry was actual-
ly about whether he wanted to
place a mental health hold on
the man. “I was completely un-
‘A danger to
aware she had meant that at the
himself and others’
time,” wrote the trooper, who
On a Wednesday afternoon wondered why it took so long
in July, an Oregon State Police to initiate a hold.
trooper came across a blue Saab
When the man’s mother
sedan parked on the shoulder of arrived at the hospital late that
U.S. Highway 26. A 25-year- evening, the man refused to
old man — a former star foot- leave with her.
ball player, 6’4” and about 270
Instead, he walked out of the
SRXQGV ² KDG FRQ¿JXUHG KLV hospital and reached the park-
belongings along the roadway ing lot of the Columbia River
and covered the car with a tarp. Maritime Museum, near the
A good Samaritan had Peacock pilot boat, before be-
pulled over and was trying to ing stopped and handcuffed by
help.
the trooper, who had also called
Wearing only athletic pants, Astoria Police for help.
the man, who was attempting to
Back at the hospital, Clatsop
hitchhike, explained that his car %HKDYLRUDO +HDOWKFDUH ¿QDOO\
had attacked him and that he placed a hold on the man.
feared the car and his belong-
Yet over the next few days,
ings.
Astoria Police were called
The man removed his multiple times about the man
clothes, then put his pants back acting erratically or leaving
on. “In my opinion,” the state the hospital. In one episode, a
trooper wrote in his report, the police report shows, the man
man “was clearly a danger to GURSSHG KLV SDQWV DQG ÀDVKHG
himself and others. I knew I his genitals towards a police of-
would not allow him to drive a ¿FHUDQGDQXUVH$IWHUSXOOLQJ
vehicle in his condition.
up his pants, the man, with an
“I also began to be con- odd smile on his face, started to
cerned for my own safety, as shadow box while staring at the
(the man) would speak to me SROLFHRI¿FHU
EULHÀ\DQGFRKHUHQWO\DQGWKHQ
The frustration, spelled out
abruptly stop speaking and in police reports and emails,
stare at me as if he were looking was whether Clatsop Behav-
through me.”
ioral Healthcare or the hospital
After talking on the phone had a plan to treat the man, who
with the man’s mother, the troop- was allowed to walk around the
emergency room and out of the
hospital. There was also sub-
stantial confusion, according to
police, about the legal status of
the mental health hold.
3ROLFH RI¿FHUV ZRUULHG WKDW
confronting the man, who police
described as “very strong, and
very big,” and forcing him to
come back to the hospital could
escalate into deadly force.
“I was alarmed by the fact
that the hospital didn’t have
a plan to deal with the poten-
tial threat that (the man) could
pose, other than to call the po-
OLFH´RQHSROLFHRI¿FHUZURWH
Watkins, of Clatsop Behav-
ioral Healthcare, would later ex-
plain that the problem stemmed
from not being able to access
any psychiatric beds in the state.
At one point a bed for the man
had been found, she said, but the
placement was rescinded after a
critical incident at the facility.
“This seems to be a perfect
storm that resulted in a signif-
icant strain on all partners in-
volved and highlighted gaps in
our continuum of care,” Wat-
kins wrote in an email to law
enforcement.
‘Absurd failures’
By that weekend, a decision
was made to release the man to
the Astoria Rescue Mission, a
Christian ministry that works
with the homeless.
But the man did not want
to stay at the rescue mission,
and was no longer welcome
at Columbia Memorial, which
had reported him to police for
trespassing.
On Sunday afternoon, four
days after he was picked up by
the state trooper for having a
mental breakdown on Highway
26, the man was given a cour-
tesy ride to the Astoria Transit
Center. Police bought him a bus
ticket back to Portland.
“This may have been one
of the most absurd failures of
our local system that I’ve been
involved with,” Police Chief
Johnston wrote Marquis in an
email. “It was certainly am-
SOL¿HG E\ WKH VKHHU VL]H DQG
combative experience of the
patient.”
A whale of a sight
Neal Maine/For The Daily Astorian
The Daily Astorian
Wildlife photographer Neal Maine captured several shots of humpback whales last
week near the Hammond Marina. View more of his shots online at www.dailyastorian.com.
Several Oregon and Washington state residents have also reported seeing the awe-in-
piring creatures.