10A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2015 Rare turtle washes up in Tolovana Blueprint: Oregon has fourth lowest graduation rate in the nation Chances for survival are slim By DANI PALMER EO Media Group Staff at the Seaside Aquari- um rescued an olive ridley sea turtle after it washed ashore south of Tolovana early Mon- day morning. The roughly 50-pound tur- tle was retrieved around 8:30 a.m. and hypothermic — like- ly a result of being pushed into colder waters by recent strong winds, aquarium Administra- tive Assistant Tiffany Boothe said. Juvenile olive ridleys travel in warm currents off- shore. “With the weather patterns, we weren’t surprised to ¿nd one,” Boothe said. Last year, ¿ve sea turtles were found off the coast. Three were dead upon arrival and one died in transit. The ¿fth was successfully transported to San Diego. Monday’s olive ridley tur- tle was found south of Tolova- na near Briar Street around 8 a.m. Tracy Sund with Cannon Beach’s Road and Streets De- partment placed cones around the animal until volunteers ar- rived around 8:30 to pick it up. Aquarium staff wrapped the turtle in blankets and slow- ly warmed it up to avoid shock while awaiting U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service pickup. Continued from Page 1A Dani Palmer/EO Media Group This olive ridley sea turtle, found in Tolovana, is headed for the Seattle Aquarium for a chance at recovery. Seaside Aquarium Manager Keith Chandler said staff try to make the animals as comfort- able and stress-free as possible until Fish and Wildlife arrives. Laura Todd, Newport Field supervisor for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said the Seattle Aquarium is “working on her now.” Live turtles are normal- ly taken to the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport, but aquarium is already rehabili- tating one found in Paci¿c City earlier this month. If a turtle survives, it is re- leased in Southern California waters, often after hitching a ride with an agency such as the U.S. Coast Guard during a training trip. Unfortunately, the chances for survival at this stage are slim, Chandler noted, with a 75 to 90 percent mortality rate. The turtles become hypother- mic in colder waters and are often tossed around in the surf. Todd said Cannon Beach’s turtle was at 50 degrees when it arrived in Seattle. The tur- tle’s normal temperature is in the low 70s. “The odds are against them,” Chandler said. But the faster the turn- around, the better the chances, Todd said. Sea life rescuers expect to see more turtles beached along the coast with this year’s El Niño. “Usually when we get one, we get a few,” Boothe said. Todd said the turtles normal- ly remain south of San Diego. However, she added, they do sometimes travel farther north in warm currents searching for food. It’s not unusual to see a tur- tle beached in Oregon per year. Care: Triggers can be hard to pin down Continued from Page 1A The class, designed for peo- ple taking care of folks with mental illness and developmen- tal disabilities, laid out a game plan for confronting behaviors that can cause physical or emo- tional harm to the consumer or caregiver. Beverly’s emotional out- bursts are one of several types of challenging behaviors that care- givers deal with daily, along with yelling, cussing, threatening, withdrawing, physical aggres- sion, sexual aggression and leav- ing home without telling anyone. For people who have trouble expressing their needs in words, these behaviors are a way to make people listen. That’s why it’s important not to dismiss their behavior as merely “acting out.” “They’re communicating very clearly, but you’re just not paying attention,” Shelly Ed- wards, the trainer, said. Support plan So how should caregivers get to the bottom of Beverly’s behavior, which seems to be part of a pattern? First off, don’t ignore it; ig- noring the behavior may only escalate it. The caregivers should ac- knowledge the feelings behind Beverly’s behavior. Beverly isn’t just throwing a tantrum for fun, she is distraught. “Most times, they have no control over why it’s coming out,” Edwards said. Though it would be natural to grow angry with her, it would accomplish nothing. Rather, the caregivers should try to model the calm, respectful behavior they want from Beverly. Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian Shelly Edwards leads a group discussion with caregivers about patient care during a free training class held Thursday. Now the caregivers get to play detective. Their case: de- termine the triggers that pre- dictably set Beverly off. This investigative work is more straightforward with individuals who can speak, but in Beverly’s case it may entail talking with her family or closely monitoring her behavior. As it turned out, the trigger was her mother and the change in Beverly’s routine. Her moth- er was taking her out for far too long, overstimulating her and allowing the parent-child dynamic to fall into the same dysfunctional rut that convinced Beverly’s mother to place her in foster care in the ¿rst place. With that information, the caregivers can work out a sup- port plan with Beverly — for ex- ample, one in which she doesn’t spend so many hours away from home with her mother. Even if a person can’t communicate, “for their own well-being and self-worth, you need to involve them in the plan as much as you can,” Edwards said. “You do not want to solve the problem, you want to help them solve the problem.” Lastly, the caregivers should evaluate the results and follow up with Beverly, her mother and the rest of the care team. First-line interventions Triggers can be hard to pin down. When someone withdraws socially, it could mean some- thing untoward happened with another facility resident. Or it could be signs of illness. Or of embarrassment stemming from vision problems or hearing loss. When someone acts restless or depressed, he or she could be reÀecting on a personal loss. Or that person may be experienc- ing a side-effect of too much medication, too many different medications or the wrong med- ication. “Every behavior has a rea- son,” Edwards said. “All of these things can bother us, so why wouldn’t they cause prob- lems for somebody who can’t communicate in the same way that we do?” But these triggers have greater impact on people who lack the language skills to assert themselves or control their envi- ronment, Edwards said. Many challenging behav- iors, though, can be traced back to four main triggers: the person needs to use the bathroom, is in pain, is hungry or is bored. For ¿rst-line interventions, caregiv- ers should keep these in mind, especially because they, more so than the consumer, can change these conditions. For the most part, she said, “we are the ones who can change, not the person with the mental illness, or the develop- mental issue, or dementia ... or somebody who’s just sick.” No labels It can be tempting to simply label these individuals “behav- ior problems.” But that attitude, apart from dehumanizing them, lets their caregivers off the hook. “One of the things I dislike intensely is labeling people,” said Edwards, who reminded the class that not everyone who exhibits challenging behaviors suffers from a mental illness or disability. “Every single person in this room can have a chal- lenging behavior when they’re in the right mood.” The trick is to prevent the challenging behavior from aris- ing in the ¿rst place. And a good place to start is by engaging them in hobbies and activities that give their lives purpose, that get them out of bed in the morn- ing, like painting classes or trips to a nearby animal shelter. “You need to help them ¿nd a way to connect back with the community,” Edwards said. “Even if it’s just one-on-one.” expand the Of¿ce of Small Business Advocate. The of- ¿ce provides assistance to small business owners and helps them cut down time spent mired in bureaucratic red tape. Brown established the of¿ce when she served as secretary of state, before an ethics scandal forced Gov. John Kitzhaber to re- sign and elevated her to the state’s highest of¿ce. Supporting existing busi- nesses is important because 70 percent of job growth stems from expansion of those companies, Brown said. She said government also would assist in boosting the economy by continuing to seek out trade opportunities in growing Asian markets. The governor suggested the state needs to invest more in education but provided no plan to meet that need. The Tuestion grows more dif¿- cult to answer as the state faces mounting costs asso- ciated with the Public Em- ployees Retirement System, as speakers at the summit pointed out. Education innovation of¿cer Earlier Monday, Brown announced the addition of a new education innovation of¿cer position to her ad- ministration to help boost the state’s dismal high school graduation rate. “The position will assist me, my education team and the Legislature in dedicat- ing resources to increase the number of students who graduate from high school,” Brown said from prepared comments. “There is no question that our education system must be accountable to better stu- dent outcomes, including increasing our high school graduation rate,” Brown said. “But accountability also means ensuring that, as a state we are empowering the best and most effective prac- tices in our classrooms that support student success,” she said. The administration has yet to complete a job description for the position and to post the job, said Brown spokes- woman Kristen Granger. She gave no timeline for hiring. Oregon now has the fourth lowest graduation rate in the nation, up from the country’s worst in 2013. Oregon’s graduation rate is 72 percent, compared to a national average of 81.4 per- cent. The graduation rate is 65.6 percent in Astoria, 66.7 percent in Warrenton, 65.9 percent in Knappa and 76.3 percent in Seaside. John Tapogna of ECONorthwest said Mon- day the state’s graduation rate mars Oregon’s reputa- tion in the eyes of employers considering relocating to the state. The graduation rate is perplexing because it doesn’t align with the state’s test scores, Tapogna said. “It is really damaging to the state’s reputation in a very tangible way,” the pub- lic-policy consultant said. Edward Stratton con- tributed to this report. The Capital Bureau is a collab- oration between EO Media Group and Pamplin Media Group. Saranpaa: She remains in custody on $15,000 bail multiple baggies of meth- amphetamine and a black and white A detective on polka dot bag be- scene noticed a longing to Shufelt. beer can that had The bag contained been cut in half in a digital scale, four a trash can. The unused CO2 canis- bottom half of the ters, two keys on a can was missing. key ring, a broken Drug users com- marijuana pipe and monly use the bot- four small baggies tom of cans to heat of meth, accord- up drugs before Lacey ing to the police injecting or inhal- Saranpaa report. ing them, accord- Saranpaa is accused of ing to the detective. When the detective asked ¿ve other drug-related cas- Saranpaa if he could look es dating back to January. inside her purse, she pulled She remains in custody on out the other half of the beer $15,000 bail. She is due back in court can and a syringe, which gave probable cause to ar- next month for an early res- rest her. Saranpaa also had olution conference. Continued from Page 1A 12 TH AVE. & HWY. 101, SEASIDE, OR Kiwanis Christmas Trees on sale now! Proceeds go to Kiwanis Club, which Ruts Mids Çrst! OPEN Monday-Saturday 10-8, Sunday 10-6