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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (April 12, 2016)
OPINION 6A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, APRIL 12, 2016 GUEST COLUMN Founded in 1873 Lines for Life tackles teen depression STEPHEN A. FORRESTER, Editor & Publisher LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager CARL EARL, Systems Manager JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager HEATHER RAMSDELL, Circulation Manager Attention must be paid to rural white women Their death rate is startling iddle-aged white women in places like Tillamook County are dying long before they should — a reversal in decades of improving life expectancy in the U.S. Delving into govern- among these being rising ment and academic data, The rates of opioid and heroin Washington Post this Sunday addiction, alcoholism and published a deeply trou- related diseases like cirrhosis bling look at how addictions, of the liver, suicide, smoking depression and other factors and obesity. The suicide rate cut decades from the lifes- has more than doubled for pans of women, especially in rural white women ages 50 America’s countryside and to 54, for example. These deaths of all vari- small towns. “From 1990 through 2014, eties are an end result of the mortality rate for white unique downward spirals women rose in most parts of illness, often tied to pov- of the country, particularly erty and absence of much to around small cities and in feel optimistic about. “There rural areas. Rates often went are millions of people under- up by more than 40 percent neath these (death statistics) and, in some places, dou- who are in pain,” one expert said. bled,” the Post reported. Separate research pub- Along the economi- cally privileged West Coast, lished Monday in The Journal Tillamook County is the only of the American Medical county in the worst quartile of Association ¿nds a stron- connection excess death rates — above ger-than-ever 40 percent. Clatsop County between low incomes and is comparatively much bet- unhealthy lifestyle choices ter off, in the lowest quartile when it comes to living lon- with premature mortality of ger. This research discovered up to 12.5 percent. Just to our that local attitudes and pol- north, 3aci¿c County, Wash., icy choices can have a sub- has an early death rate in the stantial positive impact. The range of 12.5 to 25 percent. Way to Wellville program in According to the Post, Clatsop County may demon- for every 100,000 women strate how an accumulation in their late 40s living in of good-living decisions can U.S. rural areas, 228 died inÀuence health outcomes — in the year 2000. “Today, though it appears Tillamook 296 are dying,” the Post County might have bene¿ted reports. “And in rural areas, more from such a campaign. The infamous “Rural- the uptick in mortality was noticeable even earlier, as Urban Divide” sometimes far back as 1990. Since then, only seems like a rhetori- death rates for rural white cal tool ginned up by the women in midlife have risen political hate-meisters of talk radio. However, there is by nearly 50 percent.” This “corrosion of legitimate pain on America’s American health” is driven back roads. Attention must by several factors, chief be paid. M FYI: Another blow to USPS T Clippings from the press of the Paci¿c Northwest and the nation oo bad the federal government can’t wage war on drugs or poverty as effectively as it has against the U.S. Postal Service. Congress keeps coming up with inventive ways to cripple the Postal Service ¿nancially — with the latest coming Sunday, when a manda- tory rate cut took effect. If left in place, the cut will cost the Postal Service $2 billion a year, crip- pling its ability to adapt to new compe- tition and technology. The Postal Service lost money during the Great Recession. So to close the budgetary gap the Postal Regu- latory Commission, the independent regulatory agency that oversees postal services and rates, approved a rate increase in 2014. The increase boosted the price of a ¿rst-class stamp to 49 cents from 46 cents. The commission also required that the increase be rescinded once it generated $4.6 billion in revenue. The Postal Service hit the $4.6 bil- lion target Sunday. The Postal Service is allowed to take inÀation into account in calculating the rollback, so the price of a ¿rst-class stamp will be cut to 47 cents. It will be the ¿rst time since 1919 that the price of a stamp has declined. Despite the proliferation of alter- natives, the Postal Service remains the only truly universal delivery system in the country. For 49 cents (or 47 cents, as of today), it will deliver a letter from any address to any address, whether it’s in Marcola or Manhattan. The availability of such a service binds the nation, lubricates the channels of com- munication and creates a democratic equality among urban and rural areas. But now comes another $2 billion blow. Americans don’t need the extra pennies — indeed, the rate cut makes those ¿xed-price “forever” stamps in millions of kitchen drawers worth a bit less. Congress should allow the Postal Service to charge a break-even price for its services rather than needlessly pushing it toward insolvency. Surely, it’s in no one’s interest to force an essential public service to fail. — The Register-Guard, Eugene By LINDA BERGER, HEATHER HUMMELL-MARTIN and DONNA CARSON Of Astoria Middle School o Astoria Middle School par- ents or guardians: The teen years are marked by a roller coaster ride of emotions making it dif¿cult for teens, their parents, and educa- tors. It is easy to misread depres- sion as normal adolescent turmoil; however, depression (among the most common of mental illnesses) appears to be occurring at a much earlier age, and the past decade has seen teen suicide rates double. T Our school community is expe- riencing an increase in the reported number of students engaging in self- harm behaviors, and we want to share a proactive plan to help students be safer. This involves pulling together as parents, school, and the community to begin the conversation to address how our students/children are doing. In order to proactively address this issue, Astoria Middle School is partner- ing with Clatsop Behavioral Healthcare to review programs and plans which can be most useful in our setting. They have connected us with Lines For Life, who will bring in trainers to review best practices for interacting with students who are in crisis, anxious, depressed, who may be using or considering self- harm behaviors or are suicidal. Friday, Monday and today, Lines for Life visited student classrooms (one day ‘Our school community is experiencing an increase in the reported number of students engaging in self-harm behaviors.’ fully, and being genuine. for each grade level) and dis- What can you say? “I’m cussed with students how to concerned about you ... make healthy choices. Our about how you feel.” goal is to increase help-seek- It is OK (often very help- ing by students if they are ful) to be very direct and worried about themselves or a friend in crisis, harm- nonjudgmental. You can ing themselves or feeling ask, “Are you thinking about suicidal. We want students suicide?” to understand what they are It is also important to get feeling and provide them help. “You aren’t alone. I Linda with strategies for dealing will get you the help you Berger with their concerns. need.” There will be an opportunity for par- If your child is suicidal, don’t leave ents to join us and learn about commu- him or her alone. If your child is not nity supports available. This will take suicidal, it is still important to ask place at Astoria Middle School. You are about whether they have been injuring encouraged to attend an informational or harming themselves and when they meeting that will include a panel for last did this. Check for signs of cuts, questions and answers. It will be from bruises, or other injuries. Remove or 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. today and Wednes- lock up items your child could use for day. The focus will be on community suicide or self-harm. resources and useful advice about help- You can call Clatsop Behavioral ing a child who is in crisis. It is critical Healthcare to arrange for an emer- that our community of parents, school, gency screening if your child is sui- and public agencies come together with cidal or self-harming (503-325- a commitment to our children. Together 0241), or request that screening at we can support our children and pre- the hospital emergency room. Lines vent a tragedy. for Life crisis line can be reached at Some students may be aware of 800-273-8255. problems that haven’t yet been shared You are welcome to call us if you with an adult at home or school. They have questions at 503-325-4331. may be worried what will happen if Linda Berger is the principal at they share fears about themselves or Astoria Middle School, Heather Hum- their friends. You can be most helpful mell Martin is the assistant principal by showing you care, listening care- and Donna Carson is a counselor. A Mason-Dixon line of progress By TIMOTHY EGAN New York Times News Service nside the ancient town hall of Siena, Italy, the walls hold a series of magni¿cent 14th-cen- tury frescoes showing the effects of good government and bad. I One side depicts a prosperous city-state, where justice and tolerance prevail in the Tuscan countryside. The other is ruled by a horned, fanged ¿gure, the streets deserted and scary. We saw our own version of this allegory with the two Americas this week — one going backward, the other stepping into tomorrow. We saw a retreat to bigotry in states doom- ing themselves to decline. And in other states, we saw a way for peo- ple to get around a do-nothing Con- gress controlled by Know-Nothing throwbacks. First, the good. On Monday, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed a bill that will eventually raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, lifting the earn- ings of 2.3 million New Yorkers, and he authorized one of the strongest paid parental leave laws in the nation. On the same day, Gov. Jerry Brown of California put his signature to a $15 minimum wage plan in the most populous state. And San Francisco became the ¿rst place in the country to require businesses to provide paid leave for new parents. What had seemed impossible just a few years ago is now rolling through cities and states led by for- ward-looking politicians. Together, these changes amount to a “revolu- tion in the workplace,” as one exul- tant activist put it. But let’s not get too excited: The United States remains the only developed country in the world that does not mandate paid parental leave. Now the bad. Following North Carolina’s lead, another state, Mis- sissippi, passed a law allowing peo- ple and institutions to deny services to gay people. With this measure, Mississippi, already one of the poor- est states in the nation, ensures that distressed and socially good job providers will stay backward to accept prog- away. ress, so why change? Dis- Indeed, PayPal dropped crimination, as they see plans to bring 400 jobs to it, is just another term for North Carolina after politi- cians gave people a green religious freedom. light to discriminate, and Raising the minimum Bruce Springsteen just can- wage is not a panacea, celed a concert there for as Brown noted. But he the same reason. And cor- called it a moral impera- porate leaders signed a let- tive, one that will allow Timothy ter Wednesday, expressing full-time workers at the Egan disgust. “Such laws are bad low end to better provide for employees,” the representatives for their children. In California and of companies ranging from Whole New York, the new laws have Àexi- Foods to General Electric wrote, “and bility, either by region, or size of busi- bad for business.” ness, or during the phase-in period. Next door, in Alabama, the embat- Good companies feel the same tled Republican governor signed a way. Costco just announced that it bill earlier this year preventing cities would raise entry-level wages to from raising the minimum wage. This $13.50 an hour — at a cost to stock- after Birmingham dared to dream of holders of a penny a share in the cur- a day when its lowest-paid workers rent quarter. One penny. Twitter will could make $10 an hour. soon start giving full-time employees 20 weeks of paid parental leave. Lifting wages for low-end work- Discrimination, ers and bringing the United States into the 21st century on family leave as they see should be no-brainers. And yet, Con- gress refuses to move on President it, is just Barack Obama’s call for paid parental leave for federal employees, and will another term not raise the minimum wage beyond for religious the paltry $7.25 an hour. Still, people are blowing past the freedom. obstructionists. Since Obama ¿rst called on Congress to move forward Nearly all the states with the high- on wages, in 2013, 18 states and at est percentage of minimum-wage least 40 cities have acted on their workers — full-time jobholders mak- own. Expect to see family leave laws ing $290 a week, before taxes — are ripple across the land as well. in the South. These are also the same “The nation is alive from the bot- states that refuse to expand Medic- tom up,” Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom of aid to allow the working poor to get California told my colleague Thomas health care. And it’s in the same cra- Fuller. “For all the disproportionate dle of the old Confederacy where dis- focus on Washington, D.C., there’s a criminatory bills are rising. Don’t whole other America out there, and it blame the cities; from Birmingham should give pause to the pessimists.” to Charlotte, people are trying to open Now, maybe paying the work- doors to higher wages and tolerance ing poor a little more will be a job- of gays, only to be rebuffed at the killer, as Republicans assert. Maybe state level. mandating parental leave will inhibit Essentially, this Republican-con- business startups. Sure. If you believe trolled block has decided that it’s doing nothing, in the wake of 20 years better to be poor, sick and bigoted of declining wages and a harder qual- than prosperous, healthy and open- ity of life, is better than doing some- minded. And its defense is precisely thing, this is your home: the geogra- that: The region is too economically phy of despair.
