A2
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2018
Animal shelters are a potential ally in suicide fi ght
By MOLLY
HARBARGER
The Oregonian
The Washington County
animal shelter is not often
the fi rst line of defense
against suicide. But over the
span of three months, shelter
staff intervened with seven
people who planned to kill
themselves.
Most people who are
considering suicide will say
“yes” if asked if they plan to
commit suicide. The prob-
lem is to know when to ask
the question.
An unusual collaboration
between the Washington
County public health depart-
ment and the medical exam-
iner’s offi ce has fi gured out
a simple way to do that. It
appears to be paying off.
Kimberly Repp, an epi-
demiologist, has earned
national praise for a form
she developed that death
investigators fi ll out when
they determine the cause
of a suspicious death. The
information provides more
recent data about suicides
in Washington County than
state or federal reporting
systems. The database is
then used to identify trends
Washington County
Kimberly Repp, an epidemiologist, and Charles Lovato, a death investigator, teamed up to
create a database that has led to better suicide prevention eff orts in Washington County.
that can strengthen Wash-
ington County’s suicide pre-
vention services.
For instance, several
death investigators in one
month wrote that the subject
gave up a pet to the shelter
before dying.
Repp took that informa-
tion to the animal shelter
staff, volunteers and veter-
inarians, who agreed to be
trained in identifying peo-
ple who might want to hurt
themselves and how to
intervene.
Her model takes about
two minutes to collect the
data, and offi cials say it is
saving lives.
FIVE-DAY FORECAST FOR ASTORIA
TONIGHT
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
49
46
40
Cloudy with a passing
shower late
Occasional rain and
drizzle
ALMANAC
Mostly cloudy
New
Salem
37/46
Newport
42/49
Jan 5
Coos Bay
40/51
Full
Jan 13
UNDER THE SKY
Ontario
24/38
Burns
15/31
Klamath Falls
14/35
Lakeview
12/31
Ashland
26/45
REGIONAL CITIES
City
Baker City
Bend
Brookings
Eugene
Ilwaco
Klamath Falls
Medford
Newberg
Newport
North Bend
Source: Jim Todd, OMSI
TOMORROW'S TIDES
Astoria / Port Docks
Low
2.6 ft.
Hi
35
36
52
48
48
36
44
46
49
52
Today
Lo
20
20
39
35
42
14
27
37
42
41
W
c
c
pc
pc
c
c
c
pc
pc
c
Hi
34
38
54
47
49
35
45
44
49
53
Fri.
Lo
25
29
40
36
47
17
29
41
44
40
W
pc
pc
pc
c
r
pc
pc
sh
pc
pc
City
Olympia
Pendleton
Portland
Roseburg
Salem
Seaside
Spokane
Springfi eld
Vancouver
Yakima
Hi
44
36
47
48
48
48
29
47
46
39
Today
Lo
33
25
39
35
37
41
20
35
38
25
W
c
sf
c
pc
pc
pc
c
c
pc
c
Hi
43
37
45
49
46
49
29
46
44
34
Fri.
Lo
41
33
43
35
41
46
28
37
41
27
W
r
c
r
pc
c
r
sn
pc
r
i
TOMORROW'S NATIONAL WEATHER
NATIONAL CITIES
Hi
54
36
50
32
60
43
53
-3
83
52
62
54
65
63
80
62
73
41
50
45
60
31
58
45
50
Dec. 26, 2018
HEBERT, Gerald Wayne,
72, of Gearhart, died in Gear-
hart. Caldwell’s Luce-Lay-
ton Mortuary of Astoria is in
charge of the arrangements.
SPEAR, John Edward,
86, of Seaside, died in Sea-
Baker
20/34
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2018
Time
12:00 p.m.
none
Today
Lo
52
31
44
10
26
42
36
-13
71
50
22
37
46
45
74
58
64
38
25
40
33
20
44
36
45
W
sh
s
r
sf
t
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pc
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pc
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t
pc
s
t
sh
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t
pc
pc
pc
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sf
s
pc
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Hi
68
52
44
26
29
55
53
-1
79
52
32
51
62
55
82
63
68
58
40
59
42
28
58
46
62
Fri.
Lo
51
47
26
9
10
28
35
-8
70
29
15
35
41
34
73
33
58
48
22
49
23
13
41
43
51
The answer sat across the
hall.
Charles Lovato has been
a medicolegal death investi-
side. Caldwell’s Funeral
& Cremation Arrange-
ment Center in Seaside is in
charge of arrangements.
Dec. 25, 2018
JARVIS, Carolyn Kay,
76, of Warrenton, died
in Seaside. Caldwell’s
Luce-Layton Mortuary of
Astoria is in charge of the
arrangements.
REITH, Laura, 98, of
Astoria, died in Warren-
ton. Caldwell’s Luce-Lay-
ton Mortuary of Astoria is in
charge of the arrangements.
Unusual partnership
DEATHS
La Grande
22/33
Roseburg
35/49
Brookings
40/55
Jan 20
John Day
21/32
Bend
20/38
Medford
27/45
Tonight's Sky: Johannes Kepler?s birthday (1571).
High
8.8 ft.
7.9 ft.
Prineville
19/38
Lebanon
36/46
Eugene
35/47
First
Pendleton
25/37
The Dalles
30/41
Portland
39/45
Sunset tonight ........................... 4:36 p.m.
Sunrise Friday ............................. 7:58 a.m.
Moonrise today ........................ 10:58 p.m.
Moonset today .......................... 11:42 a.m.
City
Atlanta
Boston
Chicago
Denver
Des Moines
Detroit
El Paso
Fairbanks
Honolulu
Indianapolis
Kansas City
Las Vegas
Los Angeles
Memphis
Miami
Nashville
New Orleans
New York
Oklahoma City
Philadelphia
St. Louis
Salt Lake City
San Francisco
Seattle
Washington, DC
Mostly cloudy with a
passing shower
Tillamook
40/48
SUN AND MOON
Time
5:59 a.m.
5:44 p.m.
Mostly cloudy and breezy;
p.m. showers
47
35
Shown is tomorrow's weather. Temperatures are tonight's lows and tomorrow's highs.
ASTORIA
40/49
Precipitation
Wednesday ....................................... 0.29"
Month to date ................................... 7.53"
Normal month to date ....................... 8.34"
Year to date .................................... 60.92"
Normal year to date ........................ 65.71"
Dec 29
MONDAY
49
35
REGIONAL WEATHER
Astoria through Wednesday.
Temperatures
High/low ....................................... 51°/37°
Normal high/low ........................... 48°/37°
Record high ............................ 64° in 1980
Record low ............................. 19° in 1924
Last
SUNDAY
53
43
Better data
Five years ago, Repp was
tasked with the annual state-
wide survey of health needs
by each county.
Through that process,
Washington County resi-
dents said again and again
that suicide was one of their
biggest concerns.
So Repp started to look at
what she could glean from
the state and national data
to help suicide prevention
efforts in the area. She was
stymied.
Oregon is a found-
ing member of the Violent
Death Reporting System,
a national effort to pro-
vide states with informa-
tion about violent deaths —
which include suicides — to
help craft health policy and
gator for 32 years. He joined
Washington County’s medi-
cal examiner’s offi ce seven
years ago.
His job, along with a
team of death investigators,
is to show up to the scene
of any violent or suspicious
death and fi gure out the
likely cause of death.
To do so, he examines
the body and on-scene evi-
dence, interviews witnesses
and tracks down friends
and family. He then writes
up a report with a narrative
of what he thinks happened
and submits that to the med-
ical examiner.
Much of that information
is scraped into the state and
federal databases and then
aggregated.
But Lovato’s work often
extends beyond what shows
up in the report. His job has
traditionally been to eval-
uate all the information he
collects in a binary way —
is it relevant to the cause of
death or not? If not, then it
usually doesn’t end up in
any of the resulting data sets.
Repp wanted to know
what wasn’t in there, so she
approached the death inves-
tigation team and asked a
question few people do —
could she tag along to some
crime scenes?
Lovato was surprised
that all that information that
never makes it into reports
could be useful beyond
watercooler talk in the offi ce.
He knew that much of what
he reports is used in state
and national trend lines, but
he had never worked with
public health offi cials before
and didn’t know what could
make his data better.
guide law enforcement. But
by the time a local public
health worker could access
that information, it’s about 3
to 4 years old.
Vital statistics in death
certifi cates only told Repp
who is most likely to com-
mit suicide, not why.
Plus, Washington County
is not well-represented by
state data, because its demo-
graphics tend to be super-
lative. The county has the
most diverse population by
race and ethnicity, the high-
est birth rate and the lowest
death rate.
Repp needed better data
— a surprise in a state with
among the highest suicide
rates in the country.
A federal report released
this summer said that, on
average, two people a day
die by suicide in Oregon.
The rate increased by 17.8
people per 100,000 over the
year before.
That puts Oregon with
the 16th-highest suicide
rate in the country, but the
trend is national. All but one
state had an increase in sui-
cide deaths, according to the
federal Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention.
The Oregon Health
Authority has prioritized
suicide prevention, espe-
cially among children and
young adults.
Public health offi cials
agree that suicide is largely
preventable. But Repp
wanted to fi gure out how.
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
W
r
r
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c
c
sh
c
t
pc
pc
pc
s
pc
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pc
s
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Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy,
sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow fl urries,
sn-snow, i-ice.
CLATSOP
POWER
EQUIPMENT , INC.
SALES SERVICE RENTALS
•
PUBLIC MEETINGS
THURSDAY
Clatsop County Recreational Lands Planning
and Advisory Committee, 1 to 3 p.m., fourth
fl oor, 800 Exchange St.
ON THE RECORD
Domestic assault
• Late Wednesday, War-
renton p olice arrested Jef-
fery John Fletcher, 33, of
Warrenton, on two charges
of fourth-degree domes-
tic assault and one count
of third-degree assault.
A heavily intoxicated
Fletcher struck a 2-year-
old in the face before fi ght-
ing with a female occu-
pant of the house and later
a 16-year-old, according
to police. He was taken
to the hospital for a med-
ical evaluation related to
his high blood alcohol con-
tent before being lodged
in the Clatsop County
Jail.
• Around 3 p.m. Sat-
urday, Warrenton police
arrested Sara Jane Welch,
58, of Warrenton, for
fourth-degree assault and
harassment. Welch got
into a fi ght with a female
roommate, spitting at and
punching her, according to
police.
• Around 6 p.m. Sat-
urday, Warrenton police
arrested
Christopher
Michael Peterson, 30, of
Warrenton, for fourth-de-
gree assault. Peterson got
in a fi ght with his signifi -
cant other in front of their
children, according to
police. Peterson eventu-
ally picked her up off the
fl oor and threw her into
a folding closet, causing
minor injuries, police said.
The assault charge was
enhanced because of the
presence of children.
Burglary
• Early Monday, Sea-
side police arrested Kevin
Edward Walsh, 24, of Sea-
side, for fourth-degree
assault, fi rst-degree bur-
glary, fi rst-degree criminal
mischief, second-degree
escape and harassment.
A call came into police
around 12:50 p.m. Sun-
day of two unknown peo-
ple entering an apartment
without permission and
refusing to leave. Walsh
fought with a male in the
residence before fl eeing
with Candice S. Kimb-
ley, 23, of Seaside, police
said. Police later appre-
hended Walsh and Kim-
bley, who was arrested
for fi rst-degree criminal
trespassing.
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