October 19, 2011
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M E T R O
m u i U H i IV IIN D Y V IX I P E R / 1 HE PORTLAND OBSERVEIi
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Paul Corah Portland Fire and Rescue public information officer, spoke about the rising rates o f suicides and the need for the community to work together to help
educate and bring awareness about prevention methods, during a suicide prevention press conference on Thursday at Waterfront Park.
Suicides on the Rise
by M indy C ixiper
T he P ortland O bserver
A car plunged through the sea
wall and disappeared into the
Willamette River. Despite attempts
by Portland Fire & Rescue divers to
pull the woman from the vehicle, she
was found dead once the rescue
team arrived. The death, which oc
curred last month, was determined
In an effort to tackle the rising
to be a suicide.
rate of suicides within the state, the
A ccording to the A m erican non-profit organization Oregon Part
Foundation for Suicide Prevention, nership is on a mission to spread a
Oregon has the eighth highest rate message of hope and prevention for
of suicides within the country.
residents and their loved ones.
In 2010, 670 Oregon lives were
According to Tom Parker, direc
taken as a result of suicide, and the tor of communications for the non
numbers keep climbing.
profit, Oregon Partnership works
Delivering a
message of hope
and prevention
diligently every day to promote sponded to at least once a week,”
healthy communities through drug said Parker. “Oregon Partnership
and alcohol awareness, drug pre exists for one reason, and that is to
vention programs and a 24-hour prevent suicide.”
crisis line for treatment referrals and
Usually associated with prob
suicide intervention.
lems that can be solved, he said the
“Between the Portland Fire and number of lives taken from suicide
Rescue and the Portland Police
continued
on page 19
Bureau, a suicide attempt is re
‘Our Families’ Campaign Embraces Diversity
Basic Rights Oregon
builds support for
LGBTQ issues
Leading up to National Coming Out Day,
which took place on Oct 11, the local organiza
tion Basic Rights Oregon launched a public
education campaign dedicated to raise aware-
Jeana Frazzini
ness on what it’s like to live as a person of color
who is also lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.
Included in Basic Rights Oregon’s ‘Our Fami
lies' project are three videos and newspaper
ads, which depict the struggles of lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender minority families in an
effort to educate the Portland community .
“Often times our communities seek to sepa
rate the two identities— you are either gay or
transgender or a person of color,” said Ariel
Cerrud, a member of Basic Rights Oregon ’ s Oi
Families Project. “’Our Families’ reveals th,
our strength lies in being all of who we are.”
Basic Rights Oregon is the state’s chief ac
vocacy, education and political organizatio
dedicated to ending discrimination based o
sexual orientation and gender identity. Th
group interviewed families from Latino, Africa
continued
on page 19