East Oregonian : E.O., July 16, 2016, WEEKEND EDITION, Page Page 16A, Image 16

Page 16A
OFF PAGE ONE
East Oregonian
Saturday, July 16, 2016
SUICIDE: Men 85 and older have the highest rate in Oregon
Continued from 1A
Hines, who struggled with
bipolar disorder, might not have
fallen neatly into either of the two
groups, but still his mind roiled with
indecision before the attempt. A
compassionate word from one of the
pedestrians passing by might have
turned him around.
“Empathy and compassion are
the keys to saving a life,” he said.
Robin Bredield agrees. As a
Mental Health First Aid instructor in
Morrow County, the registered nurse
spends time talking about suicide
prevention. Bredield urges people
to be bold if they suspect someone
is considering ending his or her life.
“Don’t be afraid to actually ask
the question,” she said. “Ask, ‘Do
you feel like harming yourself? Are
you considering suicide?’”
Ask the question matter-of-factly,
Bredield said, without dread in your
voice.
“Once the question is out on the
table, you can talk about it,” she
said. “If you don’t ask the question,
it’s this big dark cloud.”
Bredield knows the helplessness
of learning that someone she cares
about has ended it all. After a close
friend died by suicide, she felt a deep
frustration.
“I wish he would have picked up
the phone and called me,” she said.
“I would have rushed over if I had
known.”
After her friend took his life,
Bredield studied prevention and
learned a long list of risk factors
(previous attempt, efforts to buy a
weapon or pills, talking about death,
etc.) and the importance of letting
people in your life know that you
are available to them. Listen without
judgment is key.
“All thoughts of suicide are to be
taken seriously,” she said.
In Bredield’s neck of the woods
— rural Oregon — jumping off a
bridge is not usually the method
of choice for suicide. In 2014, 54
percent of Oregonians who killed
themselves used irearms and that
number rises to around 80 percent
in rural America, where there are
more guns and fewer mental health
services.
The idea of young people killing
themselves is especially worrisome
in rural areas. A study appearing in
the JAMA Pediatrics journal in 2015
found suicide twice as common
among rural youth than in metro-
politan areas. About half of the rural
youth (between ages 10 and 24)
used guns — about three times the
rate for urban youth.
In the wider population, approx-
imately two Oregonians die every
day by suicide. Four out of ive of
the deaths involve men. Last year,
“A mental health therapist works side-by-side
with medical staff. With depression, you have
real physical pain, real physical ailments.”
— Debra Shippentower, Yellowhawk community engagement specialist
the state had 742 suicide deaths with
12 in Umatilla County and two in
Morrow County. A new study from
the Centers for Disease Control
reveals that suicide rates in the
United States are the highest in 30
years. Native Americans saw their
rate rise 89 percent for women and
38 percent for men.
Suicide is so commonplace in
Indian Country that the Yellowhawk
Tribal Health Center in Mission
screens every patient for depression
and suicidal thoughts, even those
with physical complaints.
“A mental health therapist works
side-by-side with medical staff,”
said Debra Shippentower, Yellow-
hawk’s community engagement
specialist. “With depression, you
have real physical pain, real physical
ailments.”
The practice is paying off with
early intervention. The clinic also
enacted a new stafing policy that
requires each employee to go through
QPR (Question Persuade Refer)
suicide prevention training, a course
Yellowhawk also offers periodically
in the community. Participants spend
time role playing, asking directly if
someone is considering suicide.
“It’s hard,” said Claudette Enos,
a suicide prevention specialist
at Yellowhawk. “People get
emotional.”
Suicide affects every race and
age. In Oregon, according to the
Oregon Health Authority (using
2013 numbers), men who are 85 and
older have the highest rate of 78.4
per 100,000. For every suicide, there
are approximately 25 who attempt,
but don’t die.
Hines is making the most of his
second chance at life. He uses diet,
exercise, medication and therapy to
control his bipolar disorder. Hines
shares his story in his memoir,
“Cracked, Not Broken: Surviving and
Thriving After a Suicide Attempt.”
He appeared in a documentary ilm
called “The Bridge.” He sits on the
board of the International Bipolar
Foundation and speaks at schools in
a quest to keep college, high school,
middle school and even elementary
school students from choosing to end
their lives. He said young people are
in pain from such things as bullying,
relationship issues and the effects
of puberty. After one of his presen-
tations, the number of students who
make appointments with school
counselors often bumps up by 600 to
800 percent.
“Suicide is preventable,” Hines
said.
The author, public speaker and
documentary ilmmaker said he
still sees the Golden Gate Bridge
as a “harbinger of death.” He
serves on the board of the Bridge
Rail Foundation, which formed to
stop suicides on the bridge. The
organization, championed by Hines’
father, Patrick Hines, raised money
for a suicide barrier to stop the low
of deaths. Construction starts this
month on a steel net that will hang
20 feet below the pedestrian deck.
Jumpers will most likely suffer
non-fatal injury as they are snagged
in the net, which will sag under the
weight of the person. Each jump will
alert a rescue service.
Hines still worries about the
lingering effect of his suicide attempt
on his father. He recently asked if his
dad still worried he would take his
own life.
“Yes,” said the elder Hines,
“every time the phone rings.”
———
Contact Kathy Aney at kaney@
eastoregonian.com
or
call
541-966-0810.
LICENSE: More than 400 employers surveyed said
lack of reciprocity was one of their top challenges
Continued from 1A
Paris Achen/Pamplin Media Group
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown Friday announced a plan
intended to reduce gun violence.
GUNS: Is establishing
a work group to review
relinquishment protocols
Continued from 1A
issue an executive order
to require Oregon State
Police to retain irearms
transactions for ive years
and to require the Oregon
Health Authority to report
annually on gun deaths and
their effect on public health
and to recommend policy
changes.
She also is establishing
a work group to review
counties’ gun relinquish-
ment protocols and recom-
mended a statewide policy
to enhance the safety of
domestic violence survi-
vors.
Brown
made
the
announcement Friday at the
Veterans Memorial Coli-
seum here lanked by U.S.
Rep. Suzanne Bonamici,
other elected oficials and
gun safety advocates.
After her announce-
ment, Pastor Mark Knuston
of the Augustana Lutheran
Church announced that he
and other faith leaders plan
to circulate an initiative
petition to ban assault
weapons and high-capacity
magazines in Oregon.
House Minority Leader
Mike McLane, R-Powell
Butte quickly issued a state-
ment calling for bipartisan
dialogue on any gun control
measures.
“Oregon
House
Republicans welcome a
conversation about how
to address violence in
our communities, but it is
absolutely critical that those
conversations maintain the
appropriate level of respect
for Oregonians’ constitu-
tional rights and the thou-
sands upon thousands of
gun owners in this state who
responsibly exercise their
Second Amendment rights
and Article I, Section 27
rights every day,” McLane
said. “Sadly, this element of
the conversation is all too
often an afterthought for
politicians in Salem.”
EOTEC: Still needs to scale
down and build livestock barns
Continued from 1A
Mike Kay from the rodeo
board, Don Miller from
the fair board and Byron
Smith from the city. The
EOTEC board appointed
the committee Friday to
help approve some of
the day-to-day decisions
needed to move the project
forward quickly instead
of waiting two weeks
between board meetings for
approval.
The EOTEC board still
needs to scale down and
then build the livestock
barns. Contractors need to
complete electrical work,
pave walkways and access
roads, install signs, put
up perimeter and interior
fencing, extend some water
and sewer capacity to the
extended stay area for
exhibitors, landscape, irri-
gate and either build food
stalls or come up with a
plan for renting food trucks.
Frew said in light of
Knerr
Construction’s
involvement,
project
manager Rob Dreier will
transition to focusing
solely on the Blue Moun-
tain Community College
bond projects that Frew
Development Group is also
managing.
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
electrical work there.
“They pay taxes there,
they live there, they support
the communities they live in
but they can’t work there,”
he said.
The company as a
whole is licensed to work
in Oregon and Washington,
with about half of their
employees licensed to work
in both states and most of
the rest just licensed to
work in Washington. Barron
said he feels it’s worth it
for Walla Walla Electric to
pay to maintain licensure
in both states because there
is a demand for that type
of work in Eastern Oregon.
However, the fact that many
of his employees can only
work in Washington limits
the number of Oregon proj-
ects they can bid on.
The company is working
on Pendleton’s two new
schools and has bid on
other major Oregon projects
including Blue Mountain
Community College’s new
bond construction. But
many other contractors
in Washington, including
Walla Walla and the
Tri-Cities, end up deciding
it’s not worth it to get
licensed in both states,
leaving Umatilla County
with few bidders on some
major projects.
Not everyone feels
their business is suffering
because of a lack of license
reciprocity. David Bothum
of Bothum Construction
in Hermiston said his
company has enough work
on the Oregon side of the
state line to keep them
busy, and he would rather
use local subcontractors
for electrical work and
plumbing anyway.
However, a lack of
license reciprocity for certi-
ied trades between Oregon
and Washington was one
of the top challenges that
more than 400 Umatilla
County employers named
in a recent workforce needs
survey commissioned by
the county and BMCC. The
study recommended that the
county make lobbying for
license reciprocity one of its
top workforce development
priorities in the coming
years.
Last week Hermiston
Chamber of Commerce
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Electrician Pat Sweeney, with Walla Walla Electric, tests a light switch after
installing it Friday at Washington Elementary School in Pendleton.
Director Debbie Pedro
testiied before the House
Special Committee on
Small Business Growth,
urging the state to look at
reciprocity agreements with
Washington and Idaho to
help “ease a large work-
force demand” issue in rural
Oregon.
“I think this is really
important, especially for the
border cities,” she said.
Oregon doesn’t have
any reciprocity agreements
with other states for
general contractors. The
state does have agreements
with Idaho and Montana
for journeyman plumbers,
and with Arkansas, Idaho,
Maine, Montana, Utah and
Wyoming for journeyman
electricians. That helps
plumbers or electricians
who move to one of those
states, but doesn’t beneit
companies in border cities
like Milton-Freewater that
want to pursue work on both
sides of the state line.
Rick Rock, owner of
Rock Electric in Hermiston,
said even his Oregon-based
company can’t bid on some
Oregon projects due to
licensing rules. He has nine
electricians working for him
who are licensed in Oregon
and Washington, but on
larger projects he hires
temporary workers from
the electricians’ union. The
problem is that the region’s
union hall is located in
Kennewick, so many of the
available electricians are
only licensed to work in
Washington.
“Some jobs I can’t bid on
because I can’t man them,”
he said.
Rock Electric is currently
working on the new Holiday
Inn Express being built
in downtown Hermiston.
Rock said he feels it is
worth being licensed to
work in both states, since
the Tri-Cities is growing
and there is always work
to be found up there. But
some people don’t like the
idea of trying to having to
pass another licensing test
for another state or meeting
lengthy requirements.
“It keeps a lot of people
from doing it because once
they’ve been out of school
and away from the books
a while, tests can be a
problem,” Rock said.
He said changing the
rules to allow people to
become licensed in both
states through a single
process would be “a
major turning point for the
industry.”
Tom O’Brien of O’Brien
Construction
Company
based his business out of
Hermiston for 35 years
before moving it to Kenne-
wick about seven years ago
after they began working
on major industrial proj-
ects there. He said it was
important to be licensed
in both states, despite the
hassle, because there wasn’t
always enough work on
one side of the state line.
Some years 80 percent of
his company’s work is in
Oregon, and sometimes 80
percent happens in Wash-
ington.
He said licensing reci-
procity agreements between
the two states would bring
down the cost of projects, in
part through a more compet-
itive bidding environment
for subcontractors.
“It is what it is,” he said
of the need for two separate
licenses. “There’s nothing I
can do about it. But it sure
isn’t good for business.”
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
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