SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2017
from 1A
Frazier did background
interviews with professionals
associated with OCHS and
volunteers at the shelter.
He than made an unan-
nounced site visit and was
allowed free access to the
kennels and cage areas of the
facility.
Frazier’s report is avail-
able to the public and states
clearly the sequence of
events that led to his involve-
ment in the case.
He was also able to speak
on the record, as the case,
No. 17-5346, has been
closed, and he believes that
any neglect that may have
90by30
from 1A
That information was com-
piled into a study the showed
the scope of the issues the
Siuslaw region faces.
The study looked at both
the strengths and weaknesses
regarding a wide variety of
topics, including access to
concrete support and services
that address a family’s needs,
and positive relationships
that provide emotional, infor-
mational, instrumental and
spiritual support to parents
and children.
The report found many
positives in the community,
including the Mapleton and
Siuslaw school districts in
the region, which provide
several programs that support
students and parents, along
with strong support from the
faith community.
But there were problems,
particularly for the Upriver
communities, which includes
Deadwood, Mapleton and
Swisshome.
While there are 35 core
programs that work to sup-
port families and minimize
the stress caused in raising a
child, including social pro-
grams like the Boys and Girls
Club of Western Lane
County and food assistance
programs such as Florence
Food Share, only six of these
programs were readily avail-
able to those outside of
Florence.
One problem for the entire
Siuslaw region was the lack
of accessibility for Lane
County programs, such as
Lane County Public Health
resources, Mann-Heintz said.
Because of that, local com-
munity programs need to be
utilized more.
While 90by30 will be
looking to implement a
whole host of programs to
help with the issue, Mann-
Heintz pointed out three spe-
cific strategies that it plans
on implementing in the near
term.
One of these programs,
“Roots of Empathy,” will
focus on instilling empathy
in school-aged children.
“One reason abuse or neg-
lect happen is because of lack
of empathy,” Mann-Heintz
said. “If people were empa-
thetic, there would not be
abuse or neglect or violence.
Empathy is a gateway skill in
ending abuse and neglect.”
The “Roots” program
takes places in local schools
where, once a month, a moth-
er brings her child — usually
between the ages of two and
four months — into class-
rooms. Students will interact
with the mother and child,
learn about childhood devel-
opment and ask questions
about what it takes to raise a
baby.
“This enables children to
learn about empathy, feelings
and how we identify what
someone is feeling,” Mann-
Heintz said.
The visit, which is facili-
tated by a trained instructor,
is coupled with two other
sessions throughout the
month, a pre-visit section
telling children what to
expect, and a post-visit sec-
tion allowing children to
occurred in the past is no
longer occurring.
“I am the main animal con-
trol person in the Florence
city limits and have as much
contact with the people there
as anyone in town. As the
dogcatcher and transporter of
these animals to the [OCHS],
I have never seen any behav-
ior of any of the staff or vol-
unteers that has caused me
any concern,” Frazier said. “I
saw all the animals in the
OCHS and witnessed no
signs of neglect or abuse.”
According to Frazier’s
report, the kennels and cages
that house the sheltered ani-
mals were clean and well
maintained, food for the ani-
mals was safeguarded and
the animals seemed well
cared for.
Frazier said he believes
there are currently no issues
that require his involvement
or further investigation.
However, Frazier did state
that any future negative
information regarding the
animals at OCHS would be
cause to open a new investi-
gation.
For the DOJ, another
aspect of the ongoing OCHS
situation is the concern by
organization members that
recent board appointments
have
been
illegitimate,
according to Oregon laws
regarding the operations of
nonprofit entities.
These concerns are the
subject of a DOJ inquiry into
OCHS practices, specifically
directed towards the appoint-
ment of interim members to
fill vacancies caused by res-
ignation on the OCHS board.
The DOJ currently has
these issues under review and
is expected to make recom-
mendations to the OCHS
Board of Directors before the
next board meeting, sched-
uled for tomorrow, Oct. 19,
at 5:30 p.m. at the
Laurelwood
Community
Center at 1137 Maple St. in
Florence.
OCHS
management
declined to comment as of
press time Tuesday.
speak about the experience.
These visits are repeated
every month throughout the
school year.
“The class gets very
attached to the baby,” Mann-
Heintz said. “They know this
baby and they see it grow.
Nobody can resist babies.
They really do fall in love
with this baby and have own-
ership of its development to
some degree.”
90by30 will also be offer-
ing “Welcome Baby Boxes”
to new parents.
“When a baby is born, the
family is given a Welcome
Baby Box,” Mann-Heintz
said. “This is a box that has
been especially designed to
actually serve as a sleeping
place for the baby for the
first six months. If you
haven’t gotten a crib, don’t
have room for one or can’t
afford one, you have a place
for your baby to sleep from
day one. The box is also full
of all the little basic necessi-
ties like toiletries, diapers,
clothes, wash cloths, towels,
a little blanket and a hat.”
It also has informational
resources that help parents
know what to expect with a
newborn infant, a vital com-
ponent in helping reduce
abuse.
Statistically,
newborns
have the highest rate of vic-
timization of 24.2 per 1,000
children. Parents make up
78.1 percent of childhood
abuse.
“As adults, we feel it’s our
responsibility to keep our
baby quiet,” Mann-Heintz
explained. “If the baby’s not
quiet, then we’re not doing
our job and something’s
wrong. This is when babies
get shaken. You can really
mess up a child’s motor and
cognitive functions if you
shake a baby, but that’s kind
of an instinctual thing. You
bounce them and then in your
own frustration you bounce
them harder to keep them
quiet.”
The material will help new
parents learn that it’s okay
for babies to cry.
“There will be times when
the baby is going to cry, and
that’s
nothing
wrong.
Everything’s OK. The baby’s
fed, the baby’s dry, the
baby’s clean and they’re not
hurting, they’re just crying,”
Mann-Heintz said.
Parenting is stressful, no
matter how much experience
a parent has, she said.
“You’ve got multiple fac-
tions of fatigue, concern,
frustration and maybe even
depression overlaid on this,
in terms of the caregiver,”
Mann-Heintz said. “When
you’re frustrated, the job that
you have to do is to get a
handle on your own emotions
and figure out what you need
to do to take care of the child.
There’s a reason why it’s
stressful and we all under-
stand that. Babies are in jeop-
ardy because of this frustra-
tion.”
Alleviating that frustration
takes community support,
which leads to another pro-
gram 90by30 is offering:
home visitation.
In this case, trained profes-
sionals visit parents and help
them through difficult times
by connecting them to
resources, giving moral sup-
port and providing help when
needed.
“The main goal of home
visitation is to connect fami-
lies with someone who can
talk about child develop-
ment,” Mann-Heintz said.
“They can ask questions and
let them know if there’s
things they need more sup-
port with. The parents can
really feel connected to the
community and feel like they
have someone to turn to.
Having a social connection is
a huge deterrent to abuse and
neglect.”
90by30 is still working on
when and how to implement
these programs, but Mann-
Heintz is hoping that some
can begin within the year.
“There’s a lot of details that
still haven’t been worked
out,” she said.
But to help with these and
other programs, 90by30 says
it needs community support.
“We’re already enlisting
some of the community peo-
ple,” Mann-Heintz said.
“One of the slogans of this
project is called “A Part to
Play.” The whole idea is that
the entire community has a
part to play in reducing child
abuse and neglect. Our com-
munity has need for all kinds
of folks with all kinds of
skills and resources to take
care of our kids and protect
them.”
From having informational
booths at events like this
Thursday’s
Good
Life
Boomer and Senior Expo to
working closely with local
organizations, the program is
casting a wide net to enlist
the help of everyone in the
community to help build pro-
grams for families.
“People have resources,”
Mann-Heintz said. “They
just need to know where to
go to get help. Nobody wants
to hurt their kids.”
West Lane County 90by30
meets the fourth Tuesday of
the month from 10:30 a.m. to
noon in the Bromley Room at
the Siuslaw Public Library in
Florence, 1460 Ninth St. Its
next meeting will be held
Tuesday, Oct. 24.
For more information on
the
program,
visit
90by30.com.
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Death
from 1A
“Most people consider
an in-custody death as
someone arrested and in
jail,” Carver said. “While
the woman was technically
in police custody, in this
case, they remained at the
hospital the entire time and
she was under hospital
care. And in fact, hospital
staff did work on her for
quite a bit of time after she
started deteriorating until
she deceased.
“There isn’t anything
that seems suspicious and
there’s no indicator of mis-
treatment. Anytime there is
a death in any police cus-
tody, another agency looks
into it.”
PeaceHealth
Senior
Communications Specialist
Anne Williams said, “Out
of our deep commitment to
the patient’s privacy and in
respect for the Florence
Police Department’s inves-
tigatory process, we will
not be commenting on
specifics at this time.”
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