Sheriff recommends death be identified a homicide - Sagewalk

[katfish]

http://cafety.org/privately-funded-prog ... r-sagewalk

[Anne Bonney]

Sagewalk is/was part of Aspen Ed, right?

[katfish]

Yes, the same one of the recent Mount Bachelor Academy child abuse noteriety.

More on Sergey's final (and dehumanizing) days of life:

http://cafety.org/privately-funded-prog ... tion-group

[Anne Bonney]

It's absolutely sickening!  That these people are allowed anywhere near kids just saddens me to no end.  It truly does.  So, how many deaths has Aspen racked up now?

[Anne Bonney]

This.....

Although most were medically trained, investigation identified issues which may have brought medical practices into conflict with program practices, and this conflict having a significant impact on Sergey Blashchishen's death.


Smacks of the holier than thou attitude of Straight and Miller Newton.  We all remember him continuously telling us that we "forfeited our rights" because we were "druggies".  The unmitigated gall of these people.  What's that C.S. Lewis quote?

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."  C.S. Lewis

[AuntieEm2]

The circumstances of this death mirror so many others.

Note that when it was clear Sergey was in real trouble, the staff's first call was NOT to 911, but to the program management. They did not have the child's best interests in mind, but the program's.

Despicable.

Interesting also that the sheriff is recommending charges agains the Aspen corporation, as well as the individual staff members.

My deepest sympathies to Sergey's family.   I can't imagine this brings them any peace, but I hope they can find some consolation.

Auntie Em

[Whooter]

Along with that it was written:

The pattern suggests that SageWalk, as a day care facility having a seemingly special right to press children to their maximum and beyond, is without the capability to separate symptoms of misbehavior from symptoms of approaching death,” Poré wrote.

This suggests, to me, that the staff in charge just didn’t know or were not trained to be able to effectively separate the symptoms.  Then, again, maybe there is no way to tell the difference between misbehavior and real symptoms of a problem or impending death.
If it turns out that there isn’t a clear way to differentiate these two then the safer path will have to take precedence “ in every case” and eliminate this decision from the staff in the field.  I cant see a solution other than this going forward if it is not a training issue.



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[Joel]

Edited: Wednesday, October 06, 2010

[Whooter]

It's absolutely sickening!  That these people are allowed anywhere near kids just saddens me to no end.  It truly does.  So, how many deaths has Aspen racked up now?

I agree with Anne Bonney here.  When I worked with EYA we never had this problem in RI during long 20 day canoe trips.  They had more than enough water to drink.  The children had breaks.  We had kids with medical conditions and managed to deal with them.

No offense, Joel, but sitting in a canoe in Rhode Island where it doesnt normally get above 85 degrees I dont think would put a child in as much danger as hiking in the desert.  At least I think it was a very hot arid place.  It seems that under the best of circumstances (if all the staff were properly trained) that they couldn't differentiate between a behavior issue and a medical issue.

It will be interesting to see how the investigation turns out.



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[Pile of Dead Kids]

If the staff were properly trained, Whooter, the kid wouldn't be fucking dead.

Try again.

[Whooter]

If the staff were properly trained, Whooter, the kid wouldn't be fucking dead.

Try again.

Pile, I think the key to the investigation is to try to determine "root cause" and , although the sheriff is leaning towards a homicide charge, the investigation has indicated that a properly trained staff member would have a difficult time differentiating between a behavior issue and a medical issue.
So that tells us that even with properly trained staff it would be hard to tell if it were behavior or medical.  So training doesn’t seem to be the issue here.  It looks like it may be procedural (i.e. the staff calling home base vs. 911, staff choosing between behavior vs. medical).  So going forward that means that every child will have to be treated medically  whether it is a behavioral issue or not just to be on the safe side.

If this were done initially the child's life might have been saved.



...

[Inculcated]

... although the sheriff is leaning towards a homicide charge, the investigation has indicated that a properly trained staff member would have a difficult time differentiating between a behavior issue and a medical issue....

From where have you gleaned that “indication”?

So training doesn’t seem to be the issue here.
...

I think it is.

  It looks like it may be procedural (i.e. the staff calling home base vs. 911, staff choosing between behavior vs. medical).

How long did the boy lay there following his collapse before 911 was called?

 So going forward that means that every child will have to be treated medically  whether it is a behavioral issue or not just to be on the safe side.

Maybe a little preventative care such as not depriving the child of hydration and nutrients should not be left as an after thought.

If this were done initially the child's life might have been saved...

That day, Blashchishen wrote a poem, in which he described the camp scene — “squirrels/running around/blue skies/green bushes and trees/but I’m still hungry.”

[Che Gookin]

It's absolutely sickening!  That these people are allowed anywhere near kids just saddens me to no end.  It truly does.  So, how many deaths has Aspen racked up now?

I agree with Anne Bonney here.  When I worked with EYA we never had this problem in RI during long 20 day canoe trips.  They had more than enough water to drink.  The children had breaks.  We had kids with medical conditions and managed to deal with them.

No offense, Joel, but sitting in a canoe in Rhode Island where it doesnt normally get above 85 degrees I dont think would put a child in as much danger as hiking in the desert.  At least I think it was a very hot arid place.  It seems that under the best of circumstances (if all the staff were properly trained) that they couldn't differentiate between a behavior issue and a medical issue.

It will be interesting to see how the investigation turns out.



...

Joel's canoe trips where in Florida during the summer. I've taken the same trips several times, temperatures usually were in the 100s.

[Whooter]

From where have you gleaned that “indication”?

The pattern suggests that SageWalk, as a day care facility having a seemingly special right to press children to their maximum and beyond, is without the capability to separate symptoms of misbehavior from symptoms of approaching death,” Poré wrote.

Para phrase:

 I think training could make a difference.

You could be right, but the article (as it was written) seems to say that it was difficult to differentiate between misbehavior and symptoms.

 How long did the boy lay there following his collapse before 911 was called?

Not sure, I would have to go back and read the article again.

Maybe a little preventative care such as not depriving the child of hydration and nutrients should not be left as an after thought.

Yes, I agree,  This plays back into the training issue.  People need to be kept hydrated.  Once a person gets behind the curve and gets dehydrated it is difficult to continue to hike and replenish the body fluids.

That day, Blashchishen wrote a poem, in which he described the camp scene — “squirrels/running around/blue skies/green bushes and trees/but I’m still hungry.”

I am not sure what you mean by this.  The kid might have been very hungry?  Are you suggesting that this contribute to his death?  I believe fluids would have been better for him than food, in my opinion.



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[Che Gookin]

The lack of training issue seems to be of interest here. Though if my memory serves one of the preqs for employment at most of these places seems to be the WEMT qualification, which dehydration is covered very thoroughly in that course.

So yeah if it is training the program is just as liable as the staff involved. Though I tend to suspect it is a combination of things. The onion of staff training gives staffers a series of conflicting obligations.

State says you must report abuse directly to state> program says you must report it to program first.
Medical training says you must call 911> program says you must call supervisor.

And it goes on and on...

Believe me.. its confusing at times.