Boy dies at Sagewalk

[Anonymous]

http://www.kptv.com/news/20676299/detail.html

REDMOND, Ore. -- A 16-year-old boy died Friday at SageWalk Wilderness Camp in northern Lake County, sheriff's deputies said.

Authorities responded at 2:30 p.m. Aug. 28 to a report of a dead male at the camp, said Deputy Lake County Sheriff Chuck Poré in a news release.

The Portland teen was declared dead at the scene. He had been hiking with counselors and campers, according to Poré.

The day before, the teen attended the camp for troubled teenagers and passed a sports physical.

[Inculcated]

Teen dies on Redmond wilderness school hike-From KTVZ.COM news sources

http://www.ktvz.com/global/story.asp?s= ... =Printable


 
SageWalk Website assures parents of prospective participants that student safety is top concern
 
Autopsy performed, but cause of death east of Bend not yet revealed



A 16-year-old Portland youth collapsed and died on a hike with Redmond-based SageWalk Wilderness School, about 70 miles southeast of Bend, Lake County authorities said Tuesday.


Lake County Deputy Sheriff Chuck Pore' identified the teen who died Friday afternoon as Sergey Blaschishen, but told NewsChannel 21 he had yet to receive the medical examiner's findings on an autopsy performed Sunday in Lakeview, regarding the cause of death or other details.

Pore' labeled as "procedural" a suspension of the school's (http://www.sagewalk.com) BLM permit to operate on public lands.

But he confirmed that Blashishen had reported feeling ill and collapsed a short time later.

The teen's mother, Lyudmilla Blashchishena, told The Oregonian she was told her son vomited, then passed out during the hike. She said he did not suffer from any medical conditions.

She said her son dropped out of Parkrose High School last year and had worked construction and lived with an uncle before asking to be palced in the SageWalk program. "He asked me to place him in the boot camp," she told the newspaper. "He really wanted to change his behavior.

Here is the complete news release from the Lake County Sheriff's Office and a statement issued by SageWalk's executive director.

---

MEDIA RELEASE



LAKE COUNTY SHERIFF INVESTIGATION 090529



At about 2:30pm on Friday, August 28th, 2009, members of the Lake County Sheriff's Office, the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office, and Law Enforcement of the Bureau of Land Management responded to a report of the death of a juvenile male at a wilderness camp in northern Lake County. According to the initial information given to the Lake County Sheriff's Office, the juvenile was attending the Sage Walk Wilderness Camp. The juvenile had been received at the Sage Walk camp facility the day before, after having passed a sports physical. At the time of the incident, the youth had been participating in a hike which is a part of the behavioral program of the wilderness camp.


The initial report received by the Sheriff's Office was of a sick male, followed by information that CPR was in progress. Air Link air ambulance was requested by Deschutes County Sheriff out of Bend. CPR continued for approximately 45 minutes until the air ambulance arrived. Subsequently, the 16 year old male from Portland was declared dead at the scene.


Due to the remoteness and inaccessibility of the northern part of Lake County, Deschutes County Sheriff responded and secured the scene until Lake County law enforcement arrived.


Deputies interviewed camp counselors and other juveniles that had been on the hike. An autopsy was performed on the youth on Sunday, August 30th.


Pending the results of the Sheriff's investigation, the Bureau of Land Management has suspended the permit for the wilderness camp to operate on BLM Land.

Chuck Poré, Deputy Sheriff

---

Statement from SageWalk:


SageWalk Wilderness School is saddened to confirm the unfortunate death of one of our students on Friday, August 28th. At this time, the exact details of the incident are still being determined. We do know that our EMT-trained staff worked tirelessly with the student until the AirLink emergency helicopter arrived on the scene, at which time the student's care was turned over to the AirLink medics. SageWalk considers student safety our number one priority and takes this incident very seriously. Over the course of our 12 year history, our program has adhered to the highest standards of care and we currently meet or exceed all industry and state standards. We were the first wilderness program to be individually accredited by the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools, and we are licensed by the State of Oregon to work with students who are experiencing issues with substance abuse and are also licensed by the State of Oregon as both an Outdoor Youth Program and Private School.



Due to the limited information available, HIPAA regulations, and out of respect for the student's family, this is all we are able to communicate at this time.



CONTACT:

Mike Bednarz, MS, MBA
Executive Director
SageWalk Wilderness School

---

The state Legislature passed a new law governing wilderness schools after the September 2000 death of a 15-year-old student with Bend-based Obsidian Trails, which later closed.

William "Eddie" Lee of Scappoose died after an instructor held him face-down on the ground as punishment for an emotional outburst during a hike east of Burns.

Early this year, the Government Accountability Office listed 10 examples of youths who died at wilderness schools, and thousands of reports of abuse, as Congress considered legislation to require federal oversight for outdoor therapy programs.

At that time, a spokeswoman for SageWalk's parent company, Aspen Education Group, told The Bulletin that the bill went too far, and that schools already licensed by states and accredited by reputable groups should be exempt from federal regulations.

[Anonymous]

Teen Death Investigation
09/01/09

At about 2:30pm on Friday, August 28th, 2009, members of the Lake County Sheriff's Office, the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office, and Law Enforcement of the Bureau of Land Management responded to a report of the death of a juvenile male at a wilderness camp in northern Lake County.  According to the initial information given to the Lake County Sheriff's Office, the juvenile was attending the Sage Walk Wilderness Camp.  The juvenile had been received at the Sage Walk camp facility the day before, after having passed a sports physical.  At the time of the incident, the youth had been participating in a hike which is a part of the behavioral program of the wilderness camp.

The initial report received by the Sheriff's Office was of a sick male, followed by information that CPR was in progress.  Air Link air ambulance was requested by Deschutes County Sheriff out of Bend.  CPR continued for approximately 45 minutes until the air ambulance arrived.  Subsequently, the 16 year old male from Portland was declared dead at the scene.

Due to the remoteness and inaccessibility of the northern part of Lake County, Deschutes County Sheriff responded and secured the scene until Lake County law enforcement arrived.

Deputies interviewed camp counselors and other juveniles that had been on the hike.  An autopsy was performed on the youth on Sunday, August 30th.

Pending the results of the Sheriff's investigation, the Bureau of Land Management has suspended the permit for the wilderness camp to operate on BLM Land.


http://kohd.com/news/local/139779

[Anonymous]

Portland teen collapses and dies during wilderness camp hike
by Stephen Beaven, The Oregonian
Tuesday September 01, 2009, 2:44 PM

The Lake County Sheriff's Office is investigating the death of a Portland teen who collapsed during a hike as part of a wilderness camp exercise, a spokesman said today.

Sergey Blashchishen, 16, died Friday after collapsing about 2:30 p.m., said Deputy Chuck Pore. An autopsy was performed on Sunday but the results are incomplete and a cause of death has not been determined, Pore said.

Investigators are trying to find out if Blashchishen, who lived in Northeast Portland, had any medical problems that might have contributed to his death, Pore said. He had passed a physical the day before he died.

Blashchishen was attending the SageWalk wilderness school, a program for troubled teens based in Redmond. He was hiking with a group in northern Lake County between Burns and Bend when he got sick.

"He said he didn't feel good and shortly after that collapsed," Pore said.

The Bureau of Land Management has suspended the permit for SageWalk to operate on BLM land, pending the outcome of the investigation. It could not be confirmed if Blashchishen was on BLM property when he collapsed.

"SageWalk considers student safety our number one priority and takes this incident very seriously," SageWalk Executive Director Mike Bednarz said in a statement.

Lyudmila Blashchishena, Sergey's mother, said she was told that her son vomited and then passed out during the hike, adding that he did not suffer from any medical conditions.

"We are still so shocked," she said. "He always did sports, never had any disease. How could he pass away just from hiking?"

Blashchishen dropped out of Parkrose High School last year, his mother said, and enrolled in the wilderness school on Thursday.

He had worked construction and lived with an uncle before deciding to go to SageWalk.

"He asked me to place him in the boot camp," his mother said. "He really wanted to change his behavior."

--Stephen Beaven; http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ss ... nd_di.html

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Comments:


Posted by kimkatmeg on 09/01/09 at 3:42PM

NATURE WALK? Are you kidding? Wilderness therapy throws in a tough survivalist approach to aberrant teens, in an attempt to force them to understand the connection between actions and consequences. Months of forced survival living in the Oregon desert in winter are not unusual as the core of the schools' techniques for teens.

These types of programs need to be SHUT DOWN! I attended a few as a teen because my mother labeled me as "at risk youth" and I had excellent health insurance that paid these companies to tell my mother that I was being fixed. Each one I've been to has been shut down because of issues related to teens being killed or seriously injured. Both indoor and outdoor facilities.

The one I went to was called Obsidian Trails, it was shut down for suffocating a 15 year old who was acting out.

http://www.nospank.net/n-g81.htm[/list]
Posted by blueskypdx on 09/01/09 at 3:51PM

Here's a clue teens: Stay in school, grow up, don't act like a criminal and drop the attitudes! That keeps you out of programs like this. Simple solution. No discussion about it, just do it.

Posted by washcomom on 09/01/09 at 4:05PM

Sounds like it was a "hell" hike instead of a walk in the park. Even if he did play sports in school, he dropped out a year ago. What exercise has he been doing since? He was in bad shape or form to be hiking with such exertion with a loaded pack. When one goes on strenuous hikes like this one, there is a preparation period before-hand. Even for those that do this all the time.

I agree with blueskypdx to the teens - Get real, do your best, and don't act like a know-it-all. Because - you don't.

Posted by DudeInNEP on 09/01/09 at 4:20PM

Thanks Dad, I'm sure the youth with just soak up your advice.

Posted by boringlarry on 09/01/09 at 4:43PM

...um, where in this article did it say anything about loaded packs?...whether he wore one or not, when commenting on something, i would think it prudent to stick to the facts presented, unless there's another source you can quote...

With that said, ...get real kids, the world doesn't revolve around you...if more teens actually had to work hard to keep themselves alive, there wouldn't be time to make trouble....

Posted by HML770 on 09/01/09 at 4:53PM

In '75, when I was 17, I was in a group similar to this. We had to march across rural areas of southern California carrying loads up to 195 lbs (regardless of the size of the person), in temps up to 105 degrees.

We went cross-country over mountain ranges up to 5500-6000 ft, sometimes, for weeks on end. We slept in the open, the gear we were given was out of date, and very worn. Every tent we had leaked. When it rained we shivered, when the sun beat down we baked.

We carried very little water with us, and the canned food was just plain awful. If you fell out of a march you were subjected to harsh physical punishment, extra duty, and limitation of the few privileges you were granted. I stayed with the group for two years, and loved every minute of it.

It was called the "7th Marine Infantry Regiment, 1st Marine Division."

Posted by npdxretro on 09/01/09 at 6:23PM

Classic dehydration, most likely the signs were ignored, the tough love thing. Look at the history of these "schools" and you'll see they are rife with abusive behavior. And HML, most of these kids wouldn't pass the physical for MIL service, and were built up at basic.......big difference, although I get your point.

Posted by bendguy123 on 09/01/09 at 9:43PM

Sagewalk is a well managed and structured program. The risk assessment and planning that goes into any new enrollment is intense. Kids are not just thrown into the woods and expected to perform all tasks on their first day. Passing a physical and abilities test is standard. Until more is know it is not wise to jump to conclusions.

KIMKAT: your experience at Obsidian Trails was most likely tough, the death was an instructor mistake and a terrible event. It is true that power and control are sometimes factors, and that was most likely a huge factor in the program closing down.

Sagewalk is not a "fly by night" operation. I have spent many years as an instructor for other similar programs around the country and can not imagine enduring an ordeal like this. My heart goes out to the family, staff, students, and all other students at programs right now.

The bottom line is that most of these kids are not well managed at home and need an intense intervention of sorts, woods/school/etc.. Sending your kids to a program is tough and blaming the family for the end result is dangerous.

[Oscar]

Wiki Sagewalk datasheet and victim page are updated

[TheWho]

Wiki Sagewalk datasheet and victim page are updated

so there is no criteria for a child to be added to the victims list?  Just dying on the premises? or can they get added if they die when they get home too?

[Anonymous]

^^ THIS IS "TheWho" TROLLING THE UNFORTUNATE DEATH OF A CHILD ^^

Think about that for a second, what type of person would do that? Then think, is that type of person worth my time?

What is a troll?
In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room or blog, with the primary intent of provoking other users into an emotional or disciplinary response[1] or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.

To the fuggin T.

[Anonymous]

Sergey Blashchishena, 16, died at SAGEWALK (Aspen Education Group)
by admin on September 2, 2009

(1)Video: Mother Mourns Loss of her son in Wilderness Camp
http://www.kptv.com/video/20685256/index.html

(2)Mother Grieves Son Who Died On Hiking Trip
http://www.katu.com/news/local/56697982 ... eo=YHI&t=a

“I was just shocked,” Lyudmila Blashchishena said. “I couldn’t believe, how could my son die from hiking?” Her son, Sergey, died unexpectedly at a wilderness boot camp in Lake County. His mother said he was trying to get his life in order and was at the camp voluntarily.

[Anonymous]

Will Dr. Phil Speak Out About Institutional Child Abuse NOW???
by admin on September 2, 2009

SAGEWALK is an Aspen Education Group program. Sagewalk web site can be found at http://www.sagewalk.com/. Sagewalk has been featured on the Brat Camp show both here in the United States and in the UK.  Sagewalk also advertises itself as being featured on the Dr. Phil Show.

These are glowing endorsements. How do I know??? I know because after each of the brat camp shows that aired on American television I received several emails from parents asking how they could get their children on the show.  At the time, I had a page dedicated to protesting and exposing the realities behind the Brat Camp television shows. Parents searching the net for information would sometimes mistake the Brat Camp page on my site as the web site for the show.

While the Dr. Phil Show hasn’t recommended or sent anyone off to a “troubled teen” program in the recent past, we need more from him and his show.  We need him to undo the damage that he caused with his endorsements of the Aspen Education Group programs.

Will he formally renounce these type of residential treatment programs now that there has been yet another senseless death? Now that SageWalk has had a perfectly healthy 16 year old child who volunteered to go to the program die under their “care”?

I have alerted him and the show to this matter.  In the past they have chosen not to address me or this issue. I have just written to them again. Now I’m just waiting to see if he is big enough to own up to his responsibility in promoting a highly unprofessional and unqualified group of people who claim to know how to treat children.  I’m not saying he did this knowingly, however, he knows now and should alert others to the dangers that exist.

He should do this for the family of 16 year-old Sergey Blashchishena.

Tagged as: death of child in program, SAGEWALK

http://ficanetwork.net/will-dr-phil-spe ... abuse-now/

[TheWho]

^^ THIS IS "TheWho" TROLLING THE UNFORTUNATE DEATH OF A CHILD ^^

Think about that for a second, what type of person would do that? Then think, is that type of person worth my time?

What is a troll?
In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room or blog, with the primary intent of provoking other users into an emotional or disciplinary response[1] or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.

To the fuggin T.

He actually has a good point.  Wouldnt you want to wait to find out what the cause of death was before adding him to a victims list?  I think that is a valid question?

[TheWho]

What is a troll?
In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room or blog, with the primary intent of provoking other users into an emotional or disciplinary response[1] or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.

So on this forum we should refrain from anything controversial or inflammatory?  So you want everyone to agree with each other and treat each other nicely.  Does this sound like fornits?  or the way you would like it to be?
If you visited a forum like strugglingteens had would you engage in proprogram conversations?  or would you post anti-program posts (which would be considered controversial)?

Something to think about.

I would also like to mention that we were all talking about the death of a child until you posted this troll comment intended to derail the thread.  So if you are done trolling we should get back on topic.

[Oscar]

Wiki Sagewalk datasheet and victim page are updated

so there is no criteria for a child to be added to the victims list?  Just dying on the premises? or can they get added if they die when they get home too?

The boy is dead. The criteria for a police investigation is met, the criteria for the suspension of the use of BLM land is met and the criteria for a placement on the victim list is met.

We don't lie. It states that there is an investigation ongoing. When the real cause of his death is made public, we will print it.

They can get added when they return home too, but then in another category. The successrate used by their marketing firms not correct.

[TheWho]

Wiki Sagewalk datasheet and victim page are updated

so there is no criteria for a child to be added to the victims list?  Just dying on the premises? or can they get added if they die when they get home too?

The boy is dead. The criteria for a police investigation is met, the criteria for the suspension of the use of BLM land is met and the criteria for a placement on the victim list is met.

We don't lie. It states that there is an investigation ongoing. When the real cause of his death is made public, we will print it.

They can get added when they return home too, but then in another category. The successrate used by their marketing firms not correct.

Oscar, I wasn’t insinuating that you are lying.  I just wanted to understand the criteria for getting placed on the list and I got the answer, thank you.  For clarity:   If a child slipped and fell and hit their head (died) or had a preexisting condition that went undetected by the doctors and died or was just bludgeoned to death by a psychotic staff member or left the program early and died of an overdose or car accident they all fit into the same category and get placed on the victims list.

As a parent I would be interested (and be helpful) in knowing how many kids died due to negligence by the school so that I could determine the risk of sending them.  Kids that die in a car accidents or from a pre-existing condition, choking on a French fry at home or slip and hit their head on a rock could happen anywhere and are independent from any program model or design and therefore outside their realm of a programs control.

If I were targeting parents with the list I would categorize them differently that’s all.

[Oscar]

The case about the boy who died at the boot camp in Florida explains why we have difficulties with categorizing the children who dies during a program.

The program is often a major employer in a remote area, so there are some concerns about loosing jobs. We know that something was wrong with the first autopsy reports in this high profile case which led to a second autopsy which again showed the real cause of death. But would there have been a second autopsy if the beating hadn't been caught on video?

Most kids on the victims list did not get a second autopsy made by people far away from the area depended of the income of the program. We cannot be sure if the cause of death stated in the papers are the correct one.

That why we have hesitated arrange them by category. However suicide and restraints seem to cover most of the cases. Undetected birth defects or perhaps examinations of poor quality counts for some.

We would very much like to improve the quality of the victim list but the data we are provided from the media and families has problems as stated above.

[psy]

He actually has a good point.  Wouldnt you want to wait to find out what the cause of death was before adding him to a victims list?  I think that is a valid question?

Sure it's possible he had some undiagnosed heart condition or something, but given the way so many other kids have died in wilderness programs i'd me more inclined to attribute it (as a guess) to neglect or abuse.

Oscar did also raise some valid concerns about the autopsy.  If I were the parents I would request a second one (I doubt they will, however).  Haven't there been a few documented instances of "negligence" or outright foul play at various coroners in relation program deaths?  One case having to do with a spider bite if I remember correctly.