Small budget runs out for Child Death Review program

YAKIMA, Wash. -- A special panel that has been quietly reviewing unexplained and unexpected deaths of children in Yakima County for more than 20 years has stopped its bimonthly meetings as a result of budget cuts.

The Child Death Review program, coordinated by the Yakima Health District with participation from other agencies throughout the county, examines unexplained deaths of children under the age of 18.

The program ran out of state money last year and is now on hiatus pending a decision on its future by the Board of Health, possibly at a meeting later this month.

"We got through last year with leftover dollars, but we have no more leftover dollars," said Dennis Klukan, administrator of the Health District.

The program's budget is small -- between $5,000 and $6,000 a year to compensate staff and collect and prepare documents for review.

Klukan said over the years the review program has saved "hundreds of lives" by identifying trends in deaths, improving death scene investigations and identifying opportunities for injury prevention and other gaps in community services.

"It's really been a great opportunity to convene a group of experts and take a look at one of the most tragic things that can happen in a community," Klukan said.

Between 2003 and 2005, Yakima County had nearly 73 child deaths for every 100,000 people, the sixth-highest rate in the state after Adams, Ferry, Lincoln, Mason and Stevens counties.

The local panel has re-viewed more than 51 child deaths from 2003 through February of this year.

Gerri Miller, the public health nurse who heads the program for the Health District, said the panel takes a little broader view than others in the state by examining the deaths of special-needs children, drowning victims and victims of motor-vehicle accidents.

"We try to determine whether the family received all the services possible or if they somehow slipped through the cracks," Miller said.

Klukan said the review program helped with early identification of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS, which lead to the "back to sleep" campaign to educate parents on the importance of not placing babies on their stomachs or sides to sleep.

"Ever since then the SIDS rate dropped precipitously," he said.

But when people began naming SIDS as a cause of death too frequently, ignoring other possible causes, Miller said the review team was able to bring more accuracy to the death records.

"Once we had 13 SIDS deaths but in the process of reviewing the medical records for one infant, it came out the child had possible cardiac anomalies," Miller said.

"The coroner went over all the records and determined that in fact, a cardiac problem was the cause of death."

The review program has also helped identify shaken baby syndrome, deaths related to substance abuse, deaths in unlicensed day-care facilities and deaths due to "the choking game," a high-risk activity that teens engage in to get high.

The reviews lead to educational efforts through the schools and community organizations.

Typically, members of the panel include law enforcement, social workers, a representative of the coroner and medical providers. Size of the panel varies according to the case. Their meetings are private because the names of children who have died, their medical condition and family status are discussed.

* Leah Beth Ward can be reached at 509-577-7626 or lward@yakimaherald.com.