Two men who were living with dozens of other homeless people along a stretch of Bend’s Hunnell Road died hours apart last Sunday from the scorching heat, police and witnesses confirmed Friday.
Joseph Wade Davis, 64, had set up a makeshift tent with PVC pipes and tarps along the road and was discovered dead about 10 a.m.
Shortly after 2 p.m., Bend police responded to a white RV parked facing north on the road at the north end of town after a volunteer unsuccessfully tried to wake 60-year-old Alonzo Jay Boardman.
The two are among the 94 people statewide whose deaths are linked to the unprecedented heat. Authorities across Oregon are still unsure how many other homeless people may have succumbed to the severe temperatures. In Washington County, the death toll included a person experiencing homelessness and a man was found dead in his vehicle in Clackamas County.
In Multnomah County, with more than half of the state’s heat-related deaths, authorities said they don’t know yet how many people experiencing homelessness may have died from the extreme heat.
“The overwhelming majority of people died in their homes, but at this stage, we are not able to release the exact number of people experiencing homelessness because of missing information and because establishing homelessness takes intensive death investigation and follow-up,” county spokeswoman Julie Sullivan-Springhetti said by email.
In Bend, a friend sought help for Boardman after finding him unresponsive, said Luke Richter, who was at the homeless camp Sunday to pass out food, washcloths and water and provide a shower truck. The friend asked Richter and another volunteer to go and check on Boardman’s condition.
When Richter got to Boardman’s van, all the doors were closed but at least one of the windows was down, he said.
“It was well over 100 degrees inside of there when I stepped in,” Richter said.
Bend’s high temperature that day was 104 degrees.
Boardman, who was known as “Lonnie,” had been telling other people camping on the road that he hadn’t been feeling very well and that he just wanted to be left alone, Richter said.
When he was discovered dead, Boardman was wearing just shorts and socks, Richter said.
“He was in the back of the van in a bed,” Richter said. “It looked like he was trying to take a nap, and he just didn’t wake up.”
While another person checked Boardman’s pulse, Richter said he was yelling out to him to see if he’d move or stir, but they got no response and called 911.
The location where two men died from heat-related causes on Sunday, June 27, 2021, according to authorities.
Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz said two people died in the homeless camp and Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel identified the two men. The state Medical Examiner’s Office listed the men among people across the state whose deaths are believed to be tied to record-shattering temperatures that hit up to 116 in Portland, 117 in Salem, 108 in Bend and 118 in Pendleton.
Hummel called for the city to find ways to commit money to “develop safe, healthy, and humane places for all of us to sleep. I don’t want to have another Sunday like June 27th.”
“Joseph and Alonzo were our neighbors, they were loved by their family and friends, and they will be missed,” he said in a statement. “Our community needs to decide whether we embrace and welcome all our neighbors, or whether, instead, we want to pick and choose who is worthy to live among us.”
Both men had lived on the street for several years, according to Richter, president of the Central Oregon Peacekeepers, a social justice advocacy group, and Stacey Witte, executive director and founder of REACH, which provides mobile case management and outreach to vulnerable people.
Richter had helped move Davis and his belongings from a homeless camp in the city’s downtown area along Northeast Emerson Avenue days earlier as the city prepared to remove campers there, citing safety issues.
“A lot of our volunteers spent a week trying to find people alternative places to go so they didn’t have their stuff destroyed,” Richter said.
He brought Davis to the Hunnell Road camp but he said it wasn’t ideal because it wasn’t shaded and it was far from services in the city’s downtown.
“Joe was in a wheelchair so it was important for him to stay near the middle of town,” Richter said, noting that Davis had his both feet amputated.
If Davis hadn’t been forced to move from downtown, Richter wonders if he’d still be alive.
“Unfortunately it probably would have made all the difference,” Richter said. “He may have been able to get himself over to a cooling shelter before the worst happened.”
Since the two men’s deaths, the city has brought out tents with misting machines and is running shuttles to cooling centers and churches, he said.
Richter, who grew up in Arizona, said he’s very familiar with “what the heat can do to people.” But he said he hadn’t seen someone die of it before.
Witte knew both Davis and Boardman for years. She said both men were well-connected to support services.
But even so, she said, “we can’t make someone do something they don’t want to do. ... That doesn’t mean they always want to take the opportunities.”
“Joe was very well-known to everyone in this region, from social service agencies to the hospital to the police department. We visited him frequently,” Witte said.
Davis was offered a tent to live in but he said he was more comfortable using the tarps for a makeshift shelter, Witte said.
She said she visited with Boardman a week ago Friday. “He had just gotten a trailer and invited me over to see it,” Witte said.
Boardman was born in South Dakota and had prior addresses in Idaho.
In her 16 years of work with REACH, Witte said she’s unfortunately seen many deaths, but usually they’re from cold weather exposure.
“The heat is just as dangerous,” she said, “if not worse.”
The closure of on-site meal programs in Bend because of the coronavirus pandemic also has been a contributing factor in the isolation of people living on the street and their exposure to the elements, she said. In the past, the places provided temporary respite from the heat or cold weather. The programs have offered to-go meals instead, but are slowly reopening, she said.
“It’s a loss of life, and it’s devastating,” Witte said.
-- Maxine Bernstein
Email mbernstein@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212
Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian
"along" - Google News
July 03, 2021 at 10:35AM
https://ift.tt/3dFx2SD
Two men found dead from heat in homeless camp along stretch of road in Bend, officials confirm - OregonLive
"along" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2z4LAdj
https://ift.tt/35rGyU8
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Two men found dead from heat in homeless camp along stretch of road in Bend, officials confirm - OregonLive"
Post a Comment