C.O. promotes child abuse prevention with Blue Ribbon Campaign

Every April, the Blue Ribbon Campaign promotes child abuse prevention on the High Desert. More than 50,000 blue ribbons are distributed in Central Oregon, but it all started with one in 1989.

Kayla Rotunno, development director at MountainStar, said Wednesday the campaign started with a grandmother’s tribute.

“Her grandchild was being abused, and she tied a blue ribbon to the antenna of her car to symbolize the bruises that her grandchild was suffering from,” Rotunno said.

The Blue Ribbon Campaign coincides with National Child Abuse Prevention Month. MountainStar and the KIDS Center are hosting a series of events to bring attention to the issue.

“Somehow, we can talk about animal abuse, and drug and alcohol abuse, and domestic violence, but it’s so hard and something is different about child abuse and it’s so hard to talk about,” Rotunno said. “But I do think we need to talk about it and raise awareness about it.”

Tim Rusk, executive director at MountainStar, says it’s a difficult problem to tackle.

“We all know it’s out there,” Rusk said. “There are child abuse victims in Central Oregon and in the U.S. I think there are 10,000 victims in Oregon every year. So, it’s a lot. And in our community, it’s about 480 victims.”

A workshop and role play Wednesday focused on how to provide emotional support in the classroom for trauma victims. Mental health specialist Cherie Skillings led the class.

“The way you are with a child when they come into care can really make a difference in their anxiety and their stress level.,” Skillings said. “A teacher can help calm a child down, a teacher can escalate a child, and can actually make it worse.”

For more information and a list of events, visit www.mtstar.org.