Bend-La Pine Schools app aims to prevent tragedy

(Update: Clarifying statistic)

The rate of suicide deaths for Deschutes County residents ages 10-24 was about 17 per 100,000 for the years 2015-2017, according to the Oregon Violent Death Reporting System.

In 2017, there were two teen suicides in one day in Central Oregon. That’s when former Bend police Sgt. Scott Vincent decided he wanted to do something about it.

After doing some research, Vincent said Tuesday he realized students often talk with other students, and their No. 1 method of communication was through their cellphone.

So Vincent spearheaded the creation of the ” First Step ” app, which is a link to community resources.

With the support of Bend-La Pine Schools, the app was added to more than 13,000 student iPads .

” First Step was created with the student and child in mind. ” Vincent said. ” Every step of this process, school students and kids were involved in the development. And … the graphic designs of First Step were all created by youth and teens, because I wanted this program to be teens talking to teens. ”

On the app, each icon is a hot button that takes users quickly and easily to the corresponding resource.

Vincent said since December 2017, the app has had more than 19,700 uses on the student iPads .

New this year, Bend-La Pine Schools added the resources for Lines for Life and Safe Oregon on the back of student ID cards.

People can also find resources at KTVZ.com under the Community tab, by clicking on “Let’s Talk. ”

For more information on the app, visit the Bend-La Pine Schools website by clicking here. For the city of Bend’s video, click here.