Kira Erickson reports from the Island County Board of Health meeting of Tue., Jan. 20, 2026, for the Whidbey News-Times. Read the whole story.
Summary by Perplexity AI
Island County Public Health is launching a Child Fatality Review program to better understand and prevent child deaths. The effort, outlined at a Board of Health meeting, will study fatalities of county residents from infancy through age 18 caused by accidents, suicides, homicides and undetermined causes, excluding natural deaths. A multidisciplinary committee including the coroner, public health, social services, health care, law enforcement and a state DCYF representative will begin meeting this spring to review past and new cases. Officials note that similar programs have shaped safety policies elsewhere, and rising fentanyl-related fatalities since 2021 underscore the urgency of this prevention-focused work.
They Said It
Community Health Manager Megan Works explained that Public Health plans to launch the program this year, which will identify risk factors leading to fatalities and recommend strategies to prevent children’s deaths.
Criteria for the Island County program will include infants up to 18 years of age and Island County residents who died within the county. Accidents, suicides, homicides and undetermined causes will all be reviewed. Death due to natural causes, however, will not be reviewed.
Over the past 10 years, Works said, there have been 22 child fatalities that meet this criteria for the program.
