Leadership Team

Central Oregon Suicide Prevention Primary Care Workgroup

The Central Oregon Suicide Prevention Primary Care Workgroup, a part of the Central Oregon Suicide Prevention Alliance, provided leadership for the development of this toolkit. Members of this group include:

  • Laura Pennavaria, MD, Chief Medical Officer, St. Charles Health System, and workgroup Chairperson
  • Danielle Baughman, NCMA, Practice Management
  • Cheryl Emerson, M.S. Mental Health Clinician, private practice
  • Sierra Groenewold, MC, LPC, NCC, Behavioral Health Consultant, Mosaic Medical
  • Susan Keys, Ph.D. Associate Professor OSU-Cascades, retired and Project Consultant
  • Kristi Nix, MD, physician High Lakes Health Care
  • Scott Safford, Ph.D. Behavioral Health Consultant, St. Charles Health System
  • David Visiko, M.S. Suicide Prevention Coordinator, Deschutes County Health Services
  • Eileen White, President, NAMI of Central Oregon

The Primary Care Workgroup acknowledges that the suicidal patient can be challenging for the primary care practice. Seeing someone at risk and intervening to keep the patient safe takes extra time and skill, and often requires extra training in how to use the hands-on resources provided by this toolkit. For those practices in Central Oregon, the Primary Care Workgroup would be pleased to explore how the expertise of our group might assist your practice with continuing education related to suicide prevention.