Haley Rogers’ shocking murder two years ago at a Gresham group home spotlighted the dangers facing behavioral health care workers, sparking changes at a large social services provider and new interest in safety by lawmakers.
Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Christopher Marshall on Tuesday found James Calvin Smith guilty except for insanity for fatally stabbing Rogers, 26, with a knife he obtained from a locked kitchen drawer he pried open with a spatula. At the time, Rogers was working alone on an overnight shift at McCarthy Place, a residential facility for people with mental illness where Smith was a resident.
Cascadia Health, a large Portland area nonprofit that operates the facility, was fined $7,250 by a state workplace safety agency after an inspection documented safety lapses that led to her death. Since then, Cascadia has increased safety staffing and training while revising protocols, spokesperson Stephanie Tripp told The Lund Report in an email.
“The work we do is challenging and vital,” she wrote. “As these and other efforts continue, we will regularly review safety from clinical, facilities, and staffing perspectives and continue to find ways to support each other and build an environment where everyone feels safe.”
Rogers’ death also caught the attention of Oregon lawmakers who are considering legislation that would require behavioral health facilities to implement safety plans, train staff and offer walkie-talkies or other devices to workers who are alone with clients.
“We saw this coming. Her murder was a turning point for our advocacy.”
Meshell Rogers, Haley Rogers’ mother, told The Lund Report that she is glad that Smith was committed to the Oregon State Hospital because it’s what her daughter would have wanted. She said that her daughter would have advocated for Smith had she survived.
“She was a strong advocate for people with mental illness regardless of their behaviors,” she said. “That night she would have done anything for him.”
Meshell Rogers said that her daughter’s death did help change the conversation about the safety of behavioral health workers, but there should be more awareness and public attention to the issue. She said that Smith should not have been housed at McCarthy Place and her daughter should not have been left working with him.
Rogers’ death caught attention of Salem
Following Rogers’ death, state Sen. Chris Gorsek, D-Gresham, introduced a bill in 2024 that would have required behavioral health providers to adopt safety plans. After negotiations, the proposal became a task force that would make recommendations for behavioral health worker safety.
Those recommendations are currently in House Bill 2203, which would require behavioral health facilities to develop safety plans that take into account lone workers and hazards in a facility’s built environment. Lawmakers are also considering House Bill 2024, which would allocate $45 million to develop the state’s behavioral health work force.
Oregon AFSCME backs both bills. Lamar Wise, the union’s political director, told The Lund Report that behavioral health workers had raised safety concerns about increasingly acute patients during the pandemic. But he said the issue did not get much traction until Rogers’ murder.
“We saw this coming,” he said. “Her murder was a turning point for our advocacy.”
Smith stopped taking medications before killing
Smith was arrested at McCarthy Place in July 2023 after an employee arriving for their day shift found Rogers dead. Police found signs of a struggle in the facility’s common area and a trail of footprints in what appeared to be blood leading to Smith’s room.
According to a court filing, Smith has a long history of mental illness and was first diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1985 after he was arrested for burglary and sent to the state hospital, which he was sent to six more times between 1987 and 1997. Smith was found guilty except for insanity in 2001 after he stabbed a woman whom he did not know on a street in Portland. At the time, he was living in a group home.
“She was a strong advocate for people with mental illness regardless of their behaviors. That night she would have done anything for him.”
Smith had been living for about a decade without incident at McCarthy Place, which provides services to 10 individuals with severe mental illness, the filing states. Staff described him as “a friendly and kind individual.”
However, a criminal investigation later found that staff reported that before the stabbing Smith had stopped taking his medications for days, stopped eating, remained in his room and told his case worker that “spirits” were bothering him again. The court filing states that before Smith stabbed a woman in 2001, he had similarly stopped taking his medications, withdrew socially and experienced more auditory hallucinations.
Meshell Rogers said Smith not taking his medication should have set off alarms of potential danger to staff.
State investigation faults Cascadia
Months after the stabbing, the state’s workplace safety agency, Oregon OSHA, completed an inspection faulting Cascadia. The inspection cited employees who said Cascadia was admitting clients to McCarthy Place who were not ready for a less secure environment. The facility lacked security cameras and was also staffed with only one employee overnight who wasn’t provided safety devices, such as walkie talkies.
The inspector noted that “there was no consistent assessment of staffing level needs to ensure employee health and safety.”
Additionally, staff complained to investigators that the keys didn’t work well and the front door remained unlocked all night.
Cascadia seeking to improve safety
Cascadia has since responded by hiring a safety administrator, installing an updated camera system, requiring sharps to be put in locked boxes, while making walkie talkies and body alarms available to all staff.
“Many of the people we serve live with severe and persistent mental illness,” Tripp, Cascadia’s spokesperson, wrote. “But not all clients are dangerous. The work we do is challenging. It comes with many risks.”
She said Cascadia seeks to maintain “a culture of safety agencywide.” Last year, Cascadia hired a director of security who has gotten input from staff, while looking into technology and other safety considerations.
The nonprofit has increased safety staffing at its health centers, schedules two staff members for all overnight shifts at residential facilities and increased pay for these shifts. It’s also added training for staff and revised protocols to prevent and respond to incidents.
Wise, of Oregon AFSCME, said the biggest change from Cascadia is agreeing to schedule two staff for overnight shifts in residential programs. He also said that Cascadia has been engaged in legislation to improve working safety. Cascaida submitted testimony in support of HB 2203.
“My hope is that they don’t stop after this goes away,” he said.
You can reach Jake Thomas at [email protected] or at @jthomasreports on X.
