Whatcom County Deaths
| Submitted | Jan. 24, 2019 |
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Communications
From: Monique Merrill
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Washington Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
Death certificates or other records within Whatcom County in the last five years (2013-2018) for the cause of death for cases wherein the deceased party's address was listed as:
Unknown
Transient
Lighthouse Mission, 910 W Holly St, Bellingham.
Please inform me if records for this information are not available. I would like to request that any data fitting into my criteria, aggregate or not, be made available as well.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Monique Merrill
From: Washington State Department Of Health
Good afternoon,
We've got two emails from this requestor (media) seeking vital statistics information. I'll forward the second one in a moment.
Sincerely,
Richard Stringfellow
Forms and Records Analyst 3
Health Systems Quality Assurance
Public Disclosure Unit
Washington State Department of Health
richard.stringfellow@doh.wa.gov
360-236-4832 | www.doh.wa.gov<http://www.doh.wa.gov/>
Gender Pronouns: he/him
[cid:image001.png@01D4B3EF.4A03DDB0]<https://www.doh.wa.gov/Newsroom/SocialMedia>
From: Washington State Department Of Health
Good afternoon,
Here is the second email as promised. This one appears, on a quick glance, to be identical to the first. I may have missed something however.
Sincerely,
Richard Stringfellow
Forms and Records Analyst 3
Health Systems Quality Assurance
Public Disclosure Unit
Washington State Department of Health
richard.stringfellow@doh.wa.gov
360-236-4832 | www.doh.wa.gov<http://www.doh.wa.gov/>
Gender Pronouns: he/him
[cid:image001.png@01D4B3EF.76D4F310]<https://www.doh.wa.gov/Newsroom/SocialMedia>
From: Washington State Department Of Health
Dear Monique Merrill:
We received both of your public records requests on January 24, 2019. We understand you are requesting:
"Death certificates or other records within Whatcom County in the last five years (2013-2018) for the cause of death for cases wherein the deceased party's address was listed as:
Unknown
Transient
Lighthouse Mission, 910 W Holly St, Bellingham."
Vital Records are not open to public view. We cannot provide you the record under the Public Records Act because access to vital records is governed by vital records law (chapter 70.58 RCW). Under RCW 70.58.107, the legislature has provided that copies of vital records, such as death certificates, shall be charged $20 for each record. The information required to place an order is as follows:
* Full name of Decedent
* Date of Death (or 10 year span)
* City or County of Death
* Date of Birth (if known)
* Name of Spouse (if known)
You may be interested in our WA State Death data. Information regarding the data set can be found on our website at https://www.doh.wa.gov/DataandStatisticalReports/HealthStatistics/Death. These files can be purchased for $20 per file, per year. You will need to complete a data order form and mail a check payable to the Washington State Department of Health, Center for Health Statistics to request the file(s).
With this communication, the Department believes that your request has been responded to fully and appropriately, and considers your request for public records closed.
Under RCW 42.56.520 you may appeal our decision and request a review by the Department of Health's Public Records Officer. The request must be submitted in writing to either of the following:
Mailing Address: Email Address:
Public Records Officer PRRAppeals@DOH.WA.GOV
Washington State Department of Health
P.O. Box 47890
Olympia, WA 98504-7890
If you have any questions, please contact me at (360) 236-4308 or Stephany.Farr@doh.wa.gov<mailto:Stephany.Farr@doh.wa.gov>.
Sincerely,
STEPHANY FARR
Office Manager
Center for Health Statistics
Division of Disease Control and Health Statistics
Washington State Department of Health
stephany.farr@doh.wa.gov<mailto:stephany.farr@doh.wa.gov>
(360) 236-4308 | www.doh.wa.gov<http://www.doh.wa.gov/>
[cid:image001.png@01D4BD6D.FD0DC510]<https://www.doh.wa.gov/Newsroom/SocialMedia>
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