|
Welcome!
Welcome to the monthly newsletter for the Center for Health Statistics (CHS), Vital Records office. You will find that it is filled with information that is important for you and your facility like OVERS changes, updates to Oregon laws, statistics, available reports, and process reminders. In the table of contents on the left, click on any category of news to jump to articles of interest.
We would love to hear from you regarding future newsletter topics.
|
|
CORRECTION!
Expired Oregon Issued ID Cards and Drivers Licenses Accepted to Purchase Vital Event Records Until 01/01/2021
Purchasing a birth or death certificate requires the appropriate identification. Customers that use Oregon issued ID are allowed to use an expired ID if the ID expired between March 8th and December 31, 2020 due to COVID-19. Starting on January 1, 2021 all Oregon issued ID cards and drivers licenses must be valid and unexpired if being used to purchase a certificate for a vital event. If you have any questions about this, contact David Tyner or Jen Southworth.
Vital Records Fees for Oregonians Affected by the Wildfires under Executive Oregon No. 20-35
The Center for Health Statistics has issued temporary rules that pertain to the waiver of fees for obtaining certified copies of Oregon vital records requested by individuals or families who had loss of property or life associated with the wildfires under the Office of the Governor State of Oregon Executive Order No. 20-35.
The Oregon Health Authority is responding to the Governor’s Executive Order 20-35 related to wildfire response. Many Oregon families may have lost all vital documents due to the wildfires. Family members may also have died in the wildfires. This temporary rule provides up to three certified copies of Oregon vital records free of charge if requested in connection with Executive Order 20-35.
The State Vital Records office will provide up to three (3) certified copies of a birth, death, marriage, divorce, domestic partnership or dissolution of domestic partnership free of charge if the record is requested in connection with Executive Order 20-35 related to wildfire response. The Executive Order only applies to fires that occurred in Oregon.
County Vital Records offices will provide up to three (3) certified copies of death or birth records free of charge if the record is requested in connection with Executive Order 20-35 related to wildfire response.
The fee waiver went into effect September 14, 2020 and will remain in effect until March 1, 2021.
 |
|
Welcome to The OVERS Team,
Bailey Pederson!
As the new Administrative Specialist for the OVERS team, Bailey is coordinating data access agreements and technology contracts, identifying and tracking OVERS defects, coordinating the OVERS release testing process, and supporting the OVERS Help Desk. She has a BA in English from the University of Oregon and an MS in Communication from Portland State University. Prior to working at OHA, she was the assistant manager for a team of analysts at a marketing agency in Portland. She was a competitive studio dancer for 15 years and is an avid reader. If you need to contact Bailey, call 971-673-1197 or email bailey.n.pederson@dhsoha.state.or.us.
|
|
|
Birth Records Amendments for Children Under One Year of Age
Please make a note that any correction of errors on birth records for children under one year of age need to be directed to the Amendments Team at the Center for Health Statistics. Please do not send requests for corrections to the County Vital Records office, nor accept requests for corrections from the County Vital Records office.
If you have any questions, please contact Sheryl Wallace at 971-673-1169.
Required Certificates for BIS
We would like to congratulate the Birth Information Specialists (BIS) that have completed and submitted their training certificates for OVERS and the National Center for Health Statistics. The deadline to send in the certificates was September 30, 2020. After contacting over 346 BIS, only 34 have yet to comply. These certificates are required for continued access to OVERS.
As a reminder, all new BIS must complete the training and submit the certificates with their OVERS enrollment by faxing them to 971-673-1201.
|
|
CHS Excess Deaths Dashboard
As part of our ongoing response to COVID-19, the Center for Health Statistics (CHS) has published new data dashboards showing “excess deaths” in Oregon.
The term “excess deaths” refers to the difference between the number of deaths occurring this year and the number of deaths we expected to occur this year. Deaths in Oregon have stayed above average every week since March. The number of excess deaths varies from week to week, from a low of four to a current high of 123. August has seen the most excess deaths of any month so far, with over 100 excess deaths recorded each week.
CHS maintains two data dashboards. The first dashboard, “Weekly deaths,” shows the number of deaths for this year, compared to historical averages. This dashboard also includes the number of deaths from COVID-19. The second dashboard, “Place of death,” breaks down the number of weekly deaths by the location where the death occurred – hospital, home, residential institution, etc. These dashboards are updated each week and can be found at the link below.
Center for Health Statistics – Tableau Public.
|
|
CORRECTION!
Expired Oregon Issued ID Cards and Drivers Licenses Accepted to Purchase Vital Event Records Until 01/01/2021
Purchasing a birth or death certificate requires the appropriate identification. Customers that use Oregon issued ID are allowed to use an expired ID if the ID expired between March 8th and December 31, 2020 due to COVID-19. Starting on January 1, 2021 all Oregon issued ID cards and drivers licenses must be valid and unexpired if being used to purchase a certificate for a vital event. If you have any questions about this, contact David Tyner or Jen Southworth.
Checking Intaglio Paper
When you receive reams of intaglio either from CHS or directly from the vendor, it is important that the paper is checked for any anomalies or defects.
That’s not to say that each ream needs to be opened and gone through, but each ream can be visually inspected for warps or size differences. If the paper is badly warped, it can be difficult (or impossible) to print on.
Once a ream is opened, it should be flipped through to make sure there are no printing anomalies. You don’t need to inspect each sheet; just a brief scan by flipping the paper.
If you do see anomalies or if the paper is defective, please contact Certification at CHS.VitalRecords@dhsoha.state.or.us or call the main line at 971-673-1190.
Customer Requests to Change a Marriage Record
County Vital Records Offices may get questions about how to make a change to a marriage record. These customers should be instructed to contact the County Clerk where the marriage license was issued.
Under Oregon law, ORS 432.173, county marriage offices have the primary responsibility for issuing marriage licenses and certificates and all requests to change an Oregon marriage certificate must be approved by the county marriage office that issued the license.
- Customers that contact CHS requesting a change to a marriage record will be directed to contact the local county marriage office that issued the license. A list of county offices can be found on the Oregon Association of County Clerks website.
- If a county marriage office approves an amendment or correction, they request the State Vital Records Office to correct the marriage record in the statewide file. The request must include the identifying information such as the full names of both Party A and Party B, the date of marriage, what item is in error, how the amended information should be registered, and be submitted by an authorized county clerk. Per ORS 432.235 (5) a copy of the amendment must be forwarded to the State Registrar so that we can amend the record. No amendment fee is required for these corrections.
- If a customer received a certified marriage certificate from the State Vital Records Office within the last year and the record has been corrected, it may be returned for a free replacement certificate.
If a customer knows the local county marriage office has requested the Oregon Vital Records Office to correct a marriage certificate, they may check the status of the amendment by emailing CHS.amendments@state.or.us.
|
|
|
VitalChek Orders Hotline:
888-896-4988
VitalChek Order online: www.vitalchek.com
General Information: 971-673-1190
FAX: 971-673-1201
TTY: 711
For technical support, contact:
OVERS Help Desk: 971-673-0279
|
|
|
|
|
