An annual remembrance in Salem on Friday will include a reading of the names of 56 workers who died on the job in Oregon in 2023, the state’s Occupational Safety and Health Division announced.

The Workers Memorial Day list will include two Oregon caregivers, Barbara “Bobbie” Kolada and Haley Rogers. Both women were working alone during night shifts when they were fatally injured.

Kolada, a 66-year-old grandmother, was working in a Medford group home run by Partnerships in Community Living. The residence was occupied by two developmentally disabled men when Kolada suffered injuries on Feb. 20, 2023, that led to her death five weeks later, on March 27, in Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center’s intensive care unit.

Kolada’s death was the subject of a five-part series by the Rogue Valley Times published last May.

Medford police conducted an investigation at the request of her family and handed the case off to the Jackson County District Attorney’s office. Deputy DA Benjamin Lull later said, of the resident who was with Kolada at the time of her injury, that “likely he was the cause.”

Criminal charges, however, were not filed due to the resident’s mental deficiencies and nonverbal status, as well as a lack of evidence at the scene.

Kolada’s daughter, Jessica Bandy of Portland, who recently marked one year without her mother, said she had been invited to the Friday remembrance but decided not to attend.

Bandy said she still hopes to lobby for improved regulations and oversight from state agencies in the caregiving industry, as well as for increased support of caregivers, not just for their patients.

Haley Rogers, a 26-year-old mental health worker, was stabbed to death July 16, 2023, at the 10-bed McCarthy Place, operated by Cascadia Health, in Gresham. Rogers’ alleged killer, James Calvin Smith, is incarcerated and awaiting a May 2025 jury trial on charges of second-degree murder, unlawful use of a weapon and tampering with physical evidence.

Rogers’ mother, Meshell Rogers, said she had not been made aware of Friday’s event and does not plan to attend.

Representatives for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, of which Rogers was a member, said the memorial would be especially difficult for its members.

AFSCME officials said they are “continuing to push for safe staffing laws, with progress made in the last (legislative) session.”

In a message to the Rogue Valley Times, Oregon AFSCME Executive Director Joe Baessler said Rogers’ death was preventable and that work must continue “to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again.”

“Oregon will never solve the mental health crisis that is impacting so many families until we ensure that the treatment people receive is adequate and safe for those who need it and for those who deliver it. This issue is especially acute in the rural parts of our state, where it can be harder to find enough staff,” Baessler said.

“Last session, at the urging of Oregon AFSCME members, state lawmakers created a Task Force on Improving the Safety of Behavioral Health Workers with recommendations to be passed in the 2025 legislature, and we will continue to fight for the safety of all workers across Oregon.”

Oregon OSHA officials said the number of workers being recognized this year is an increase over 2022, during which 47 workers died on the job.

The 2023 list includes causes of death ranging from a plane crash and numerous motor vehicle accidents to falls “from height.” It also includes six instances of homicide.

Kolada’s death, however, is listed as “slip and/or fall, same level.” Her death certificate said the cause of death was a subdural bleed — a head trauma resulting in a brain bleed that compresses brain tissue.

Organizers plan to livestream the ceremony — orchestrated by Oregon AFL-CIO and slated to be held at noon Friday at the Fallen Workers Memorial on Salem’s Capitol Mall — or post a video afterward. For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/OregonAFLCIO.