A 12-year-old girl, Sarah June Niyimbona, died by suicide on April 13, 2025, after leaving her hospital room unsupervised at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, Washington. Sarah had been receiving intermittent psychiatric care for self-harm and suicide attempts over the previous eight months. On the day of her death, she exited her room without triggering the door alarm, left the pediatric floor alone around 5:30 p.m., and jumped from the fourth floor of a parking garage on the hospital campus. She died two hours later in the hospital’s emergency room (The Spokesman-Review, 2025).
Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center has not publicly released information about Sarah’s death, citing patient privacy laws. When questioned by The Spokesman-Review, Providence issued a general statement extending sympathy to the family but declined to share further details.
Sarah’s death occurred six months after the hospital closed its Psychiatric Center for Children and Adolescents (PCCA) in September 2024. The PCCA, a 24-bed inpatient unit for youth aged 12 to 17, had served children with a range of mental health conditions, including suicidal ideation and self-harm. The hospital cited financial losses and difficulty recruiting qualified child psychiatrists as reasons for the closure (The Spokesman-Review, 2024).
In the absence of the PCCA, Sacred Heart converted two rooms on its general pediatrics floor into makeshift psychiatric beds. However, multiple hospital employees have stated these rooms are not properly equipped to handle children at risk of harming themselves or fleeing. Unlike the secure PCCA facility, the general pediatric unit’s doors do not lock from the inside, and patients are able to leave their rooms unimpeded—an oversight that contributed to Sarah’s ability to leave undetected (The Spokesman-Review, 2025).
Further compounding the issue, pediatric staff were not given additional mental health training to care for children in crisis. Several nurses and caregivers raised concerns that they were unequipped to protect psychiatric patients. Sarah, who had been confined to her room with minimal peer interaction and lacked access to consistent therapeutic care, was previously monitored by both in-person and remote “sitters.” These monitors were gradually withdrawn in the weeks leading up to her death: the camera was removed first, followed by her in-person sitter. She died shortly afterward.
The Washington State Nurses Association (WSNA) has condemned the closure of the PCCA, arguing that it left a major gap in the region’s ability to serve children with mental health emergencies. According to WSNA, the few alternative inpatient psychiatric options in the area—including Inland Northwest Behavioral Health (INBH)—do not accept patients under 13 or those with complex developmental or medical needs, such as Sarah’s (WSNA, 2024).
In a public rally in September 2024, Sacred Heart healthcare workers demanded accountability from hospital leadership, citing the dangerous consequences of closing the PCCA without replacing it with adequate care options for children in crisis (WSNA, 2024).
Sarah’s family is now seeking her full medical records to understand what led to her death, and they are also looking for legal representation. A memorial service was held at Riplinger Funeral Home in Cheney, where family members, classmates, and local residents came together to mourn and honor her life.
NOTE: This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, help is available.
Call or text 988 in the U.S. to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, or visit 988lifeline.org for online chat support.
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