RECORDS
Tuesday, January 2, 2018
East Oregonian
Page 5A
DEATH NOTICES
Teddie R. Williams
Hermiston
April 8, 1941 - Dec. 31, 2017
Teddie R. Williams, 76, of Hermiston died Sunday,
Dec. 31, 2017, in Hermiston. She was born April 8, 1941,
in Hannibal, Mo. No formal services are planned. Burns
Mortuary of Hermiston is in care of final arrangements
Ruth E. Sanders
Stanfield
Oct. 31, 1947 - Dec. 28, 2017
Ruth E. Sanders, 70, of Stanfield died Thursday, Dec.
28, 2017, in Kennewick, Wash. She was born Oct. 31, 1947,
in Ontario. A memorial service will be held Saturday, Jan.
6 at 1 p.m. at Stanfield Baptist Church. Burns Mortuary of
Hermiston is in care of final arrangements.
OBITUARY POLICY
The East Oregonian publishes paid obituaries. The obituary can
include small photos and, for veterans, a flag symbol at no charge.
Obituaries may be edited for spelling, proper punctuation and
style. Expanded death notices will be published at no charge.
These include information about services.
Obituaries and notices can be submitted online at www.eastore-
gonian.com/obituaryform, by email to obits@eastoregonian.com,
by fax to 541-276-8314, placed via the funeral home or in person at
the East Oregonian office. For more information, call 541-966-0818
or 1-800-522-0255, ext. 221.
Brian Davies/The Register-Guard via AP
PUBLIC SAFETY LOG
Editor’s note: Due to the holiday, not all law enforce-
ment agencies provided police logs.
FRIDAY
7:55 a.m. - A Heppner resident reported a man sitting on
the curb on Southeast Chase Street and talking to himself
didn’t appear to be dressed for the weather. A Morrow County
sheriff’s deputy was unable to find the man.
8:35 a.m. - A resident of Paul Smith Road, Boardman,
reported a prowler left footprints in the snow and removed a
window screen sometime Wednesday, but nothing appeared
to have been taken and the home was not entered. She
requested extra patrols of the area by a Morrow County
Sheriff’s Office deputy.
11:41 a.m. - Another attempted burglary was reported to the
Morrow County Sheriff’s Office, this time at Heppner Day Care,
330 N.W. Gale St. The reporter said someone tried to get in the
back door and the shed door was almost completely torn off.
11:49 a.m. - A tailgate was reported stolen from a pickup on
Northwest Baltimore Street, Heppner.
8:38 p.m. - A Ford F150 pickup driven by a Walla Walla man
on Robbins Street, Milton-Freewater, didn’t make it around a
corner and slid into the canal at Canal Street. No injuries were
reported.
9:42 p.m. - A “big boom” was reported near A.C. Houghton
Elementary School, 1105 N. Main Ave., Irrigon, and the caller
did not believe the noise came from a vehicle or a firearm. The
Morrow County Sheriff’s Office was unable to locate the source
of the sound.
11:36 p.m. - The Morrow County Sheriff’s Office was alerted
that staff at Bucknum’s Tavern, 152 N. Main St., Heppner,
had broken up a fight and several people were now allegedly
driving drunk.
SATURDAY
7:41 a.m. - A Christmas light show valued at $40 was
reported stolen from a residence on Northwest Shobe Street,
Heppner.
9:49 a.m. - A business in the 900 block of South Mill Street,
Milton-Freewater, reported a break-in.
10:46 a.m. - A Morrow County sheriff’s deputy talked to
two people at the Boardman Marina after the woman was
reportedly screaming, “You’re going to kill us both!”
10:59 a.m. - A vehicle hit a fence in the 100 block of Poplar
Street, Milton-Freewater, and kept going, the owner of the
fence told Milton-Freewater police.
SUNDAY
4:36 a.m. - A resident of the 100 block of Northeast Seventh
Avenue, Milton-Freewater, reported his vehicle stolen. The
Milton-Freewater police later located the vehicle.
1:19 p.m. - Runaway juveniles from La Grande were picked
up by a Morrow County sheriff’s deputy after a caller reported
they would be showing up at the Heppner Shell Station, 329 N.
Main St., to catch a ride.
9:13 p.m. - Irrigon ambulance and fire crews were called to
a house fire across from the Irrigon Moose Lodge.
10:31 p.m. - A Morrow County sheriff’s deputy assisted a
women who had rolled her vehicle and was trapped inside.
She was uninjured and the deputy helped her get home.
ARRESTS, CITATIONS
Friday
•Umatilla tribal police arrested Matthew James Wissman,
24, address not provided, on charges of possession, manu-
facture and delivery of heroin, and a misdemeanor count of
aggravated fourth-degree assault.
•Aaron Eagle Watchman, 36, address not provided, was
arrested by Umatilla tribal police for criminal use of drugs, a
felony, and misdemeanor resisting arrest.
Saturday
•Umatilla tribal police arrested Jonathan Thomas Tate,
19, address not provided, for driving under the influence of
intoxicants and minor in possession of alcohol.
•Kasey Shawn Pankey, 26, address not provided, was
arrested by the Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office on felony
charges of attempted second-degree assault and coercion
(aggravated assault), and misdemeanor charges of menacing
and reckless endangerment.
Sunday
•The Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office arrested Dylan
Michael Botti, 20, address not provided, for aggravated
fourth-degree assault and harassment (offensive physical
contact).
•The Union County Sheriff’s Office arrested Jerardo P. Sital,
19, address not provided, in Hermiston on felony charges of
unauthorized use of vehicle, hindering prosecution, criminal
conspiracy and attempt to commit crime, and misdemeanor
charges of unauthorized entry of motor vehicle, interfering with
a peace officer and second-degree criminal trespass.
•Dustin Charles Dyer, 24, address not provided, was
arrested by the Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office for second-de-
gree rape, second-degree sodomy, second-degree sexual
abuse (rape), second-degree unlawful sexual penetration, and
unauthorized use of vehicle, all felonies, and on a misde-
meanor failure to appear warrant.
•Hermiston police arrested Christian Garcia Hernandez, 21,
address not provided, for second-degree assault.
Monday
•Montaylor Sunshine Fuentes, 19, address not provided,
was arrested by Umatilla tribal police for felony attempt to elude
police and misdemeanor charges of resisting arrest, reckless
driving and minor in possession of alcohol.
In a Dec. 14 photo, Dr. David Duke, left, and Dr. Dennis Gory confer during a transcatheter aortic valve replace-
ment procedure on Herb Ball at Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend in Springfield. The surgery is a
minimally invasive procedure that can be an alternative to open-heart surgery.
Faster, simpler heart valve surgery
gaining favor in Oregon hospitals
80 percent shift
from open-heart
operations predicted
By THERESA NOVAK
The Register-Guard
SPRINGFIELD — A
high-tech heart valve replace-
ment surgery that requires
less anesthetic, a smaller
incision and faster operation
and recovery time has been
performed on more than 425
heart patients at PeaceHealth
Sacred Heart Medical Center
at RiverBend in the past five
years.
Now, this transcatheter
aortic valve replacement
procedure — TAVR for short
— is available to an expanded
group of heart patients: the
younger, stronger ones.
“Initially the only people
we could put these valves into
were the ones at high-risk
for open-heart surgery,” said
cardiologist Dennis Gory,
one of the surgeons who
perform TAVR procedures at
RiverBend’s Oregon Heart &
Vascular Institute.
TAVR long has been
considered the aortic heart
valve replacement surgery
of last resort for people like
Herbert Ball, 89, of Cottage
Grove.
A professor emeritus
of mechanical and nuclear
engineering at Kansas State
University in Manhattan,
Kansas, Ball likes to take
walks. But recently he
noticed that he was becoming
increasingly breathless and
exhausted.
A trip to his cardiologist,
Dr. David Duke at River-
Bend, diagnosed Ball’s
problem as aortic stenosis, a
narrowing of the aortic valve
opening. That narrowing,
caused by an accumulation
of calcium, weakens the
aorta’s ability to close tightly
and pump efficiently.
The aortic valve closes off
the lower left chamber of the
heart after the heart pumps.
That closure prevents oxygen-
rich blood from moving back
into the heart, and instead
ensures that the blood flows
through arteries into the
body. A defective aortic valve
inhibits that crucial flow.
Without replacement, an
aortic valve failure even-
tually leads to heart failure
and death. Cardiac disease
continues to be the top cause
of death in the world for both
men and women.
The professional group
that sets clinical practice
guidelines, the Society of
Thoracic Surgeons, tradi-
tionally has considered open-
heart surgery the appropriate
treatment for aortic valve
replacement with a mechan-
ical valve. But in the summer
of 2016, the group climbed
aboard the TAVR train, noting
in its newsletter: “TAVR was
approved in 2011 for use in
patients who are at high risk
for conventional surgical
aortic valve replacement
(SAVR). Recently, trials in
intermediate-risk
patients
have shown that TAVR is
equivalent and possibly
superior to SAVR. These
findings have now opened
the door to trials in low-risk
patients, who make up about
80 percent of patients with
aortic stenosis, according
to an analysis of data in the
STS Adult Cardiac Surgery
Database.”
Now the Society of
Thoracic
Surgeons
is
predicting an 80 percent shift
from open-heart procedures
to transcatheter procedures in
the next decade.
The shift already is
happening — rapidly — in
Oregon. Although RiverBend
is the only Eugene-area
hospital to offer TAVR, three
hospitals in Portland and one
in Medford also offer the
procedure. Soon they will
have competition from hospi-
tals in Salem and Corvallis.
SIDE-BY-SIDE
COMPARISON
A quick comparison of
open-heart surgery with
TAVR shows why the rapid
change:
Open-heart surgery is
done under general anes-
thesia and involves a six-inch
midline chest incision,
followed by a three- to four-
hour open-heart operation.
The patient is on life support
while the new artificial
valve is put into place. Risks
include restarting the heart,
and after the surgery the
patient must be monitored
in the intensive care unit and
endure a lengthy recovery.
Although
Gory
has
performed many open heart
surgeries in his 35 years as
a cardiologist, he said he’s
never been more gratified
by a surgical result than he is
with the TAVR procedure he
performs three or four times
a week at RiverBend.
His sentiments are echoed
by
fellow
cardiologist
Sudeshna Banerjee, who said
she’s excited at the prospect
of seeing more younger heart
patients take advantage of the
procedure.
“These patients aren’t
guinea pigs,” she said,
alluding to the surgery’s
proven benefits. “It can be
right for younger people who
have arterial blockages.”
BEFORE THE SURGERY
“I am looking forward to
it,” he said in an interview a
few days before the opera-
tion.
A large cast of profes-
sionals, each with a highly
specialized role, surrounded
Ball, who was lightly sedated
but still conscious.
For Ball’s surgery, a team
from the manufacturers
of the balloon-expandable
Sapien XT aortic valve was
on hand. The device is made
of bovine — cow or bull —
pericaridial tissue that forms
a kind of peace symbol shape
— the same configuration
as the human aortic valve.
This bovine vein is custom-
fitted onto a glittering cobalt
chromium frame that looks
like a tiny crown. It’s royally
priced as well, costing about
$25,000.
This device is crimped
impossibly
small
and
threaded onto a catheter for
insertion.
Gory cut a small incision
in the femoral artery in Ball’s
right leg and began threading
the catheter toward his heart.
But the calcium deposits
were so thick, he quickly
made an incision in the left
femoral artery and began
again.
Ball began to say some-
thing.
“Not just right now,
Mr. Ball,” said Becky
Hammerschmith,
the
program manager of the
Valve Center at RiverBend,
in a kind but authoritative
tone. Ball relaxed. The
catheter was making steady
progress, visible on the array
of computer monitors in the
room. It was carrying the
tightly furled valve toward
its new home. It stopped at
Ball’s leaking, calcium-thick-
ened aortic valve. Then, as
the dramatic execution of a
well-rehearsed act, the new
valve was expanded, fusing
with the old one. For an
instant, the monitors showed
Ball’s heart pause, almost
as if humming, and then the
new valve began to steadily
and strongly to take over the
job of pumping his blood.
Even the calcium had a
role, helping to hold the new
valve firmly in place.
The surgery had taken less
than an hour.
RETURN TO WALKING
The day after his surgery,
Hammerschmith had Ball
walking. He went home on
the third day, accompanied
by his daughter, Alesia Ball,
and was chatting amiably
on the fourth day about his
experience. Because Gory
had to thread the catheter
through Ball’s left artery,
“I have two groin areas that
are tender now,” Ball said,
more in observation than
complaint. “Too bad I can’t
go on display,” referring to
bruises on his legs that were
turning bright and festive
colors.
But less than a week after
the TAVR, he could detect
other differences.
“My body feels much
better now,” he said, much
warmer.
NEW SURGERY,
SAME PRICE
If there is one way that
TAVR still isn’t much
different than standard open-
heart surgery, it’s costs.
TAVR or standard aortic
heart valve replacement
surgery ranges from $70,000
to $200,000, depending on
its complexity.
For the elderly, Medicare
covers most of the expense.
Much of the TVAR cost for
the surgery, Gory said, is
because it still is accepted
protocol to have an open-
heart team standing by
during TAVR procedures.
Gory said that might soon
change. He said the open-
heart team at RiverBend
never has had to spring into
action in five years.
But given that most of
the TAVR patients to date
already have overlapping
health issues and advanced
years, the mortality rate is
about 20 percent. There is a
risk of strokes.
However, Gory predicts
that as more TAVR programs
are established, costs will
decline.
TAVR, he said, is a good
example of how less is
proving to be more.
1/2
Cineplex Show Times
$5 Classic Movie
1/3 12:00 PM
My Left Foot
The Greatest Showman (PG)
4:20 6:50 9:30
Jumanji 2D (PG13)
7:10
MEETINGS
TUESDAY, JANUARY 2
PENDLETON SCHOOL DIS-
TRICT WORK SESSION, 3 p.m.,
Pendleton School District office,
107 N.W. 10th St., Pendleton.
(541-276-6711)
WESTON LIBRARY BOARD,
5:30 p.m., Weston Public Library,
108 E. Main St., Weston. (541-
566-2378)
IRRIGON PLANNING COM-
MISSION, 6 p.m., Irrigon City Hall,
500 N.E. Main St., Irrigon. (541-
922-3047)
BOARDMAN CITY COUN-
CIL, 7 p.m., Boardman City Hall,
200 City Center Circle, Boardman.
(541-481-9252)
STANFIELD CITY COUNCIL,
7 p.m., Stanfield City Hall council
chambers, 160 S. Main St., Stan-
field. (541-449-3831)
PILOT ROCK CITY COUN-
CIL, 7 p.m., Pilot Rock City Hall
council chambers, 143 W. Main
St., Pilot Rock. (541-443-2811)
UMATILLA CITY COUNCIL,
7 p.m., Umatilla City Hall council
chambers, 700 Sixth St., Umatilla.
(Nanci 541-922-3226 ext. 105)
PENDLETON CITY COUNCIL,
7 p.m., Pendleton City Hall council
chambers, 501 S.W. Emigrant Ave.,
Pendleton. (541-966-0201)
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 3
MORROW COUNTY BOARD
OF COMMISSIONERS, 9 a.m.,
Bartholomew Government Build-
ing upper conference room, 110
N. Court St., Heppner. (Roberta
Lutcher 541-676-5613)
UMATILLA COUNTY BOARD
OF COMMISSIONERS, 9 a.m.,
Umatilla County Courthouse room
130, 216 S.E. Fourth St., Pendle-
ton. (Doug Olsen 541-278-6208)
HERMISTON AIRPORT AD-
VISORY COMMITTEE, 4 p.m.,
Hermiston Airport lounge, 1600
Airport Way, Hermiston. (541-567-
5521)
MEACHAM
VOLUNTEER
FIRE DEPARTMENT, 6 p.m.,
Meacham Fire Department, Mea-
cham. (541-786-2069)
CONDON CITY COUNCIL,
7 p.m., Condon City Hall, 128 S.
Main St., Condon. (541-384-2711)
UMATILLA RURAL FIRE PRO-
TECTION DISTRICT, 7 p.m., Uma-
tilla Fire Department, 305 Willamette
St., Umatilla. (541-922-2770)
THURSDAY, JANUARY 4
ADAMS PLANNING COM-
MISSION, 6:30 p.m., Adams City
Hall, 190 N. Main St., Adams.
(541-566-9380)
MONDAY, JANUARY 8
PENDLETON SCHOOL DIS-
TRICT, 6 p.m., Pendleton School
District office, 107 N.W. 10th St.,
Pendleton. (541-276-6711)
HERMISTON SCHOOL DIS-
TRICT, 6:30 p.m., district office,
502 W. Standard Ave., Hermiston.
(541-667-6000)
M I LT O N - F R E E WAT E R
SCHOOL DISTRICT, 6:30 p.m.,
Central Middle School, 306 S.W.
Second St., Milton-Freewater.
(541-938-3551)
ATHENA-WESTON
SCHOOL DISTRICT, 7 p.m.,
Weston Middle School library,
205 E. Wallace, Weston. (Kim
Thul 541-566-3551)
ADAMS CITY COUNCIL, 7
p.m., Adams City Hall, 190 N.
Main St., Adams. (541-566-9380)
HEPPNER CITY COUNCIL,
7 p.m., Heppner City Hall, 111
N. Main St., Heppner. (541-676-
9618)
MILTON-FREEWATER CITY
COUNCIL, 7 p.m., Milton-Freewa-
ter Public Library Albee Room, 8
S.W. Eighth Ave., Milton-Freewa-
ter. (541-938-5531)
HERMISTON CITY COUN-
CIL, 7 p.m., Hermiston City Hall
council chambers, 180 N.E. Sec-
ond St., Hermiston. (541-567-
5521)
Jumanji 2D (PG13)
4:30 9:50
Star Wars: The Last Jedi 2D
(PG13)
7:00
Star Wars: The Last Jedi 3D
(PG13)
3:50* 10:10
Pitch Perfect 3 (PG13)
4:40 7:20 9:40
Downsizing (R)
3:40* 6:30 9:20
Credit & Debit Cards accepted
Cineplex gift cards available
* Matinee Pricing
wildhorseresort.com
541-966-1850
Pendleton, OR I-84 - Exit 216