Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 24, 2019)
OFF PAGE ONE Saturday, August 24, 2019 East Oregonian A11 Pain pills: Oregon pharmacists ordered millions of opioid pills oids, so interventionists like pain physicians and physiatrists are in higher demand to provide more alternative pain control options,” she said in an email. “Further, the understanding of the psycholog- ical component to pain and our reaction to it has garnered interest and the need for pain psychology.” She said studies have suggested that opioids, while effective in the short term, are no more effective than Tylenol in treating chronic pain. It’s important medical pro- viders address root causes of pain, she said, and manage expectations so that patients understand that in some cases it is not possible to live completely pain-free. Continued from Page A1 data from the Drug Enforcement Administration tracking the path of every prescription pain pill in the United States between 2006 and 2012. It shows millions of opi- oids were flowing into Eastern Oregon each year. From 2006 to 2012 Oregon received more than 1.3 billion prescription pain pills, according to the Post’s database. Of those, 22,583,610 were supplied to Uma- tilla County pharmacies — enough for every person in the county to receive 43 pills per year. Mor- row County pharmacies received 1,235,200 pills, enough for 15 pills per person per year. Those num- bers don’t include prescriptions patients received directly via mail order. John Murray said the data- base has its limits — their Con- don pharmacy, for example, shows a high “pills per person” count for Gilliam County because it doesn’t take into account that they also serve neighboring counties, such as Wheeler and Sherman, which don’t have any pharmacies. “I applaud looking at these num- bers, though, because you have to start somewhere,” he said. Since the Post’s database came out, some pharmacists have shifted blame for opioid overuse on doc- tors, saying they didn’t feel they could say no to filling prescrip- tions. But legally, pharmacists do have a right to step in when they have suspicious of abuse or other worries. The Murrays say they often do just that. They cross-reference the patient’s prescription history through the Pre- scription Drug Monitoring Program and will call up a physician to ask if they were aware the patient is already receiving drugs from another pro- vider, are a first-time opioid patient or on other medicines, such as mus- cle relaxants that make opioid use more dangerous. The calls some- times result in an agreement that the dosage should be adjusted. They even worked with police when someone at an area clinic was illegally calling in prescriptions not authorized by the doctor. “We’re the last line of defense people have (against misuse),” John said. “We have a co-responsibility with providers.” Patients are also more likely to self-police their use these days after reading about the dangers or see- ing someone close to them battle addiction. “People will say, ‘This was writ- ten for 30 days but please just give me 10,’” Ann said. Changing laws Staff photo by Ben Lonergan Ann and John Murray pose in front of the Heppner location of Murray’s Drug Friday afternoon. Preventing abuse Safe use of opioids On the other end of the spec- trum are people still trying to game the system. Steven Hardin, emer- gency department manager for St. Anthony Hospital in Pendleton, said ER doctors are no strangers to people making up stories about having injured themselves while traveling or getting their medica- tion stolen. St. Anthony doesn’t replace pre- scriptions patients claim were lost, stolen or “eaten by the dog,” Hardin said. And when someone comes in looking for a new prescription for an injury, the department can use the Emergency Department Infor- mation Exchange to check their story. “We’ll ask if they tried anyone else and they’ll say no, but EDIE will tell us Joe already hit up two other emergency rooms in the last 30 days,” Hardin said. The emergency room hands out significantly fewer opioids than it used to. In the past, someone with an injury that would be expected to heal in a few days might have auto- matically been given a 30-day sup- ply. Now, they will get two or three days’ worth. ER departments have shifted from “just believing patients,” Har- din said, to checking history, alert- ing primary care providers of ER visits and comparing the pain level patients claim with what X-rays and other tests are actually showing. “We say no a lot, which isn’t popular,” he said. On the other hand, Hardin said, they don’t want to scare off people who legitimately need something stronger than ibuprofen. Opioids can help someone function in the early stages of healing from sur- gery or serious injury, which can be healthier than lying down all day just thinking about their pain. The Centers for Disease Con- trol provides guidelines for taking pain medications safely, encourag- ing people to never take more than prescribed or for longer than pre- scribed, and to step down their use as their pain decreases. Jaine Crowell, community health educator for Good Shepherd Health Care System in Hermis- ton, said mixing opioids with other medications or alcohol is one of the main causes of overdoses. The hos- pital is starting to hold trainings for the public on how to adminis- ter Nalaxone, which reverses the effects of an overdose. Those who have prescrip- tion medications in the house are encouraged to lock up the drugs they’re actively using and safely dispose of anything extra, cutting off opportunity for theft by friends or family secretly battling addic- tion. Area police departments have secure drug take-back boxes, and Good Shepherd recently added one to their pharmacy for people who don’t feel comfortable dropping off unused pills at the police station. Crowell said they are also work- ing with other partners in the area B2H: 500-kilovolt, 300 miles, $1 billion Continued from Page A1 And if all goes well for Idaho Power, he said, the state’s draft proposed order would become the proposed order by the end of the year, with the final order and per- mitting coming in 2021. Construction would begin in 2022, wrap up four years later, and Boardman to Hem- ingway would going live soon after. Berg said B2H is one of Idaho Power’s biggest projects since the Hells Canyon Com- plex of dams in the 1960s. “We see this as crucial to ushering in the clean energy future we envision,” he said. Idaho Power’s goal is to use only renewable energy by 2045 amid the grow- ing population of the north- western United States. The existing power lines are at capacity, according to Idaho Power, and B2H would alle- viate Oregon’s high-power needs in the winter and the Mountain West’s increased need for electricity in the summer without having to on a campaign to reduce the stigma of admitting an addiction to opi- oids — something she said can affect people of any demographic. Juli Gregory, education director for Good Shepherd, said there are a lot of resources for people who find themselves addicted to painkillers, from peer support groups to coun- seling. One frustration, however, is that Medicare does not pay for inpatient rehabilitation treatment for addiction. “It’s not just people who rec- reationally use drugs,” she said. “Seniors have a high rate of addiction.” Alternatives to opioids As awareness has increased about the addictive nature of opi- oids, medical providers are upping their focus on controlling pain without medication. Good Shepherd offers regu- lar classes on “living well with chronic pain.” It also recently opened a Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation clinic, offering comprehensive pain management strategies ranging from chiro- practor sessions to peripheral joint injections. They plan to add an acupuncturist and massage thera- pist to the staff soon. Dr. Miriam Washington, a physiatrist for the clinic, said the newer generation of doctors is more wary of prescribing opioids. “Many primary doctors are looking for a specialist that can help get their patients off opi- Walkout: Democrats back off threat to fine protesting Republicans Continued from Page A1 EO file photo A crew works on a transmission line tower outside of Board- man in November 2017. build new generating plants. The line, then, would inte- grate the region, Berg said, and make power more reliable. The Stop B2H Coali- tion contends there are bet- ter solutions to the region’s energy needs than clear-cut- ting swaths of private and public lands for big power lines atop towering util- ity poles. The East Orego- nian covered the coalition in a June 6 story available here: https://www.eastoregonian. com/news/local/stop-b-h- coalition-remains-charged- up -to - defeat-massive/ article_8cf33576-9dd7-11e9- 8d94-bb057ba8134f.html Berg said the public input has helped shape the project to find ways to mitigate environ- mental impacts and avoid sen- sitive areas. “We think what we have here,” he said, “is a better ver- sion of the line than what we began with.” As the country has been gripped by a crisis of addiction and overdoses, lawmakers on the state and federal level have passed new laws addressing the epidemic. Some of those have resulted in the prescription and emergency room monitoring databases listed above, while others have increased pen- alties for improper prescribing or increased money for treatment. In October, President Donald Trump signed the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act, a package of laws which Rep. Greg Walden told the East Oregonian is “the most significant effort ever made to combat a single drug crisis.” Among its provisions were reauthorization to continue pro- viding $500 million a year for the opioid crisis, increased measures to stop fentanyl from illegally entering the country, removing some restrictions on medication that treats opioid addiction and increasing access to Nalaxone for first responders. In the past few years, Walden has held roundtables in Pendleton, Hermiston and other parts of Ore- gon about opioids, taking feed- back from medical providers, law enforcement, mental health agen- cies and people in recovery from addiction. He said in an emailed statement that as chairman of the Energy and Commerce Commit- tee he also conducted hearings that resulted in a 325-page report “that uncovered numerous warn- ing signs and red flags missed by wholesale drug distributors and the Drug Enforcement Adminis- tration (DEA) that contributed to the opioid epidemic.” He added, “We’ve made prog- ress, but there is much left to do and I plan to continue to hold roundtables, propose legislation, and monitor this epidemic until we can solve it once and for all.” have the votes within their own party. To date, Senate Dem- ocrats haven’t imposed any punishment on their peers for walking from the Capitol. “Stopping the work of the people by deny- ing a quorum is uncon- scionable and undemo- cratic. Senate Democrats will work to protect Ore- gon’s democracy by giv- ing Oregonians and their representatives more tools to stop any future quorum denials,” Senate Major- ity Leader Ginny Bur- dick, D-Portland, said in a statement. “I hope our Republican colleagues now see that this is not a tactic that should ever be used again, and that they will work with us to pre- vent either party from walking off the job.” Burdick’s statement comes after the Senate Majority and Senate Pres- ident’s offices were pep- pered by reporters asking if they were going to issue fines. Throughout the past two months, the Oregon Capital Bureau asked sev- eral times about the fines, and each time was told that they were going to be issued. The issue was brought back to the foreground this week when a coali- tion of unions and lib- eral groups escalated the kerfuffle after noticing a political action com- mittee set up to help pay for the absent lawmak- ers’ expenses while gone out of state has donated to each Republican senator. The group has updated its state elections com- plaint against the 11 Republican senators, contending it’s unlawful to use campaign dona- tions to pay for their political exodus. Patty Wentz, a spokes- woman for the coalition, said the complaint still stands. The only senator who’s paid his $3,500 fine is Sen. Brian Boquist, R-Dal- las. He did so to estab- lish grounds to sue Senate President Peter Courtney in federal court, claim- ing he has no author- ity to issue such fines. Boquist’s check has not been cashed. Rick Osborn, spokes- man for the Senate Demo- crats, said the retreat from the fines was not because the caucus believed it could be on shaky legal ground in issuing the fines. Rather, it was to save taxpayers from fund- ing a legal fight. Senate Democrats said that “imposing the fines would have been bogged down by lengthy litiga- tion and hundreds of thou- sands of dollars in taxpay- er-funded legal fees.” Hello, neighbor. We’re Silver Falls Dermatology and we’re pleased to announce our new, full-time office in Pendleton. Dermatology-trained nurse practitioner Lorie Weldon, FNP has been specifically trained to diagnose and treat conditions of the skin, hair and nails in adults and children. Her schedule is now open for new patients and our office can usually accommodate same-week appointments. We can’t wait to meet you. Appointments, 541.210.5771 Pendleton Medical Center, 1100 Southgate, Suite 6 Lorie Weldon, FNP Dermatology-trained Nurse Practitioner
