NEWS
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, July 24, 2019
A7
Preview: The most economical and most fun things to see at Chief Joseph Days
Continued from Page A1
Ellen Morris Bishop
A saddle bronc rider gets almost more than he bargained for at the 2018 CJD.
can watch fl oats created by
kids, kazoo bands, the 4-H
fair queens, and a variety
of dogs, chickens, and other
things take their turn on
Main Street. And of course
kids.
• Saturday: Friendship
Feast and Indian Dance
Competition. Noon to
about 4 p.m. at the Indian
Pavilion just east of Har-
ley Tucker Arena. To honor
Chief Joseph and the Wal-
lowa Band Nez Perce who
are native to this land-
scape, descendants of Chief
Joseph’s people combine
with local residents to host
a feast of salmon and pot-
luck dishes that is free and
welcome to all. You’ll learn
and participate in Nez Perce
blessings and traditions,
and also have a wonderful
meal; the meal is followed
by competitive dancing,
including Men’s traditional
and fancy dance.
The Rodeo specialty act:
Every year Chief Joseph
Days Rodeo presents a
thrilling specialty act at the
Friday and Saturday eve-
ning rodeo. This year’s act
is unusual in that it doesn’t
really involve horses, or
even dogs. This year, Troy
Lerwill will present a Wran-
gler National Finals’ Rodeo
award-winning
favorite:
His Wild Child motorcycle
specialty act.
Lerwill has won multiple
rodeo honors for his motor-
cycle-riding, laugh –gen-
erating, and death-defying
act, which includes jumping
a truck and very long horse
trailer in the air. (Flames
are also involved…). He
works as many as 170 per-
formances in a year, includ-
ing the majority of the larg-
est rodeos in the United
States and Canada.
A native of Utah, Ler-
will comes from a fam-
ily that was thoroughly
involved in rodeo. His
father was a team roper. His
mother was a rodeo queen.
But as a youngster, Lerwill
was more interested in pes-
tering the clowns, watch-
ing the bullfi ghters and rid-
ing motorcycles instead of
horses. He began racing
motorcycles in his early
teens. He won the Utah
state motocross champion-
ship at the age of 16, and
also successfully raced
mountain bikes for several
years.
Lerwill has combined
his extraordinary motorcy-
cle riding talent with his
career as a rodeo enter-
tainer to develop an act
that is considered both out-
standing and unique.
“I told myself that, some-
how, it had to be possible to
jump a Dodge pickup truck
and a Bloomer trailer with
my dirt bike,” he said.
Lerwill names, as his
mentor, pro rodeo’s master
comedian Lecile Harris —
four-time PRCA Clown of
the year who has also per-
formed at CJD in the past.
But Lerwill’s rodeo
DNA shows through in his
other jobs at Chief Joseph
Days. He will be the offi -
cial “rodeo clown” which
also means being the man
in the barrel when the bulls
come out to play. He’s won
awards for his talents here
too. He has been named
Professional Rodeo Cow-
boy Association enter-
tainer of the year — as well
as clown of the year and
Coors-Man-in the Can of
the year.
So be ready to be thor-
oughly entertained at the
rodeo-equivalent of a half-
time show. And keep your
eyes on the barrel when the
bulls come out, too.
Opioids: New pharmaceuticals, treatments help address abuse, addiction in county
apy for heroin use,” Farley
said. “One is that as long as
the person feels they need
it, they should remain on
the drug. The other is that
it’s an excellent tool to hold
the demons at bay until the
patient feel as though their
life has turned a corner and
they can be on their own and
drug free.”
The
other
popula-
tion—those who have been
trapped into opioid abuse
by over-zealous pain man-
agement—includes all ages,
but especially seniors in the
population. “There’s no age
limit for addiction,” said
Keli Dennis, of Winding
Waters Clinic.
Winding Waters began
working with issues related
to prescribed opioids about
two years ago, Christman
explained. “The Center for
Disease Control (CDC) set
a threshold for opioid use
as 90 morphine equivalents
or less as “safe”. Then we
looked at our patient base
and began to work with
those who were at or above
the threshold.”
That meant helping
patients accept that a certain
amount of pain might be part
of their lives. In many cases
it also meant tapering down
the pharmaceutical, opi-
oid-related pain medications
and replacing them with
other treatments. “Those
include acupuncture, mas-
sage, and physical therapy
to reduce pain and help peo-
ple be more mobile,” Dennis
said. “It also included strat-
egies on how to cope with
pain, and helping people
Continued from Page A1
Whichever path the heroin
user takes to treatment, they
have to be in withdrawal so
that a new drug can replace
heroin to be accepted into
the program. “We are fortu-
nate to have medication—a
much safer version of meth-
adone—to replace heroin
use,” Farley said.
That drug is Buprenor-
phine, a pharmaceutical
that binds to the same nerve
receptors that suck up her-
oin. And while Buprenor-
phine satisfi es the craving for
a drug that will fi t into those
nerve sites, it does not pro-
duce the euphoria that her-
oin does. “So it allows a per-
son to begin to live a more
normal life,” Farley said.
“In some cases, we also pre-
scribe Naloxone, which pre-
vents abuse of the Buprenor-
phine. To the addictive
mindset, more of something
always seems good.”
Presently
there
are
about 70 patients in Wal-
lowa County involved in the
Buprenorphine program. It
can be pricey, with monthly
costs of around $400.
But it also allows partici-
pants to live normal lives,
hold jobs, and be respon-
sible members of the com-
munity. Treatment often
begins with weekly meet-
ings and check-ins, and then
extends to a 3-month inter-
val. Some remain in ther-
apy for an extended period.
Others are able to move off
of drugs entirely. “There
are two ways of thinking
about Buprenorphine ther-
Concert to
Fig
Fight
Slavery
ht Sla
very
Friday, August 16th
Joseph Baptist Church
107 Main Street
7
pm
Admission by Donation
Reception Following Concert
There are millions of slaves in the world
today. Human trafficking is the fastest
growing criminal industry in the world.
You can make a difference!
Join us for a wholesome, fun-loving
concert by local artists, including:
Homemade Jam, Stephen Tool,
The Brann Family, JBC Team,
Caleb & Ariana, and more!
A21 Quilt Raffle, and
delicious homemade
pie auction!
All Proceeds go to the A21
Campaign Abolishing Injustice
in the 21st Century
For more info. call
Stephen Bartlow
541-263-2951
Reach,
Rescue,
Restore!
Find them at
www.a21.org
www.a21.org/content/about-landing/gnoji1
understand that the expec-
tation that there is a pill
out there that will make all
pain go away is unrealistic.”
Steve Kliewers, Center for
Optimal Living, the Holistic
Health and Healing Clinic,
Wallowa Valley Center for
Wellness, and other provid-
ers are essential components
of this program.
Today, many patients
who were above the 90 mor-
phine equivalent levels are
living with pain medications
of about half what they were
prescribed two years ago.
Some new medications help.
Gabapentin treats nerve
pain. Duloxetine is effec-
tive for other things. “We’ve
also used Tylenol and ibu-
prophen to help manage
pain issues,” Farley said.
Patients
who
have
reduced their opioid depen-
dence have several bene-
fi ts, Farley noted. “Most of
them just feel better, espe-
cially with the addition of
acupuncture, massage, and
even yoga,” he said. “And
There is a lot of bad and
incorrect information out there –
GET THE FACTS!
before signing up for Medicare supplements
there’s the added benefi t that
your bowels work a lot bet-
ter when they’re not on opi-
oids, too.”
Wallowa County’s treat-
ment programs seem to work
well because there is excel-
lent coordination among
care providers, including
law enforcement, physi-
cians, mental health thera-
pists and alternative med-
icine providers. “A lot of
physicians here have really
stepped up to provide care
for both the patients recov-
ering from illicit use, and
those who were trapped by
over-prescribed pain med-
ications,” Dennis said. “In
bigger places, there can be
an attitude of just not want-
ing to deal with “those”
people. We don’t have that
here. Instead, we have peo-
ple from La Grande, Lewis-
ton and other places coming
here for treatment. It’s really
a tribute to the dedication
and responsibility of the pro-
viders here in the county and
the community as a whole.”
Kathleen
Bennett
616 W. North Street, Enterprise, OR 97828
541-426-4208