SIUSLAW NEWS | SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 2019 | 5A
Community Voices
Natural Perspective — Woodland Blooms
By Emily J. Uhrig, Ph.D
Special to Siuslaw News
W
ith spring well
underway, plants
everywhere are display-
ing their seasonal colors.
While the showy hues
of tulips and daffodils
are especially popular,
blooms of relatively un-
derrated native wild-
flowers are also making
their annual debut.
For Oregon, one of the
most noticeable spring
wildflowers is the Pacif-
ic trillium whose white
flowers stand out strik-
ingly against the dark-
ness of shady woodlands.
Trilliums, also known
as
wake-robins,
are
members of the lily fam-
ily sometimes referred to
as Oregon’s Easter lilies
due to the timing of their
blooms.
Starting out a snowy
white, the Pacific trilli-
um’s three-petalled flow-
ers turn pink or purple
with age. As ephemeral
wildflowers, their flow-
ering period is brief,
which can make finding
trilliums in the woods
feel like a special expe-
rience even though they
are relatively common.
The visible parts of a
trillium grow out from
an underground rhi-
zome. This structure
is actually an enlarged
stem that serves as a
storage site for carbohy-
drates made during pho-
tosynthesis.
That is, the rhizome
is essentially the plant’s
food larder. Since the
trillium’s leaves carry
out the photosynthetic
process, the loss of the
leaves, as often happens
if the flower is picked,
can damage the plant by
preventing it from mak-
ing the food it needs for
next year. Thus, as with
other wildflowers, ad-
mirers must resist the
urge to pick trilliums.
Like for many other
plants, insects have im-
portant roles in the lives
of trilliums.
Bees and beetles are
common pollinators of
the flowers and dispersal
of trillium seeds to new
locations is also accom-
plished by insects.
Each trillium seed is
attached to an elaiosome,
a fleshy structure rich in
fats and attractive to ants
as a food source. The
ants carry elaiosomes,
with the attached seeds,
back to their nest where
they eat the elaiosome
and discard the seed.
This relationship with
ants allows trillium
seeds to germinate in ar-
eas away from the parent
plant.
Tr i l l iu ms are
slow-growing and sur-
prisingly long-lived,
based on age estimates
made by counting rings
on rhizomes somewhat
similar
to
counting
growth rings on a tree.
It can take over 15
years for a trillium to
reach reproductive age
and some plants are es-
timated to be more than
70 years old.
So, if you’re walking
in the woods and hap-
pen upon a trillium this
spring, enjoy its bloom,
but leave it be.
It may very well have
been there long before
you; let it be there long
after.
Siuslaw Valley Fire & Rescue — Being a resident firefighter
Cpt. Pete “Boa” Warren
Special to Siuslaw News
W
hat’s a good volun-
teer organization
have? Great volunteers!
Siuslaw Valley Fire & Res-
cue is lucky to have many
great volunteers in its
ranks.
One who comes to mind
right out of the “hotbox”
is firefighter Colten Gris-
wold.
Just a couple years out
of high school, firefighter
Griswold signed up and
started volunteering at our
fire department.
As he said, “I joined
because it seemed like a
good way to see if I want-
ed to pursue Fire/EMS as
a career.”
Apparently, he felt it
was; firefighter Griswold
celebrated his third year
with the department last
November.
It wasn’t long after join-
ing that he applied for —
and was accepted — as
one of three “Resident”
firefighter positions with
the department.
And speaking of the
Resident program, these
positions have dropped
response times by 30 per-
cent this past year alone
by having qulified fire-
fighters as residents (or
“sleepers”) at the station
overnight. When the pag-
er tones out, not only are
our residents out of their
beds in a flash, they are
responding to 67 percent
of all calls.
Quicker response means
quicker “knockdown” of
fires and control of emer-
gency situations.
Statistics to back that
up include response times
that have shaved an aver-
age of 7.82 seconds per
call for multi-unit re-
sponses, which comes
out to around 30 percent
faster times responding
to emergencies than just a
year ago.
Seconds may not sound
like much, but in an emer-
gency where lives are at
stake, 7 seconds can make
all the difference.
When not aggressively
seeking out opportunities
to enhance his firefighter
skills, Griswold is helping
others with theirs and,
along the way, develop-
ing great leadership and
training skills. It’s not un-
common to see him giving
a training class on a skill
he’s mastering.
As with most close-knit
groups, some are given
various names which ul-
timately stick with them,
the “Great Coltini,” has
found a new namesake.
When Griswald is not
running calls, you’ll usu-
ally find him in the Break
Room throwing down
some video games, study-
ing or working out at
Coastal Fitness — possibly
for a firefighter calendar...
In his “free” time, he is
working towards his Para-
medic degree and you’ll
frequently see him headed
south to Southwestern CC
for classes.
He’s also working at
Western Lane Ambulance
when time permits.
His advice for those
thinking of volunteering
with the fire department?
“If you’re interested in
helping others or building
a career, sign up!”
That’s good advice from
the “Great Coltini.” He’s
jumping through the fire
and heading the lights and
sirens to a rewarding ca-
reer. Contact me if you’d
like to discuss the possibly
of not only changing your
life but possibly saving
someone else’s as a fire-
fighter.
the word, “but.”
That leads to statements
such as: “But the PSA
blood test is not prostate
cancer specific;” “But an
elevated PSA number
may cause you anxiety
for no reason;” “But a low
number may mask an ag-
gressive prostate cancer
(under-diagnosed);” “But
the DRE (digital rectal
exam) where the doctor
inserts a gloved finger
in the rectum to feel the
prostate, may cause you
discomfort;” “But you
may be diagnosed with
a cancer that would nev-
er have caused you harm
(over-diagnosed);” “But
you may be treated for
that same ‘harmless’ can-
cer (over-treated) and
end up incontinent (lack
of urine control) or impo-
tent (lack of sexual func-
tion),” etc.
Every man has, in one
way or another, faced the
above negatives and made
his peace with them. Yes,
that peace even meant
some men turned their
backs on everything pros-
tate.
Their choice, they live
with the results! Others
of us decided on our own
(or with spouse) to be
screened, some decided
in consultation with their
primary care physician
and some with their urol-
ogist. In the end, our de-
cision was that screening
had more positives (like
life-saving) than nega-
tives.
Our choice, we live with
the results!
We’ve made our de-
cisions and dealt with
the results, the good, the
not-so-good and even the
ugly. It is our hope that
our experiences can be
shared and help others.
A Chinese Proverb says:
“To know the road ahead,
ask those coming back.”
That’s us on the road
coming back ready to help
those just starting out.
Us TOO Florence — Behind the headlines
By Bob Horney
Special to Siuslaw News
O
ur local Us TOO
Florence
Prostate
Cancer Education/Sup-
port Chapter provides a
unique opportunity for
residents of Florence and
its surrounding commu-
nities who want to stay
abreast of the very latest
information
regarding
prostate cancer — which
happens to be both the
most common non-skin
cancer, as well as the
second-leading cause of
cancer death among U.S.
men.
As our name indicates,
one component of our
group meetings is educa-
tion. I’ve been a bit remiss
in not highlighting that
aspect enough. We are
so much more than just a
group of men with pros-
tate cancer joining to-
gether (many with wives)
in support of each other.
Every prostate cancer
survivor and supportive
spouse/friend
contrib-
utes to our education just
through their comments
as they relate their ex-
periences with prostate
cancer. This is a critical-
ly important part of our
meetings.
Twice a month we have
access to the expertise of
our trusted urologists Dr.
Bryan Mehlhaff and Dr.
Roger McKimmy, along
with his PA, Cameron
Derbyshire.
This looks all well and
good, and it is — but we
are missing a key segment
of our male population
that I would like to see at-
tending our meetings and
bombarding all of us with
questions. I’m speaking
specifically of the men
who are trying to deter-
mine their own course
of action regarding pros-
tate cancer, whether it is
about the starting point
(screening) or some point
further along the prostate
cancer journey.
Our meetings are at-
tended by men at all stag-
es of the disease along
with expert urologists in
prostate cancer care.
Where else could one
find such experienced
sources to query?
Most men seem to wait
until diagnosed or even
after treatment to attend
one of our meetings and
we can certainly help
them prepare for what
will be and what may be
ahead. For today’s dis-
cussion, I would like to
focus on men coming to
our meetings and asking
about our personal expe-
riences with prostate can-
cer screening.
Also, ask our urolo-
gists about this “baseline”
PSA test they recommend
during one’s 40s.
We prostate cancer sur-
vivors attending the meet-
ings would find sharing
our personal experiences
with men who are enter-
ing that confusing area of
prostate cancer screening
a welcome educational
adventure.
We often share our
treatment results fol-
lowing diagnosis (usual-
ly from screening), but
much less often get to pro-
vide “food for thought”
about screening for undi-
agnosed men (and spous-
es) to consider.
You would probably
find us to be strongly
pro-screening. Okay, but
then how did we deal with
the positives and nega-
tives? Much of the posi-
tive information regard-
ing screening ends with
The Moral of the Story — A twist of a knife
knives, my Dad’s col-
lection of pocketknives
came to mind; he always
carried one.
When Dad returned
from work, I’d run to the
bottom of the hill where
his ride dropped him off.
With me on his shoul-
ders, he’d climb the path
through lupine, nestled
among mustard greens.
Blossoms covered the
hillside in a yellow and
By Karen D. Nichols
purple quilt. Dad often
Special to Siuslaw News
used his pocketknife to
esterday while drying cut bouquets for Mom or
my freshly washed me.
Y
At .20 cents a gallon,
going for a ride in our ’37
Chevy became a cheap
outing. Along the way, if
Mom spotted cattails or
Queen Anne’s Lace, Dad
would cut a bunch with
his pocketknife.
Before going to the
beach, Dad would cut
green switches from trees
for skewers to roast hot-
dogs or marshmallows.
His blade sliced apple
skin into a long, red, dan-
gling spiral.
My brother and Dad
played Mumblety Peg or
threw knives at targets.
Dad could fix anything
with his knife. It could be
a screwdriver; his knife
and needle-nose pliers re-
paired jewelry; he’d pick
locks or whittle toys; he
could open cans or scrape
away crud; need to sharp-
en flat woodworking pen-
cils? Out came his knife.
When I got splinters,
he’d sterilize his knife with
a match and wipe with al-
cohol. Under his goose-
neck lamp, I’d extend my
hand, then squint while
he dug out the culprit.Us-
ing his handkerchief, he
dried my tears.
Honed to a razor-edge,
he said he could shave
with his pocketknife.
Though I never witnessed
the pocketknife shave, I
remember feeling his soft
cheek against mine and
smelling his sweet shav-
ing soap after a safety-ra-
zor shave.
Today,
I
fumbled
through a drawer search-
ing for a barrette. Unbe-
lievable! How did it get
there? Why would I store
it in with hairpins and
barrettes?
But there it was — the
pocketknife he carried
the last years of his life —
unnoticed for 30 years.
Was this a coincidence
after yesterday’s recollec-
tions? Or from his lofty
perch, did Dad leave it for
me to find?
The moral of the story:
Even though gone, par-
ents are just a memory
away.