THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2021
BAKER CITY HERALD — A3
LOCAL & STATE
PIPING
PHARMACY
Continued from A1
Continued from A1
“To have the pipeline con-
necting one pond to the other
is pretty exciting,” Owen
said. “We’re almost there.
It’s progressing and as soon
as we get that freeway bore
completed and all the pipe
installed, that will be a super
accomplishment,”
She said the goal is to
have wastewater moving
from the current lagoons to
the new lagoon by January
2022.
Also this winter, the city is
preparing to apply for a state
permit allowing the city to
use the wastewater from both
the current and new lagoons
to irrigate nonfood crops.
“We have to have a new
type of permit in place before
we can do the irrigation,”
Owen said.
The city will have to drain
the existing lagoons to allow
workers to install gates and
valves that allow wastewater
to move between the current
and new lagoons.
Water will drain by grav-
ity from the current lagoons
to the new pond, but the pipe-
line can also be pressurized
so water can be moved be-
tween the two sites as needed
for irrigation, Owen said.
In January 2021 the
City Council voted to hire
Gyllenberg Construction of
Baker City, the lowest among
10 bidders, to oversee the
project.
Owen said the new
lagoon will increase the city’s
wastewater storage capacity,
making the city better able to
deal with population growth.
The additional storage
also will allow the city to hold
water when there’s no need
for irrigation water.
Wyden has also asked
federal offi cials to review
pharmacy closures across the
U.S. over the past fi ve years.
Wyden has cited in par-
ticular the fees charged by
pharmacy benefi t managers
(PBMs) and by Medicare
Part D plans, and their
paltry reimbursements to
pharmacies.
“Exploitative business
practices conducted by
pharmaceutical middlemen
are driving locally owned
pharmacies out of business,”
Wyden said. “These practices
are not unique to the Pacifi c
Northwest, so I am calling on
the FTC to investigate this
trend on a national level so
action can be taken to protect
local businesses.”
Brian Mayo, executive
director of the Oregon State
Pharmacy Association, also
called PBMs a culprit in the
pharmacy crisis.
Mayo said the Pharmacy
Association has been warning
for years that reimburse-
ments are too low.
The organization is calling
on elected offi cials to reform
the PBM system and to ex-
empt prescription drugs from
Oregon’s Corporate Activities
Tax, which the Legislature
approved in 2019 and which
took effect Jan. 1, 2020.
Mayo said Oregon Gov.
Kate Brown’s mandate
that health care workers,
including pharmacists and
pharmacy technicians, be
vaccinated or receive a medi-
cal or religious exception, has
had a “minimal” effect on
the current staffi ng short-
ages because most affected
employees are vaccinated.
According to the Oregon
Health Authority, as of Nov. 1,
88% of Oregon pharmacists
were vaccinated, and 83% of
pharmacy technicians.
Baker City Public Works/Contributed Photo
A liner has been installed at Baker City’s new wastewater storage lagoon east of
the Baker City Airport and south of Highway 203.
The city had to choose
a lagoon site more than
10,000 feet from the Baker
City Airport, because the
lagoon could attract fl ocks
of geese and other birds
that can pose a danger to
aircraft.
The city bought a 51-
acre property in 2019 for
$123,000. The site is at the
eastern end of Baker Valley,
active steps the Forest Service
has taken to warn travelers
that Road 39 is closed during
Continued from A1
the winter months,” Ash
“The driving factor pushing said. “So far, we have been
fortunate to locate and save
us towards installing extra
signage at these locations has stranded motorists, and I hope
the additional signage will
been the recent uptick with
search and rescues involving prevent people from trying to
traverse the closed road.”
Wallowa, Union, Grant, and
The most recent rescue on
Baker counties,” Dan Story,
the Wallowa Mountain Loop
roads manager for the south
zone of the Wallowa-Whitman, Road was in April 2021, when
a Beaverton couple and their
said in a press release.
son got stuck in their Ford
“We carefully considered
Fusion sedan about 8.9 miles
the language, colors, and
north of Highway 86.
placement of these signs to
Three members of the
help more people understand
that wheeled vehicles cannot Baker County Sheriff’s Of-
fi ce search and rescue team
safely pass through these
roads while they are covered rescued the trio 12 hours after
with snow,” Story said. “Signs their car got stuck. None of the
three was hurt.
are bright yellow or orange
There were several other
to get the driver’s attention
search and rescue calls on
before entry.”
Most of the new signs are the road the previous winter
in both Baker and Wallowa
along the two routes where
counties. That prompted the
several rescues have taken
Forest Service to issue a press
place over the past decade
release reminding drivers that
or so — Forest Road 73, the
Elkhorn Drive Scenic Byway the road is open to snowmo-
west of Baker City, and Road biles and other over-snow
vehicles during winter. The
39, the Wallowa Mountain
Loop Road, in eastern Baker Forest Service also placed bar-
County and southern Wallowa riers along the road to discour-
age passenger vehicles from
County.
continuing, along with a sign.
Both are paved, two-lane
roads that are popular scenic The barriers didn’t prevent
snowmobiles from accessing
driving routes during sum-
mer but which traverse high the road.
Ash, however, said that the
elevations where deep snow
Beaverton couple told rescuers
accumulates each winter.
they hadn’t seen the warning
Depending on the year,
sections of both roads are im- sign.
Peter Fargo, public affairs
passable to wheeled vehicles
offi cer for the Wallowa-Whit-
for several months.
man, said the barriers could
The new signs will be
removed or covered after the be put up again this winter,
snow melts in the spring and depending on circumstances.
“Our current plan is to rely
the roads reopen.
Baker County Sheriff Tra- on the signs to inform motor-
ists that these major roads
vis Ash, who has personally
are closed to wheeled vehicles
rescued drivers stranded on
because of winter snow,”
the Wallowa Mountain Loop
Fargo said. “As the season pro-
Road, lauded the Wallowa-
gresses, if we continue to see
Whitman’s new signs.
“I’m pleased to see the pro- vehicles passing those signs
SIGNS
south of Highway 203. The
city also paid $37,900 for
an easement across another
property that the pipeline
crosses.
In November 2020 the
City Council agreed to have
the city borrow as much as
$7.5 million from the state
to pay for the wastewater
project. The city will repay
the loan over 30 years with
a 1.36% annual interest
rate, and annual payments
on the loan are estimated at
$275,000, Owen said.
Based on the contract
with Gyllenberg Construc-
tion, for about $5.7 million,
the city likely won’t need
to borrow the full amount,
which could reduce the an-
nual payments somewhat,
she said.
and getting stuck in the snow,
we will consider additional
safety measures, including
barriers.”
During that rescue,
crews plowed snow from
the road, which allowed the
Boise man to drive much
farther into the mountains
than would have been pos-
Other rescues
Several months prior to the sible otherwise.
Coincidentally, Ash
spring 2021 incident, on Dec.
had rescued someone in a
7, 2020, a San Diego couple
similar predicament exactly
got their four-wheel drive
20 years earlier, also on
Toyota Tacoma pickup truck
stuck in snow on Forest Road Thanksgiving Day in 2000.
73 between Anthony Lakes
and the North Fork of the
Drivers lured into trouble
John Day River.
Ash said one issue with
The couple used their
Roads 39 and 73, and sev-
satellite device to alert police eral other forest roads that
that they needed help.
are popular with snow-
Volunteers in three side-
mobilers, is that the snow
by-side ATVs, equipped with machines compact the top
tracks rather than tires,
layer of the snow into a fi rm
reached the couple about
surface that can support the
three and a half hours after weight of a regular car, con-
they had sent the emergency vincing drivers that they’re
message.
on a road maintained for
They also were unhurt.
wheeled vehicles.
On Thanksgiving Day
But even a small section
2020, Ash rescued an
of softer snow can give way,
18-year-old Boise man whose leaving a car mired up to its
car got stuck in snow on
fenders.
Road 39 when he was driving
“You can do fi ne on that
to drive to Lewiston, Idaho.
compact snow until you
The man, who left his
break through,” Ash said.
Volkswagen Jetta and
“Then you’re stuck.”
started hiking north toward
Another issue that
Joseph, was cold but other-
Story cited is the failure of
wise fi ne when Ash found
navigation systems, which
him.
are installed in most new
That incident might not
vehicles, as well as phone-
have happened if not for
based apps and GPS receiv-
an early episode when a
ers, to alert users to roads
group of travelers also was
that are not maintained for
stranded in deep snow in the winter travel by wheeled
same area.
vehicles.
Kevin Whitlock/Massillon Independent-TNS
Narcan nasal spray.
SPRAY
Continued from A1
The Narcan includes
directions on how to use the
spray in the case of a sus-
pected opioid overdose, said
Andi Walsh, public relations
and grants manager for New
Directions Northwest.
That includes the require-
ment to call 911 after ad-
ministering the medication,
because the treatment can
cause harmful withdrawal
effects, she said.
Naloxone is an “opioid
antagonist,” which means it
attaches to opioid receptors
and reverses and blocks the
effects of opioids such as
fentanyl, heroin, oxycodone,
hydrocodone, codeine and
morphine.
Offi cials in Northeastern
Oregon have reported an
increase in drug overdoses
this year.
On Nov. 23, the Grande
Ronde Hospital and Clinics,
Center for Human Devel-
opment, La Grande Fire
Department and La Grande
Police Department released
a statement about a recent
rise in heroin and fentanyl
overdoses in Union County.
The Grande Ronde
Hospital Emergency
Department reported eight
heroin overdoses in the six
days prior to the statement,
which is a 400% increase.
The department typically
sees two to three overdoses
per month in Union County.
Offi cials at the hospi-
tal in La Grande suspect
heroin is being tainted with
additional drugs, such as
fentanyl, which can lead to
accidental overdoses.
“People may be tak-
ing substances thinking
they are one thing but are
actually mixed with other
things that are more potent
or have a different effect
than they are expecting,”
said Carrie Brogoitti, public
health administrator at the
Center for Human Develop-
ment in La Grande.
Walsh said there are
also reports of pills that
purport to be one drug but
are in fact the more potent
fentanyl.
She said several people
who have overcome drug
addictions will be at the
Dec. 14 Narcan drive-thru
event and available to talk
about their experiences.
The nasal sprays will be
available to anyone, Walsh
said — including people
who aren’t drug users but
want to be able to help
someone in the event of a
possible overdose.
“Anyone who feels they
might be able to use it,” she
said.
Sara Blair, division chief
for EMS at the Baker City
Fire Department, said the de-
partment’s ambulance crews
carry Narcan, both in nasal
and intravenous forms.
Although she didn’t have
any specifi c statistics, Blair
said crews do administer
Narcan occasionally, and
when the number of overdos-
es increases in Union County
a similar trend often follows
in Baker County.
Blair said emergency
responders can use Narcan in
both confi rmed and suspected
opioid overdoses.
The product won’t harm
the patient even if opioids
aren’t involved, she said.
If Narcan has no effect on
a patient who is in respirato-
ry distress, that can indicate
that opioids aren’t an issue,
which affects how the patient
is treated, Blair said.
She emphasized the
importance for the public to
immediately call 911 if they
administer Narcan.
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