COMMUNITY & HISTORY
MyEagleNews.com
Wednesday, February 5, 2020
A7
Community HEALTH BEAT
WHAT’S
HAPPENING
The deadline for What’s Happening items is 5 p.m. Friday.
Call the Eagle, 541-575-0710, or email editor@bmeagle.
com. For meetings this week, see our list in the classifieds.
Saturday, Feb. 8
Wyatt Simmons benefit dinner and silent auction
• 5 p.m., Mt. Vernon Community Hall
The event benefits Wyatt Simmons, a 6-year-old boy
from Mt Vernon, who is receiving treatment for kidney can-
cer in Portland. For more information, contact Allison at
530-520-0472.
Saturday, Feb. 15
Sweetheart shoot
• 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Kimberly Rock Products pit
A fundraiser for the Grant County Sheriff’s Office Search
and Rescue, the shoot will also feature a raffle, baked goods
and concessions. Lunch will be available. For more informa-
tion, call 541-934-2143.
Sunday, Feb. 16
Prairie City seniors potluck
• 1-3 p.m., Prairie City Senior Center
All are welcome to enjoy music, dancing and food. The
Old Time Fiddlers from Grant and Harney counties will pro-
vide music.
Saturday, Feb. 22
Monument seniors sewing class
• 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monument Senior Center
A sewing class will be held with a potluck lunch at noon.
Saturday, Feb. 29
Seneca PTA bingo fun night
• 5-8 p.m., Seneca School gym
Food and prizes will be available. For more information,
contact Jessica Moore at 541-620-1640 or Dana McLean at
503-798-3249.
OUT OF THE PAST
75 years ago
Saddle in the Hells Canyon
John Day Bank Thief
Asks Lighter Sentence
Patrick Bushman, 36, one
of three bandits serving terms
at Alcatraz for robbing the John
Day bank in July, 1937, has
filed a petition in federal court
here asking a lighter sentence.
He has served eight years
of a life sentence. Similar peti-
tions submitted earlier by his
partners were denied.
25 years ago
Will Idaho Wolves Spread
West?
With wild, widened eyes
and ears pinned flat, the cow
moose made it abundantly clear
that she means business. Her
feeble, young bull calf tucked
tightly to her flank, the old
matriarch snorted and stamped
the ground menacingly, hop-
ing to send an advancing threat
away in search of an easier
meal.
Meanwhile, the youth-
ful yet fully grown wolverine
sized up the situation from his
crevice in the rocks. He really
wasn’t a player in this game
but, given his nosy nature, he
couldn’t help but watch scant
yards from the pair stood two
large gray wolves. Their icy
gaze fixed on the weak-legged
offspring. So far the cow’s
warnings had gone unheeded.
You see the wolves had young
to feed too.
A typical Alaskan scenario?
Just another day at the office
in Canada’s Northwest Territo-
ries? Perhaps. Or maybe this is
a new drama that will soon pre-
mier right in the mountains of
Northwest Oregon.
While the concept seems
far fetched now, it could be
coming to a reality sooner
than we think — right down to
the wolverine. In fact, the wol-
verine would have to be the
one component that we could
count on right now.
Actually native to the
mountains of our region, wol-
verines are sighted, or reported
as sighted, rather frequently
these days. Such reports reach
from the Ochoco Mountains
of central Oregon, the Blue
and Wallowa Mountains of
northeast region.
“We’ve had two wolverine
reports in the region since last
fall,” said Oregon Department
of Fish and wildlife biologist
Mark Henjum. “And although
these were unconfirmed sight-
ings, both were made by
biologists.”
Henjum said one report
was actually of wolverine
tracks found near Freezout
area.
The other was an observa-
tion of the animal itself as it
held in the biologist’s head-
lights one night near the Star-
key Experimental Forest in
the Blue Mountains. As for
the wolves, Henjum said that,
despite repeated reports of
sightings, to his knowledge
the department has not sub-
stantiated a single report of a
wild wolf in Eastern Oregon.
“Now there are people who
do raise these things and even
hybrids which could get loose,
but in every case so far the ani-
mal was not of wild origin.”
In one case Henjum said
what appeared to be a wolf
was killed several years ago
in the southern Blue Moun-
tains. Even after close exam-
ination a biologist agreed the
animal appeared to be the gen-
uine article. However, further
testing by the Smithsonian
determined the specimen was
not a wild wolf. Of Course,
that situation could eventu-
ally change if the gray wolfs
recently reintroduced in to
north-central Idaho decide to
expand their range.
One of the animals has
already been killed near
Salmon, Idaho, when it strayed
form the target area and killed
a newborn calf. Henjum thinks
that as the wolves re-invade
those portions of Idaho and
Western Montana they could
easily link up to the ideal wil-
derness habitat in the connect-
ing Hells Canyon and Wallowa
Mountains of Oregon.
“All that’s between us and
a wolf population in Idaho is a
river,” he said. “And that’s just
not something that will stop a
wolf.”
It certainly hasn’t stopped
the moose.
A couple years ago the
column reported reoccurring
sightings of moose in select
areas of northeast Oregon. Par-
ticularly the Hells Canyon area.
According to ODFW Wal-
lowa District Wildlife Biolo-
gist Vic Coggins, his office
continued to do field reports of
moose along the Snake River
last year, including repeated
sightings of a single bull near
McGraw Creek on Hells Can-
yon Reservoir.
“I hope we’ll continue to
get moose reports,” said an
encouraged Coggins. “The fre-
quency of these sightings is
increasing. Hopefully someday
things will be right for some of
the animals to stay and we’ll
have a population here. The
moose you know is a pretty
good pioneer.”
Quality Healthcare Close to Home
170 Ford Road, John Day • 541-575-1311 • www.bluemountainhospital.org
Do I Need a Valve Job?
Bruce McLellan, MD
Blue Mountain Hospital Visiting Specialist / St. Charles Heart & Lung Center
Heart valves perform the same function as the valves in your home plumbing, your car,
or an industrial plant, that is to prevent backflow. Right in the middle of your heart, we
have two Mercedes Benz insignias, the aortic and pulmonary valves. The most common
heart valve operation in adults is replacement of the aortic valve (the valve between the
heart’s main pumping chamber, the left ventricle, and the big artery leaving the heart,
the aorta). A small percentage of these cases are for a bicuspid aortic valve, a congenital
abnormality of the valve (the person was born with only 2 leaflets, instead of the normal 3;
no Benz!). Even fewer cases are because the valve became infected or the aorta is aneurysmal
(severely enlarged). Most commonly, though, the aortic valve degenerated with time. As
we enter our 60s, 70’s, and 80’s (those so-called golden years), the valve starts to show signs
of wear from the 100,000 cardiac cycles/day (over 2 billion openings and closings by your
60th birthday!). This degeneration appears as valve leaflet thickening and then calcification
when evaluated by echocardiography (or echo, ultrasound of the heart structures and
function). It is, by far and away, the most common cause of new murmurs in older
individuals (by older, I mean those of you with acquired wisdom).
The valve can fail in 3 ways: stenosis (narrowing of the valve opening because the leaflets
won’t open fully), regurgitation (leakage because the leaflets don’t fully close), or both. The
most common complaints include chest pressure with exertion, heart failure (shortness of
breath with exertion), or passing out. If you develop these symptoms, your primary care
practitioner will become suspicious based on your exam because you will have a prominent
heart murmur (a whooshing sound caused by turbulence during each heart cycle). Most
of the time, the murmur is noted years before any symptoms develop. The echo study is
noninvasive, free of radiation, and often diagnostic for the cause of the murmur.
Surgical replacement of the aortic valve has been around for over 50 years. In fact, the
first surgical valve replacement was performed in Portland by Dr. Albert Starr, and until
the 1990s, the mechanical valve he designed was still being implanted. Surgical Aortic
Valve Replacement (SAVR) is the 2nd most common open heart procedure performed
(after coronary bypass surgery), and both mechanical valves (carbon leaflets) and tissue
valves (pig heart tissue) are used. The type of valve is chosen is based on the patient’s age,
life expectancy, risk of taking blood thinners (for the mechanical valves), and for young
women, anticipation for future pregnancy.
Despite 50 years of experience and advancements in surgical and anesthetic techniques,
there remains serious risks to the operation and being on the heart-lung machine while the
heart is stopped. In 2005, the first aortic valve replacement not requiring cutting open the
chest was performed in France. This less invasive procedure, Transcatheter Aortic Valve
Replacement (TAVR), was approved in the US in 2011. Early on, patients who were
turned down or high risk for SAVR, were the only ones approved for the new procedure.
In 2016, however, new research led to FDA approval for moderate risk patients and low
risk patients are currently being studied. Because the transcatheter procedure can only
implant tissue valves, which only last 10-15 years before needing replacement, there will
always be a need for the surgically placed mechanical valves (which can last for more than
30 years). At St. Charles Heart & Lung Center in Bend, we have two experienced doctors
(Drs. Matt Slater and Dr. Saurabh Gupta, both recruited from OHSU) who have been
seeing potential candidates for TAVR in the Valve Clinic since last summer and performing
TAVR since the fall.
I believe that if we lived to be 150, we would all need an aortic valve replacement, and
Drs. Slater and Gupta would be our mechanics.
Baker Podiatrist - Dr. Rushton 2/3. 24
February Bend Neuro - Dr. Tien 2/4, 21
Visiting Bend Cardio -Dr. McLellan 2/5
Specialists Bend Dermatology - Dr. Wisco 2/11
Bend Ortho - Dr. Lilly 2/13
Blue Mountain
Care Center
Resident of the Month
Marilyn Randall
Marilyn was born on May 7, 1940 to Oscar and Ruth White, in Weiser,
Idaho. She has two older sisters, Lola and Ileta. Marilyn and her family
moved to Bates, Oregon, when Marilyn was a baby. She went to school in
Bates, 1st grade through 8th grade and later to high school in Prairie City.
Marilyn married Vern Randall on September 27, 1957 and they had four
children; Ruthie, Kenny, Jimmy and Ricky. They raised their children in Mt.
Vernon, Oregon on a small ranch. Marilyn was a stay at home mom.
Marilyn enjoys crocheting, canning, decorating, helping her good friends
Ruby and Maureen clean each others homes, anything involving her kids or
grandkids; sports, 4-H and many others.
Marilyn has traveled to Disneyworld, Hawaii and enjoyed taking family trips
to Minnesota. Marilyn came to the Blue Mountain Care Center on July 9, 2015.
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