LOCAL
A14 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28, 2019
Pharmacists, doctors, say fewer opioids prescribed in recent years
iatrist 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 opioids,
so interventionists like pain physi-
cians and physiatrists are in higher
demand to provide more alterna-
tive pain control options,” she said
in an email. “Further, the under-
standing of the psychological com-
ponent 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.
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
In the year 2006, the world
was mourning the death of Croc-
odile Hunter Steve Irwin, arguing
about Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient
Truth” and buying their fi rst Blu-
ray discs.
In the medical industry, doc-
tors were being told that too many
patients were in pain after being
denied their “right” to prescription
painkillers known as opioids.
“In 2006 there was a lot more
focus on pain control,” pharma-
cist Ann Murray said, calling it a
“push” in the early 2000s.
Murray, who runs Murray’s
Drug in Heppner, Boardman and
Condon with her husband, John
Murray, said there wasn’t the same
level of awareness around opioid
addiction back then.
Opioid overdose deaths in Ore-
gon peaked that year, at 238.
After waging a yearlong
legal battle, the Washington Post
recently obtained data from the
Drug Enforcement Administration
tracking the path of every prescrip-
tion pain pill in the United States
between 2006 and 2012. It shows
millions of opioids were fl owing
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 database
has its limits — their Condon phar-
macy, for example, shows a high
“pills per person” count for Gil-
liam 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
numbers, 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 fi lling prescrip-
tions. But legally, pharmacists do
have a right to step in when they
have suspicions of abuse or other
worries.
The Murrays say they often do
just that.
They
cross-reference
the
patient’s prescription history
through the Prescription Drug
Monitoring Program and will call
up a physician to ask if they were
aware the patient is already receiv-
ing drugs from another provider,
are a fi rst-time opioid patient or
Changing laws
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Ann and John Murray pose in front of the Heppner location of Murray’s Drug Friday afternoon.
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 prescrip-
tions not authorized by the doctor.
“We’re the last line of defense
people have (against misuse),”
John said. “We have a co-respon-
sibility with providers.”
Patients are also more likely
to self-police their use these days
after reading about the dangers or
seeing someone close to them bat-
tle addiction.
“People will say, ‘This was
written for 30 days but please just
give me 10,’” Ann said.
Preventing abuse
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
prescriptions patients claim were
lost, stolen or “eaten by the dog,”
Hardin said. And when someone
comes in looking for a new pre-
scription for an injury, the depart-
ment can use the Emergency
Department Information 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
signifi cantly 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,”
Hardin said, to checking history,
alerting 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.
Safe use of opioids
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
hospital 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 drop-
ping off unused pills at the police
station.
Crowell said they are also
working with other partners in the
area on a campaign to reduce the
stigma of admitting an addiction to
opioids — 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
fi nd themselves addicted to pain-
killers, from peer support groups to
counseling. One frustration, how-
ever, is that Medicare does not pay
for inpatient rehabilitation treat-
ment 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 regular
classes on “living well with chronic
pain.” It also recently opened a
Physical Medicine and Rehabili-
tation clinic, offering comprehen-
sive pain management strategies
ranging from chiropractor sessions
to peripheral joint injections. They
plan to add an acupuncturist and
massage therapist to the staff soon.
Dr. Miriam Washington, a phys-
As the country has been gripped
by a crisis of addiction and over-
doses, lawmakers on the state and
federal level have passed new laws
addressing the epidemic. Some of
those have resulted in the prescrip-
tion and emergency room monitor-
ing databases listed above, while
others have increased penalties 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 Orego-
nian is “the most signifi cant effort
ever made to combat a single drug
crisis.”
Among its provisions were
reauthorization to continue provid-
ing $500 million a year for the opi-
oid crisis, increased measures to
stop fentanyl from illegally enter-
ing the country, removing some
restrictions on medication that
treats opioid addiction and increas-
ing access to Nalaxone for fi rst
responders.
In the past few years, Walden
has held roundtables in Pendle-
ton, Hermiston and other parts of
Oregon 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 fl ags missed by
wholesale drug distributors and the
Drug Enforcement Administration
(DEA) that contributed to the opi-
oid 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.”
Blue Mountain Community College kicks off soon
By JESSICA POLLARD
STAFF WRITER
With a month to go
before the start of the term,
Blue Mountain Community
College is seeing an uptick
in enrollment.
Casey White-Zollman,
vice president of public
affairs at BMCC, said that
as of this week, full-time
equivalent enrollment is up
by 5%.
She said the college wel-
comes the increase, which is
markedly unusual.
“Oftentimes when the
economy is very good, com-
munity college enrollment
tends to be on the decline.
When the economy has a
downturn, that’s when we
tend to see our enrollment
increase,” White-Zollman
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Blue Mountain Community College sits nestled in the hills
above Pendleton. The college is preparing to welcome
students back for fall term in the coming weeks.
said.
White-Zollman noted that
enrollment tends to ebb and
fl ow on a weekly basis, and
that these numbers could
change.
“To have a bit of an
anomaly is a great thing for
us right now,” she said.
BMCC Hermiston Center
Director Jacelyn Keys said
the Hermiston Center is see-
ing high enrollment across
the board, including in lan-
guage acquisition and GED
classes.
“We’re a part of that
(increase). I think that
comes from having the larg-
est school district in Eastern
Oregon in our backyard,”
she said.
And while fall term,
which starts Sept. 23, will
surely reveal new student
faces on campus, it will also
represent the start of incom-
ing president Dennis Bai-
ley-Fougnier’s fi rst full year
on the job.
Bailey-Fougnier
was
hired in March, and previ-
ously served as the vice pres-
ident of community college
affairs at Colorado Mesa
University in Grand Junc-
tion, Colorado, and as chief
executive at Western Colo-
rado Community College.
He got his bachelor’s
degree at the University of
Oregon and later earned a
doctorate degree in commu-
nity college leadership at
Oregon State University.
Earlier in the summer,
BMCC secured $13 million
in legislative funding for the
FARM II Project, a facility
that would provide room for
agriculture and veterinary
training.
White-Zollman
said
that as of this summer, the
grounds — situated on land
owned by the Pendleton
Round-Up — are cleared
and will be used as a parking
lot during the rodeo event. In
winter, the school will begin
the request for proposal pro-
cess to fi nd an architect for
the FARM II building.
While incoming students
won’t see much of a change
in available classes this year,
the college is looking into
offering unmanned aerial
systems classes in the future,
White-Zollman said.
“We’re always working
to try to meet the needs of
the community,” she said.
Keys said that the Herm-
iston Center is working to
develop new continuing edu-
cation courses, which will
debut next school year.
Registration for classes at
BMCC runs through Sept.
27.
Incoming students are
invited to the BMCC event
Welcome to the Pack on
Sept. 18, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on
the Pendleton campus, for
an opportunity to meet fac-
ulty and learn about campus
resources.