Lung Cancer Awareness
November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month, bringing the spotlight to the country’s deadliest form of cancer. There will be an estimated 130-thousand lung cancer deaths in 2022, including more than 84-hundred in Oregon, according to the American Cancer Society. Michael Skokan is a pulmonary critical-care physician at The Oregon Clinic. He says many of these deaths are preventable and the first action people can take is to stop smoking. Skokan says the disease historically has presented some challenges to doctors.
“When you find it at an early stage, you can treat it. But over the years we hadn’t been good at doing that because people don’t really have symptoms, and once they have symptoms it’s usually a later stage and it’s spread and its much, much more difficult to treat and sometimes it’s not treatable.”
Skokan says for people who haven’t yet quit and meet certain criteria are able to get screened for the cancer with a C-T scan of their lungs. The scan helps doctors identify early-stage lung cancers and the tool has been around for about a decade. COVID-19 has an effect on lung health but no direct link with cancer. However, Skokan says the pandemic did affect treatment, with many people avoiding the doctor’s office.
“People who got other things during that time when everything was really problematic in getting care – that affected a lot of people who didn’t necessarily have COVID but got other things, including lung disease or lung cancer, and couldn’t get treated as timely as we had been able to do in the past.”
While the number of deaths are still high, Skokan notes that they have been going down in recent years due to early treatment and fewer individuals smoking
Man Arrested on Explosive Charge
An incident in Florence over the weekend required the response of the Eugene Police Department Explosive Disposal Unit. Saturday evening at approximately 11:14 pm Florence Police responded to a call of an explosive device that was detonated at a residence in the 3400 block of Rhododendron Drive. The report was that a male had detonated a pipe bomb and was threatening to hurt himself with another explosive device according to Florence Police Chief John Pitcher. The subject was 24 year old George Clifford of Florence. Police were able to effectively convince Clifford to set the device down and took him into custody. Police found gunpowder residue in the house and said that there were more potentially dangerous pipe bombs in the garage of the residence. The Eugene EDU located other dangerous materials in the home and removed them to a safe location where they were detonated. Clifford was placed under arrest for Possession of a Destructive Device and transported to Lane County Adult Corrections. Western Lane Fire and EMS Authority also responded to assist police
OCHS Receives Dogs
The Oregon Coast Humane Society received a special delivery over the weekend. 18 dogs arrived at the Eugene Airport from over-full shelters in Southern California Saturday evening. Several things made the delivery special. It was the 125th “golden years” mission by the group “Pet Rescue Pilots” and brought the total number of rescue dogs transported to their “forever homes” by that group to 25-hundred. Humane Society Executive Director Elizabeth Thompson told People-dot-com that senior dogs, usually 7 to 8 years old, can often be the last to be adopted. But, she added, parenting a mature pet comes with perks. Often older pets can be more predictable, and their energy level and personalities work well with the pet foster and adoption homes in the Florence area.
Election Results Timeline
Election results will begin showing up this evening. The counting of ballots in the mid-term election will begin this evening at the Lane County Elections office. Preliminary counts could be released as early as eight PM. Lane County Clerk Dena Dawson says ballots returned by mail and postmarked today must arrive no later than November 15th in order to be counted. That means the outcome of some races or ballot measures may not be known as quickly as in previous years. City Council and Mayors’ races for Florence and Dunes City are on the ballot, as is the open West Lane seat on the Board of County Commissioners. That means it could take a week for an apparent winner to show up. But even then winners and losers may not be apparent. Dawson previously said the counting and signature verification process could take another two to three weeks. So, if there’s a particularly close race, we may not get a clear winner until the vote is certified December 5th.