Men's Health and Safety Expo 2017
by Terry Allen
June 30, 2017
I really like writing stories of events when I know someone is going to feed me. The first thing I saw Wednesday evening June 28th when I walked in the door of the Lovatt Room was Stoney Vance making a huge smoked pulled pork sandwich for someone, more of which he was giving away free to all in attendance, because he is interested in promoting good health.
To get into the Lovatt Room I had to pass thru a tunnel decked out as a colon. It was outfitted with huge examples of diseases that affect our colons. A ghastly sight, but this kind of information is necessary to maintaining good health.
Sue Holz had a hand-grip strength tester and I got 118 pounds of pressure in each hand. She marveled at my result and said that was amazingly wonderful and I figured she said that to all the boys, but it did make me feel good until Matthew Daniels nailed 180 and she said the same thing to him, and an athlete from Wyoming Athlete Development registered a 187. Oh well, I can live with it. I've been asking girls to open jars for me for a year or two anyway.
My next stop was at the Sublette County Unified Fire booth and Matt Hansen invited me to try out the Jaws of Life. It was the first time I’d seen them in real life and they are heavy, but very capable looking. The guys regularly cut up junk automobiles to keep in practice. Btw, these guys will come to your home for free and install new smoke and CO2 detectors and maintain them. What a deal! If you plan on going to the fair this year, check the schedule and try to be there for their live fire demonstration. I did a story on it last year and it changed my understanding of fire completely.
The Tip Top Search and Rescue team that rescued that guy off the rock in the middle of Boulder Creek was there, but someone kept photo-bombing my shots so you'll have to use your imagination on what SAR Super-hero's look like.
Sara at the Rural Health Care District checked my oxygen saturation and I got a 92% and I thought that was a B grade, but she said it was an A. I met John Bryant in line and he said climbers at 25,000 feet only have 75% saturation and that is why so few have climbed that high. Few have the stamina. In fact, people at low elevations that try to climb to only 11,000 (Titcomb Basin) can develop pulmonary edema (blood flows into the heart but the heart can’t pump blood back out) and not make it. It depends on the person. If you experience severe headache and nausea, those are the first indications of altitude sickness and you are advised to go to a much lower elevation.
I talked with Rob Hoelscher of the Forest Service about trees falling into the road at Sylvan Bay and he said he carries a Wyoming Saw with him wherever he goes. They are compact and you can cut your way out of a jam in a hurry.
I was at the cancer screening table with Bob Rule and he said he had just accidentally discovered he had a cancer on his head behind his ear. He’d taken his wife to the doctor for her annual checkup and the doctor just noticed it. Bob is now scheduled for surgery.
Stephanie at Public Health gave me the bad news. Since the half marathon last year, I have gained 15 pounds, my blood pressure has gone from 120/72 to 140/86 and my Hemoglobin is at 6% which puts me in a pre-diabetic condition.
I looked around for Dr. Kapperman and sought his input. I told him I was back on my favorite diet of ice cream, potato chips, beer and cigars and asked him if this was the cause of my bad readings. "No, it’s because of your 15 pounds," he said. "Every 1 pound of fat has ¼ mile of capillaries in it that carry blood. Your 15 pounds means you have an extra 3.75 miles of capillaries that your heart has to push blood thru. Drop the 15 pounds and give your heart a break; and I want you to go to YouTube and look up Dr. Mercola and follow his advice about the doing some super-slow-mo exercise." Thanks, Doc. I had a nice salad for dinner last night and I didn’t buy my chocolate bar from the bakery this morning.
Just then a wet dog ran into the room and Dr. Kap took off after him. town councilman Jim Brost helped corner him and Sheriff KC Lehr came over and scanned the dog with his phone. The owner’s phone number popped up, the owner’s phone rang and he rushed over and retrieved his dog. All this took under three minutes. Talk about response time!
Jeanne Brown was manning the Rural Health Care Foundation booth and talked about her latest project, The Telemedicine Program. This allows a doctor to communicate with people in remote communities and actually look at their condition, see their wounds, etc. and prescribe treatment immediately. Stroke victims will benefit greatly from this program because the faster they are seen, the greater their chance of quality survivability.
I filled out a ticket at the Edward Jones booth and talked with Farrah about the relationship between physical health and financial health. "Your financial checkup is as important and your health checkup," she said. Surprisingly, when the drawings were held for prizes, I won a $25 gift certificate to the Great Outdoor Shop.
Thank you very much Stoney Vance of 307Q for sponsoring this worthwhile story. Stoney says the primary motivation in doing so is to get the word out about how to take care of your body. Men don’t treat themselves very well and there are a lot of silent killers that can sneak up on you. "Ignorance is probably the number 1 killer," he said. He advised getting the proper screening that looks for the obscure things. He is a food provider and in his opinion, smoking is a better method of cooking, because the smoke flavor eliminates the need for as much salt. He uses Himalayan salt because it has minerals in it and they are helpful with asthma. He also uses very special wood pellets and cooks the different foods in different zones within his smoker. Btw, I just tried his pulled pork smoked beans. They have onions, garlic and bbq sauce. Just amazing! Never had any so good. Stoney is trying out a new location on the west side of town. It's that old fab shop on the corner of Ehman Lane and the highway.
See you in the ice cream isle, folks!
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