June 7, 2018 Vol. 19, No. 2
In This Issue ROUGH CUT SWISS
Rough Cut Swiss, in real life, is located in front of Othello’s Restaurant at the southwest corner of Main and Broadway, but this week it is hidden somewhere in our paper. Email contest@edmondpaper.com with the correct location to be entered in the weekly drawing. For more information see page 4.
Team earns a national title See Page 13
FRIDAY, JUNE 8 Partly Cloudy High 101° Low 78°
SATURDAY, JUNE 9 Partly Cloudy High 100° Low 76°
SUNDAY, JUNE 10 Partly Cloudy High 98° Low 76°
PHOTOS PROVIDED
Dr. William Banner Jr. above, top left Eastern diamond rattlesnake, right dusky pigmy rattlesnake copperhead snakes lower left and cottonmouth right. By Steve Gust A slithering reptile has the potential to make someone’s casual visit outdoors a costly and potentially life-threatening nightmare. The good news is that basic precautions and common sense can prevent the majority of snake bites. Dr. William Banner Jr. of Edmond is an expert toxicologist and emergency medicine specialist. He also is an attending physician in the Pediatric ICU at Baptist Integris Medical Center in Oklahoma City. Over the past five decades he’s directly seen, and treated, the damage inflicted on bite victims. His first case was during residency at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine in the late 1970s. First a few facts about snakes. In Oklahoma there are seven species of venomous snakes including copperheads, cottonmouths and various forms of rattlesnakes. Don’t think living in an urban area makes you immune to an attack, Banner said. “We have copperheads right here in Edmond,” Banner said. Some homeowners, looking to move a sprinkler outside at night, sometimes fail to see a snake next to it. Urban victims are among the 150 to 200 cases Banner’s center sees
annually. The state is now at the peak time of year for snake attacks, he said. That ranges from April to September, with July and August, being the months with the most bites reported. The outdoor food chain goes something like this, the physician explained. At night, bugs are attracted to porch lights and then toads look to dine on those bugs. Then a snake will hope to snack on one of the toads. “Most people aren’t going to put on boots to move a sprinkler,” Banner said. “Yet it’s a good idea to take a flashlight or use your phone’s light when you go out at night.” He urges others never to touch a snake. That advice comes just over a month ago after a 57-year-old man was killed after grabbing a rattlesnake. In late April, Barry Lester was driving in Osage County and saw a snake in the road and decided to stop and move it out of the way. The rattlesnake ended up biting him twice. Before receiving medical assistance, he died. The Tulsa World reported he died of a combination of the rattlesnake bite and an existing heart condition. For a walk in the woods, Banner recommends boots and jeans. A
snake’s fangs usually won’t penetrate the boots’ leather. “Shorts and flip-flops aren’t recommended,” he said. Banner, also Medical Director of the Oklahoma Poison Control, said most snakes will not actively engage a human. Snakes usually only take a defensive posture and lash out when threatened. Although Banner said some rattlesnakes are territorial. “Most snakes will withdraw when confronted,” he said. “They read our heat signature and know we are too big for them.” Even when directly engaged they may not use their primary weapon, the venom. “They can bite and not inject venom,” Banner said. But when they do use venom, they inject it through hollowed fangs. At that point it’s time to get to the closest emergency room. Unlike what you may have heard in the past, most first aid on snake bites isn’t recommended. And don’t try to suck the venom out, as seen in western movies. “Don’t use ice and don’t put on a tourniquet,” Banner said. “Just get to the hospital.” He also advised the public not worry about killing the snake and continued on Page 3