Category: Brief Messages or Announcements

Iowa State Fair Remembers Chet Randolph

The other day Iowa PBS remembered former Iowa PBS Market to Market host Chet Randolph with a flashback to his 1978 Reflections on the Iowa State Fair. His point about the Iowa farmers and the role of agriculture in this state is well taken. We enjoy the Fair because of Iowa farmers, who may enjoy it in a different way than most fairgoers.

According to Bob Quinn’s story in 2002 upon Randolph’s death, the icon of Iowa agriculture set a great example of how to respect the opinions of others while defending your own and be ready to accept “a better answer.”

Chet started out in Mason City, Iowa as a farm news broadcaster and in his early days, he made part of his show an offer to do chores for farm families who otherwise would never have had the time to take a vacation. He spent about 16 years (1975-1990) hosting Market to Market back when it was first called Farm Digest in 1974.

Picture credit of Chet Randolph “choreboy” Gene Champ.

KCCK Big Mo Blues Show

Tonight I heard this song on ‘da Friday Blues with John Heim aka Big Mo on KCCK and I thought I heard the lyric “Buckle up buttercup” and it didn’t make sense. Then Big Mo said it was “Pucker up buttercup.” It made sense then.

That’s called a mondegreen.

Hepatitis C Testing and Treatment Update from a Retired Psychiatrist

There is a very informative CDC media briefing transcript about why so few Americans are getting tested and treated for Hepatitis C.

I’m a retired consultation-liaison psychiatrist and I used to be the go-to consultant to the hepatology clinic back when the only treatment was interferon-alpha. Because interferon-alpha was associated with neuropsychiatric side effects, notably treatment-emergent depression, I was frequently called to help assess potential treatment candidates and on-going follow-up for some.

A significant number of patients could not tolerate the psychiatric side effects.

Back in the day, interferon-alpha was really the only treatment. Now there are many treatments available and Hepatitis C is a curable disease.

Yet, few Americans are taking advantage of the new curative treatment. There are several reasons why, including the barrier of the high cost of treatment and insurance restrictions. The patients with the highest prevalence tend to be younger than age 40 and struggle with injection drug use, commonly opioids.

A large number of those at risk for Hepatitis C don’t know they have the disease. It’s vital to know where free Hepatitis C testing is available, which can be found at the CDC web site.

Improve Your Sleep!

Listen to the IPR River to River Podcast episode from June 7, 2022 as host Ben Kieffer interviews University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics neurologist and sleep disorders expert Dr. Eric Dyken who explains sleep disorders and how to get a better night’s sleep.