Iowa – Page 15 – Go Retire Psychiatrist

Certification of Old Fart Status by Iowa House of Representatives

Well, thank you very much, State Representative Adam Zabner, for recognizing me as an old fart as you prefer to call it, which is fine with me.

I received a similar honor several years ago, from State Representative Dave Jacoby, who was much more prolix in his remarks on my certificate.

A long time ago, I kept a blog when I was a consulting psychiatrist in the University of Iowa Health Care Dept of Psychiatry. I used to mention occasionally that someday those who recognized my greatness would raise a statue of playdoh to me in the Quad.

Funny thing is I don’t know if the Quad even exists anymore. I supposed the statue could be raised (and perhaps later razed when people finally catch on) somewhere else, in a place much more prominent given my eminence, possibly at the state house in Des Moines or outside Pagliai’s Pizza here in Iowa City at least.

I’ll admit frankly, age does bring with it some of the usual markers: deepening wrinkles, receding hairline, fading memory and the like. There are some advantages, such as the tendency to joke and tell little stories of the distant past (chariot races and so on). This helps to bore younger persons enough for them to move out of line at the ice cream shop so that I can move up.

And I still exercise vigorously, lifting the salt and pepper shakers, crossing and uncrossing my legs on the ottoman, walking back and forth between the chair and the fridge, and power napping.

Seriously, I’m still juggling, which I took up about two and a half years ago. I exercise but not too much. A while ago I had an issue with my quads getting so big they were flopping over my knees so I had to cut back a little.

I don’t know that I’ll get many more certificates of senility from the Iowa House of Representatives. That makes it even more important for somebody to get to work with all possible speed on my playdoh statue.

University of Iowa Will Lead NASA Space Mission to Learn the Music of the Spheres

The big news for University of Iowa will be a NASA satellite mission to investigate how solar wind interacts with Earth’s magnetosphere. You can read the whole fascinating story in this issue of Iowa Magazine.

According to the story, “twin spacecraft known as TRACERS—Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites—will begin their journey to study Earth’s mysterious magnetic interactions with the sun. The satellites will be packed with scientific instruments along with two small, but meaningful, tokens.”

The two small tokens happen to be purple guitar picks that belonged to University of Iowa physicist, Craig Kletzing, who died from cancer in 2023. Kletzing and colleagues got a $115 million contract from NASA for TRACERS. It’s the largest research award in University of Iowa history.

Kletzing played guitar in a few bands, and one them was named Bipolar—which is the only connection to psychiatry that I could see. He was dedicated to work in basic science, and he was often heard to ask “How can we make this simpler?” referring to chunking big scientific challenges into manageable goals. He was a rare person in that he was both a brilliant scientist and a great teacher. One example of his work ethic was that he skipped a meeting with NASA’s top brass in order to deliver a morning lecture on introductory physics to 275 students.

The members of the UI TRACERS team call the project “Craig’s mission.” I’m pretty sure he would have called it a team effort “… to help scientists better understand the powerful forces harmonizing throughout the universe—something the ancient Greeks described as the music of the spheres.”

And that’s what the purple guitar picks represent.

Members of the Human Club

I just read Dr. Moffic’s column, “Join This Club for Mental Health” in which he described the Clubhouse movement which got started in the 1940s to help those with mental health challenges to cope with their illness and, more importantly, to recover, grow, and achieve success in life.

It made wonder if there are any chapters of the Clubhouse model in Iowa. It turns out there is and it’s Carol House in Davenport, Iowa. It’s connected with the Vera French Mental Health Center. Its namesake is Carol Lujack, who was a member when the center was called “The Frontier Community Outreach Program” in the 1980s in downtown Davenport.

I was looking at the Carol Center website where you can find many interesting features of the people and activities that go on there. The April newsletter is fascinating and funny. You can find out in the April Newsletter about a few of the current members, April holidays (there’s a slew of them), and famous quotes. One of the quotes is familiar and it’s by F. Scott Fitzgerald,

“Vitality shows not only in the ability to persist, but in the ability to start over,” The quote is worded in various ways, but I remember it because I used it as an inspirational quote when The University of Iowa honored me and several of my colleagues with a Feather in Your Cap award back in 2011.

This was shortly after I returned to Iowa after an unsuccessful stab at trying private practice psychiatry in Wisconsin. And it was the second time I did that—the first time was in Illinois.

Did you know that April is National Humor Month? And have you heard the joke “What kind of candy is never on time?” Choco-Late.

One April holiday is not mentioned and that’s Arbor Day, which varies according to what part of the world you’re in as planting times differ. Sena planted a couple of new trees in the back yard.

Starting new chapters of Clubhouse is a little like planting new trees. They need watering.

SAINT Therapy for Treatment Resistant Depression at The University of Iowa

First of all, if you looked up Saint therapy for depression, you might have accidentally found information on Saint Dymphna, the Catholic patron saint of those living with mental illness.

Actually, SAINT stands for Stanford accelerated intelligent neuromodulation therapy. It’s a personalized protocol for using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to treat severe depression. The University of Iowa is the first academic center to offer it in the Midwest.

This is a big step forward from the days many years ago when we were starting use right unilateral electrode placement for applying electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) to treat depression because it was thought to lead to fewer cognitive problems post-treatment.

SAINT is a game changer according to Dr. Nicholas Trapp, MD, assistant professor of psychiatry, who describes it as a method to pinpoint the best location in each patient’s brain to target with TMS to treat major depressive disorder. The procedure is quick and recovery from depression can be sustained for months.

Kudos to The University of Iowa. And maybe thanks to Saint Dymphna.

Bigfoot Safari in Iowa!

I suppose you’ve all heard there’s going to be another Iowa Bigfoot search this year sponsored by the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO). It’s scheduled for September 18-21, 2025 (Thursday-Sunday). Check the registration details for fees and whatnot—No guns or dogs allowed.

What would Einstein say about the difference between Bigfoot, Yeti, and Sasquatch? They’re all relative.

The announcement as of today doesn’t say where the trip will start yeti (har!). Presumably, the party won’t be anywhere near Dyersville, where the movie “Field of Dreams” was filmed. And if the organizers give this a big enough build-up, the hopeful will come.

And they have showed up for previous events; at least I think so. There have been several such expeditions in recent years. According to the BFRO website, there’ve been 78 sightings of Bigfoot in Iowa.

Bigfoot saw me but no one believed him.

The Wikipedia article on Bigfoot is one of the longest I’ve ever seen. There are over 300 references. Funny, I didn’t see any of my documented sightings even mentioned, not even the classic tree structure in Hickory Hill Park.

How does Bigfoot know what time it is? He checks his sasquatch.

What do you call a Sasquatch who can improvise? An unscripted cryptid.

What do you call a Sasquatch who’s always prepared? A ready Yeti.

What do you call an Italian Bigfoot? A spag-yeti.

What kind of exercise does Bigfoot like? Sasquats.

Bigfoot sightings have been reported from all over the world. You can even see one in Canada caught on camera in this famous documentary from The Red Green Show.

How to Support University of Iowa with the One Day for Iowa Fund Drive Today!

Okay, so here’s my pitch on how potential donors can support programs at The University of Iowa. Today the One Day for Iowa fund drive kicks off, and it ends at 11:59 PM today on March 26, 2025.

I got a soft spot in my heart for The University of Iowa College of Medicine and University of Iowa Health Care (UIHC), even though my undergraduate Bachelor’s degree was from Iowa State University.

You can find in the UIHC Medical Museum a description of the historical development of the medical school. Following the Flexner Report in 1909 which found fault with all U.S. medical schools including Iowa’s, there was a drive to avoid “inbreeding,” meaning hiring of one’s own graduates. Nowadays, there are legislative efforts to keep as many as we can of Iowa’s best and brightest.

Go Hawkeyes!

Attack of the Toothworms

I had my regular visit to the dentist at The University of Iowa Health Care (UIHC) today, and it was a good thing I did. For the past couple of weeks or so I’ve had cold and hot sensitivity in a couple of teeth. No surprise, the dentist found 3 teeth that needed a little work.

The dental hygienist also suggested I try using a tongue cleaner and gave me a free one. I’d never heard of a tongue cleaner before. The package advertisement (in English, French, and Spanish) says it’s for combatting bad breath, although the dental hygienist assured me in 6 different languages that she didn’t detect that problem in me.

I was there for my annual teeth cleaning but now I had 3 teeth needing work. Luckily, the dentist had an appointment in the early afternoon. It was a 3 hour wait, but I thought it was better to get it done sooner rather than later. Anticipating a visit with a dentist is sometimes almost as bad as getting in the chair and exercising my ability to refrain from flinching as the high-speed instruments whine in my ear while the dentist and the assistant do their level best to see that I gag several times in at least 9 different languages, including Klingon.

It’s hard to explain why I was having tooth sensitivity because, according to the dentist, the damage was not that severe. It wasn’t until I wandered around the hospital while waiting for the 2^nd appointment that I realized I had never visited the Medical Museum on the 8^th floor. And that’s where I found a possible explanation that made more sense than the modern one. It’s probably toothworms.

No kidding, back in the 18^th century, a lot of people thought worms caused tooth decay by eating them from the inside out. There was also a College of Dentistry display in the Medical Museum featuring a typical dentist chair and samples of rusty tools, which made wonder if I should put off the filling work until, say, after my next ten reincarnations.

There’s a human skeleton in the museum which is affectionately called Gertie. The historical note on Gertie is very interesting in that it was thought to be a male when Ottumwa Regional Health Center donated it to UIHC in 2013. It turns out he is actually a she and the “…two symmetrical holes in the upper jaw are the result of large dental abscesses.” Just what I wanted to learn on a day when I’m anticipating dental work.

Anyway, my teeth got repaired. I would say that the UIHC dental clinic has come a long way from 1904. You don’t turn and spit in a bowl anymore. They just siphon the toothworms out with a suction wand nowadays.

Stead Family Children’s Hospital NICU Gets a Wave from the AAP with New Designation

The University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit was recently recognized by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) as one of only two such units in the U.S. having the highest levels of neonatal care.

It reminds me of the Iowa Hawkeye football games where, at the end of the first quarter, all the players and football fans wave from the field to the pediatric patients and their families watching the game from UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital. It’s called the Wave, one of the best traditions in college sports.

Well, the AAP waves to Stead Family Children’s Hospital NICU.

The Red Green Show “Twinning” Episode A Model of Cooperation

I just read Dr. H. Steven Moffic’s post on Psychiatric Times, “The Space Station as a Model for Intercultural Cooperation.” I also read the blog of another psychiatric I consider a colleague and friend, Dr. George Dawson, MD, and it’s sort of in the oppositive vein, being about the recent snafu of some Republican Minnesota legislators deciding to submit a bill to the legislature mansplaining Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) to the Democrats why TDS needs to become a law. It’s going over like a lead space station.

Incidentally, one legislature activity tracking website (Bill Track 50) has an Artificial Intelligence (AI) summary of the bill which says in part, “…the bill appears to be satirical or politically motivated…”

And the Minnesota Senate Minority Leader, Mark T. Johnson, said the bill was “a little bit tongue in cheek,” and possibly unintentionally joked that “Senate Republicans have always supported mental health funding…” while also calling attention to problems that the two political parties have cooperating with each other (story source WCCO News Minnesota, “Minnesota bill to define “Trump derangement syndrome” as mental illness provokes backlash” by Eric Henderson, Caroline Cummings; accessed March 18, 2025). Obviously these two pieces present opposites when it comes to collaboration.

The other issue pertinent to my post today has been the recent tariff and trade war going on between Canada and America, which is all about competition rather than cooperation.

Therefore, I did a web search for any Red Green Show episodes that demonstrated cooperation as a theme. In fact, the usual AI guidance (which I never ask for) pointed out that The Red Green Show didn’t present episodes about cooperation per se, but satirized the topic. For once, I had to agree with AI for the most part.

On the other hand, I did find a Red Green Show episode called “Twinning” that actually seemed to involve collaboration between Canada and Iowa, if you can imagine that nowadays. Back in the year 2000, The Red Green Show sponsored a survey of all 50 states in America, offering an opportunity for persons from an American city to twin with persons from Canada, I think it was Ontario. This meant that Americans would visit Canada and Canadians would visit America. I may not have the exact details right, but the idea of cross-cultural collaboration and getting to know each other was the main idea.

The whole state of Iowa endorsed the twinning offer with The Red Green Show, which of course, represented Canada. At the time, the Iowa Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) network was supporting the Red Green Show.

I never knew about that when it happened in 2000, probably because I was pretty busy working as a consultation-liaison psychiatrist here in Iowa City, Iowa. Anyway, the “Twinning” episode was one of the funniest I’ve seen. You know, identical twins are not exactly identical in every way.

Wonderful Windy Day

Well, the forecast was for a very windy day, more windy than we’d like. On the other hand, it was bearable on the Terry Trueblood Trail. However, the forecast is for high winds and hail and we’re not looking forward to that.

The highlight was seeing a leucistic Canadian Goose for the first time. They’re rare. It’s a color variation. The one we saw had a brownish head and white feathers on its body.

It was a great day for bird watching.