State park trail entry point.

Journey Home

Tales from the pilgrimage.

public health

  • Book Review: Into the Wood Chipper

    I knew what to expect from Nicholas Enrich’s Into the Wood Chipper: A Whistleblower’s Account of How the Trump Administration Shredded USAID because I followed news of the agency shut down in real time. Enrich details his experience immediately following President Trump’s second inauguration when contracts were canceled, staff were placed on administrative leave and… Read more

  • Politics and Public Health

    I recently met a friend for lunch. They read the chapter of my autobiography about time we shared on the county board of health, ending in 2010. Rather than continue a discussion on email, we decided to meet in person. Ambient temperatures were above freezing and that made for a sloppy day. The restaurant parking… Read more

  • Public Health Time

    I served on the county board of health for six years from 2005 until 2010. Of all the volunteer work I have done, this was the most engaging. When I applied for the position, Johnson County had, and still has, a strong medical community. There were those who felt members of the board should be… Read more

  • Community Volunteer

    When I became an adult, married, and settled into steady work, it was assumed I would volunteer in the community. The volunteer impulse has its roots in the industrial period after the Civil War. People used less time to produce enough money with which to live our lives. In more modern terms, we could pay… Read more

  • On Migrant Workers

    Editor’s Note: This was posted on May 22, 2008 while the author served on the county board of health. Working with migrant communities was part of our public health outreach. Each year 2,500 or more migrant workers come to Iowa to detassel seed corn, walk the beans, prune plants and trees and pick melons, apples… Read more

  • Neglecting Public Health

    I spent six years on my county’s board of health. It was the most substantial volunteer work I have done. We touched upon almost every aspect of the community and it felt like we were making a difference. Under Republican leadership the state’s public health system is getting worse. Let’s talk about cancer. According to… Read more

  • Public Health Approach to Gun Violence

    On page A5 of Tuesday’s Cedar Rapids Gazette was the headline “75 shot in Chicago last weekend.” From 3 p.m. Friday until 6 a.m. Monday 12 people were killed and 63 wounded, mostly on the south and west sides of the city. It seems like a lot, even for a large city. Shootings in Cedar… Read more

  • Tobacco Control in 2014

    LAKE MACBRIDE— When I was in the military, I bought my first and only packs of cigarettes. I tried a few puffs, and never had another. Tobacco control is a complicated issue that affects much of society, and has little to do with one person’s choices about tobacco use. It is one where tobacco control… Read more

  • Tobacco and the Trans Pacific Trade Partnership

    At hundreds of convenience stores and retail outlets in Iowa, the drug trade has been and continues to be legal and in full force. Lowly paid wage workers ply a trade in tobacco, a deadly product that continues to be widely used. Where the author lives, workers queue up at the counter before their shift… Read more