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I recognize that many of you who remain unvaccinated struggle with the idea for reasons – ostensibly – having to do with faith.  And I am using that word in its broadest possible context. Really, let’s face it – the only reason a person chooses not to be vaccinated has to do with concerns about…

If the American Society of Nephrology put forth a consensus statement having to do with the kidneys (for sake of argument, maybe something like “people with diabetes or other risk developing chronic kidney disease should use ACE-inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers”) there would be people who for various reasons would oppose that statement. The vast…

By now, many of you have already met our newest NAPM provider, LennettLerch, FNP-BC. If not, let me let her introduce herself to you right now… Hello everyone. My name is Lennett Petersen Lerch, a new nurse practitioner joining the NAPM team. A little bit about me… I was born and raised in a small…

This month Iwas honored to participate in the Royal College of Anaesthetists’ Faculty of Pain Medicine Webinar on Perioperative Pain Management (my section begins at 2:37).Specifically I was asked to speak on what we’ve been trying to accomplish locally (as well as nationally) in terms of reducing preoperative opioid use to improve elective surgical outcomes.…

…was one of the questions I was asked this month as a panelist/ co-commentator alongside Dr. Donald Staderduring my appearance on the Iowa Healthcare Collaborative-driven Compass Opioid Stewardship Program, funded by the federal government’s CMS as part of the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treat for Patients and Communities (SUPPORT) Act implementation.…

This month’s post concludes a two-part series began in March, focusing on COVID-19 and our overall health.  If you haven’t read the March post, I highly encourage you to do so for some background into the relationship between inflammation and COVID-19 risks and severity.  And if you haven’t seen it otherwise, I also encourage you…

This month’s post is the first of a two-part series focusing on a few things we’ve learned about the two-directional relationship between our baseline health maintenance efforts and COVID-19; the issues we’re going to talk about have a lot to do also with the prevention and alleviation of chronic pain, so you might want to…

When I was in the Air Force some time ago, one of the more important formal functions I recall participating in was what we called a Change of Command. Administrator for the past eight years, Mrs. Kathy Henckel Mrs. Jennifer Strickland, our new Administrator Presentation of colors, hallowed songs such as “Ruffles and Flourishes” and…

Long, drawn-out problems are a lot more likely than immediate crises to get our attention and turn on the fear factor. Waiting a week for my pathology report to come back on that tumor in 2010 was a lot more unnerving than a dozen near-death experiences in the Alaskan backcountry; more time to face my…

So it looks like COVID19 is poised to roll past ’20 and right into ’21 as the ongoing headliner.  Vaccines are on the horizon and in fact ready to deploy already in some venues, but widespread distribution isn’t imminent.  Furthermore – and please don’t read this as advice against mRNA vaccines (or conspiracy theory) –…