John Van Nostrand: Transition month
Mar. 5—Mostly as an adult, I've called March a transition month. Baseball is in spring training. We change to Daylight Saving Time. We welcome spring later on with the fears winter will still make some firm, but short-lived, appearances. (I remember a March spring break during high school when it snowed).
I've no problem with winter. Admittedly, I don't like the bitter cold, but am fine with snow. During my adult years, I've learned how common it is for older generations to establish a winter home in Florida, Texas, Arizona and the like. Those people may have reached their breaking point with winter. I get that.
But some breaking points are more serious and need more than a 66-degree day in March to make things feel better.
Last month, Eagles band member Don Henley was asked in a New York courtroom about his November 1980 arrest after authorities said they found drugs and a naked 16-year-old girl suffering from an overdose at his Los Angeles home, according to the Associated Press. The trial was about legalities involving "Hotel California," one of the band's bigger hits Henley wrote.
Henley told the court he called for a sex worker that night because he "wanted to escape the depression I was in" over the breakup of the superstar band. Earlier that year, various differences among band members led to the end of the group. Not the first band to end that way and hasn't been the last.
"I wanted to forget about everything that was happening with the band, and I made a poor decision which I regret to this day. I've had to live with it for 44 years. I'm still living with it today, in this courtroom. Poor decision," Henley testified.
In a 1991 magazine article, Henley said he didn't know the girl's age until after his arrest but said nothing physical happened.
"I don't remember the anatomical details, but I know there was no sex," he said. They shared some illicit narcotics and talked about his feelings of the end of the Eagles. The girl talked about how she was disconnected from her family. Henley called emergency services. The ambulance crew then notified the police after learning of the situation. The girl recovered and eventually left with a person Henley suggested. Henley faced various charges and paid the penalties.
The story about Henley came at an interesting time. We receive various emails from dozens of sources. MindWings analyzed Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data from the Household Pulse Survey between 2020 and 2023 to see which states reported symptoms of anxiety and depression the least. Iowa experienced the sixth lowest rate of anxiety and depression symptoms in America.
I thought the timing of the survey was most important as it was during the COVID-19 pandemic and 2023, a year where life seems to have been like pre-COVID. (I know, things changed during the pandemic. Today isn't exactly like what it was like in 2019.)
Iowa was sixth, with 31.2% of respondents experiencing symptoms, 2.8 percentage points less than the national average. South Dakota experienced symptoms of anxiety and depression less often than any state, with 28.5% of respondents reporting experiencing symptoms, 5.5 percentage points lower than the national average of 34%. Louisiana experienced symptoms of anxiety and depression the most of any state, with 39.6% of Louisianians experiencing these symptoms, 5.6 percentage points more frequently than the national average.
That was encouraging for Iowa knowing what has happened to mental-health care in Iowa about the past 10 years. I've heard stories where law enforcement agencies need hours to find beds for mental-health cases, then can drive hours roundtrip to take the person to the facility.
Former Iowa Gov. Terry Brandstad closed the state's mental health institutions in Clarinda and Mount Pleasant in 2015, with no room for negotiation. It was common for Clarinda to treat severe dementia cases. Mount Pleasant had a history of patients with substance abuse on top of a mental-health issue.
It was good there were resources for those families so they wouldn't reach their breaking point. Since the MHI closures, other health-care facilities have taken on some of those people. But studies continue to be done on how Iowa is still short of adequate mental-health care.
People can show they reached their breaking point in different ways; showing how they transition through their issue. Some issues are easier to handle than others. I hope those Iowans who responded to that story can be contagious to transition Iowa even higher on the list.
