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Dean Rodeheaver

@dean.rodeheaver

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After a short, post-retirement work visit with friends at West Virginia’s Concord University, took a detour to see the New River Gorge Bridge. Amazing setting and so glad I did. It only took me 48 years to get there. by @dean.rodeheaver

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6 months ago

One last Wisconsin spring training post. Gravel bike ride on Fox River Trail (FRT). Suddenly, almost overnight, the color palette adds green, purple, and yellow. Unfortunately, the rain that caused it has also flooded the East River and forced DePere school closings. Quite visible from the FRT. by @dean.rodeheaver

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6 months ago

Wisconsin “spring” part 5: Road biking. Tell me you knew this was coming. Potholes can swallow you hole. by @dean.rodeheaver

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6 months ago

Wisconsin “spring” part 3: road bike. Yep, wind. As my buddy Joe might say, you gonna wear the hair shirt going out or coming back? Joe was born in the wrong century and I wore it going out. by @dean.rodeheaver

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6 months ago

Biking in what passes for spring in Wisconsin. A bit of flooding, some snow remains on the Cul de Scray overlooking Ledgeview, vibrant shades of grey and brown. by @dean.rodeheaver

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6 months ago

by @dean.rodeheaver

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7 months ago

by @dean.rodeheaver

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8 months ago

by @dean.rodeheaver

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8 months ago

by @dean.rodeheaver

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8 months ago

by @dean.rodeheaver

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8 months ago

by @dean.rodeheaver

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8 months ago

Sorting through paperwork recently, I came across this, which some may recognize. It’s a record of my childhood immunizations, which my mother kept, either lost amidst the other detritus of my childhood (birthday cards, report cards, etc.), because it was meaningful, or both. I was struck by the health care providers’ carefully handwritten dates, notes, and signatures. Regardless of the reason she kept it, it embodies great care and a sense of responsibility much more intimate than computer records can ever achieve.

Context here. I was born in 1955, when life expectancy at birth was 66.7 years (it’s now 75.8 years). In the previous 10 years, the death rates from scarlet fever, diphtheria, whooping cough, measles had dropped from 10 per 100,000 children to 1 (note that there is no MMR vaccine noted since it didn’t exist when I was a child; we simply hoped our infection was bad enough that we could miss school without getting really sick). Influenza and pneumonia deaths had dropped from 114.9 per 100,000 in 1937 to 27.1 the year I was born. Polio, TB, malaria, typhoid fever and other infectious diseases were also declining.

My parents lived through those dramatic changes as they became adults and had children. They knew childhood death – an older sister I never met was struck by a car and died 11 days before I was born. My point here is that they were never afforded the privilege of believing their children would not die. (Thanks to @niniandthebrain for that concept.) Immunization must have seemed a miracle.

Moreover, our world was much smaller then than it is today. I’m sure they never knew the term “herd immunity” but I suspect they instinctively knew that infectious diseases could have a major impact on a small world. And I suspect that a sense of duty weighed heavily, alongside their care as parents.

I wish I could believe that those days are behind us and that, of course, we embrace what evidence suggests will serve both our personal and our communal welfare. But I also believe, having just entered my 8th decade, that just because history is in the past doesn’t mean it can’t be repeated. by @dean.rodeheaver

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a year ago