Lately my teenager has been fascinated by medical dramas. Although my “doctor self” is usually rolling my eyes throughout the program, it’s often a good conversation starter.

One recent show featured a pregnant woman who experienced one medical crisis after another. Her kidneys, liver, and lungs failed in succession as the team raced to identify the underlying obstetrical problem and find a treatment. At the climax of the episode, her heart stopped. Of course, being television, the correct diagnosis was made, the experimental treatment worked, and the episode ended with a perfectly healthy mother at home, holding her perfectly healthy baby.

For all the erroneous and outrageous details that transform bad fictional medicine into good TV, they did get something right. Pregnancy is a dangerous condition. In fact, in America, pregnancy complications account for approximately two percent of all deaths among women between the ages of 20 and 44.

To put the two percent into perspective, consider that pregnancy complications can only happen in the months during and immediately following pregnancy. On average a woman in the United States will birth between one and two children. This means that between the ages of 20 and 44, the risk of pregnancy-related death isn’t spread across those 25 years as are the risks of cancer or car accidents. It is concentrated into the relatively few months during which she is pregnant. And for women younger than 20 and older than 44 the risk of pregnancy complications is even greater but, statistically speaking, women in those age groups simply don’t have enough babies to categorize pregnancy complications as a major cause of death.

Consider also that death by violence is not counted as a pregnancy complication, even though pregnancy is a significant trigger for violence.

What’s more, consider that these risks are not distributed equally between women. Socioeconomic status, education, physical location, and race all impact the likelihood of pregnancy complications, and death from those complications.

Issues that affect pregnant people affect their whole family. In medical school, I was taught “nothing is worse for a fetus than a dead mother.” It’s hard to disagree.

So, what can we do to make pregnancy safer? The answer to that question is multi-faceted. Access to quality obstetric care is one factor. However, we must also ensure women are as healthy as possible before they conceive. They need good nutrition and safe places to live and work. They need education to know what is normal, and what is not. They and their families need access to psychiatric care to address mental illness and addiction.

It may not make for good TV, but in the real world, the starting place is as basic, and as difficult, as that.

Debra Johnston, MD. is part of The Prairie Doc® team of physicians and currently practices as a Family Medicine Doctor at Avera Medical Group in Brookings, South Dakota. Follow The Prairie Doc® at www.prairiedoc.org, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and Threads. Prairie Doc Programming includes On

Call with the Prairie Doc®, a medical Q&A show (most Thursdays at 7pm streaming on Facebook), 2 podcasts, and a Radio program (on SDPB), providing health information based on science, built on trust.

Sometimes a tree will sprout up out of nowhere and you did not plant said tree. These are called volunteer trees and don’t belong or fit in. Though trees are a vital part of our landscapes, there are situations where volunteer trees need to be controlled.. If the tree is still small and a desirable species, you may want to consider transplanting in the spring. If it is not, active control measures would be in order. Smaller trees are way easier to control than letting them get too big!

Most, but not all, trees re-sprout after cutting. Cutting those that don’t re-sprout is an effective control method. For example, eastern redcedar is a very common species that will not re-sprout after cutting. Those that do re-sprout include Siberian elm, hackberry, Osage orange (hedge-apple), oak, ash, aspen, cottonwood, maple, sycamore, willow and many more. These trees will either need to be dug out or the cut stump treated with herbicide after cutting.

Note that when we say volunteer trees, we mean those that come from seed rather than suckers that originate from the roots of an existing tree. The recommendations given in the remainder of this article are designed to kill these volunteer trees. Using herbicides on suckers will damage, and very possibly kill, the original tree. Trees that commonly produce suckers include tree of heaven, honey locust, black locust, hackberry, western soapberry, cottonwood, poplar, willow and boxelder.

It is also possible for larger trees of the same species to be root-grafted. Even though root-grafted trees are not suckers, they do share materials between the individual root systems and therefore herbicides used to treat one tree can be passed to its neighbor. Let’s say we have a tree we want to control that is a volunteer and there are no other trees of the same species close enough to be root-grafted that we do not wish to harm. What do we do? If the tree is any size, you probably do not want to dig it out. That leaves using an herbicide on the cut stump. Basal treatments are also possible but that is beyond the scope of this article. First decide what herbicide to use.

Triclopyr and glyphosate are the herbicides most commonly available to homeowners. Triclopyr is found in many brush killers and glyphosate is found in Roundup as well as numerous other products. Read the label before purchasing to make sure that a cut stump treatment is listed. Most often the undiluted product or lightly diluted product is applied to the stump immediately after cutting. A paint brush is often used for the application though some people will dip their pruning shears in the products immediately before cutting. Regardless, it is important that the stump is treated immediately or at least within 5 minutes. Note that a paint brush with foam rather than bristles is less likely to drip.

Trees do not need to be actively growing to be controlled. Actually, this time of year is a very good time to treat as long as applications are made when the temperature is above freezing.

Would you like to sleep better, have a healthier heart and less aches and pains? How about a lower blood pressure, a higher self -esteem and enhanced relationships? Would you believe that the Mayo Clinic and Harvard University, as well as other scientist all say these benefits can be yours with very little effort. And it doesn’t require a change in your diet or excessive exercise!

So, what is this magical therapy? GRATITUDE!!

Gratitude comes from the Latin word gratia, which means grace, graciousness or gratefulness. Psychologist’s Robert Emmons of University of California, Davis and Michael McCullough, University of Miami, were early researchers in this field. They found that 10 weeks of practicing gratitude can result in the outcomes listed above as well as: an increased happiness score, increased optimism, increased exercise, decreased physician visits, increased focus, increased patience and strengthened social connections. Wow, who doesn’t want these health and relationship benefits?

Gratitude is like a muscle that you can build with exercise and practice. There are many ways to increase your gratitude muscle such as writing thank you notes, saying thank you to others in person or just mentally, writing a gratitude journal, praying and meditating. Other experts mention benefits from a brief, positive chat with a friend, a kind gesture toward a stranger and a peaceful stroll in nature. A change in mindset can help you feel better, for example feeling grateful for a helpful friend rather than feeling frustrated that you can do the task alone.

Lets get started on this journey of gratitude. Thank you for reading this essay and for watching On Call with the Prairie Doc. Thanks to all of my friends and family for the love and support you give me daily. Thanks to my church family for your spiritual support.

Now it is your turn….

Joanie Holm, CNP is the Prairie Doc Board President and co-founder of Prairie Doc Programming. Follow The Prairie Doc® at www.prairiedoc.org, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and Threads. Prairie Doc Programming includes On Call with the Prairie Doc®, a medical Q&A show (most Thursdays at 7pm streaming on Facebook), 2 podcasts, and a Radio program, providing health information based on science, built on trust.