The Daily Iowan WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2024
THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA COMMUNITY SINCE 1868
DAILYIOWAN.COM
Life around death in Iowa City Iowa City funeral directors share recent trends in death care options.
Parker Jones Managing Editor parker-jones@uiowa.edu With walls painted in a calming green, comfortable furnishings, and paintings hung on every wall, Gay & Ciha Funeral and Cremation Service in Iowa City is like a friend’s living room rather than a death care facility. Dan Ciha is one of Iowa City’s two core providers of funeral care. The now-64-year-old has worked at the funeral home for over 40 years, beginning as a 16-yearold after a high school field trip. He didn’t intend to enter the funeral industry; Ciha wanted to be a veterinarian at first, but joked that one must be smart to be a vet. “You don’t have to be smart to be a funeral director, and I’m living proof of that, but in all seriousness, our class came through the funeral home and I thought, ‘Well, this is kind of interesting,’” Ciha said. His high school class received a tour from the lead funeral director of the establishment, George L. Gay. Ciha said his teacher called Gay the next day, who then interviewed Ciha and lined him up for a summer job. Eventually, Ciha was exposed to all the various jobs in the funeral practice and decided to officially enter the profession. He attended Kirkwood Community College before traveling to Texas to attend the Dallas Institute of Mortuary Science and received his funeral director’s license soon after. Currently, the only certified mortuary science program in Iowa exists at Des Moines Area Community College, which is entirely online, with 206 current students. While many schools offer prerequisite courses, like basic biology, including the University of Iowa in its mortuary science preprofessional program, much of the state lacks a direct track to mortuary licensure. In an email to The Daily Iowan, Kevin Patterson, the program chair of mortuary science at DMACC, wrote that from 2014-21, DMACC enrolled around 150-175 mortuary students per academic year. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the program switched to its entirely virtual option, which allowed for an increase in students. “While some media sources may paint a negative stigma around funeral directors, they provide a service to families who are facing one of their lowest points in life and help them as they begin the grieving process,” Patterson wrote. The Iowa Funeral Directors’ Association represents over 700 licensed funeral directors, with nearly 85 percent of those licensed in Iowa, and the other 15 at out-of-state schools. There are 425 funeral home establishments throughout the state. Ciha said funeral directors rank high in terms of burnout and exodus, or leaving the profession early in one’s career. He also noted that the profession ranks among the highest for rates of alcoholism.
INSIDE
Emily Nyberg | The Daily Iowan
Michael Lensing explains the function of a cremator at Lensing Funeral Home and Cremation Services in Iowa City on Feb. 3. The only certified mortuary science program in Iowa exists at Des Moines Area Community College. When someone dies unexpectedly, Ciha must be ready to go, even in the middle of family dinner. “You go to work at that point, and you leave your family at the table and you might see them in six hours. So, that’s the part that sucks,” Ciha said. “[The job] is just very hard on an individual. It’s hard on your families, your personal life.” Despite the stress and fatigue that can come with his career, Ciha said he “wouldn’t trade it for the world.” He noted that the relationships he forms with families and individuals make it worthwhile. In some cases, families may bury up to five generations with the same funeral home, Ciha said. “The thing that I so appreciate about our work is families not only trust us with their dear loved ones, but they trust us with their families,” Ciha said. “I can tell you stories about families, but I never would. They trust you like a counselor. And there’s some things I wish nobody ever told me, but they tell me. And it’s cool because they trust me with that.”
Rise in cremation, decrease in burials Ciha said there has been a massive increase in cremations in recent years. When he began as a funeral director in 1976, the home’s rate of cremation was less than 1 percent. Now, the rate of cremation Ciha sees is almost 70 percent, he said. However, the reasons behind this drastic increase vary. For one, he said younger generations examine everything, including death, in a slightly different way than older generations, including but not limited to religion. The other core provider of funeral care in Iowa City, Lensing Funeral & Cremation Service, currently sees a rate of about 58 percent cremations, according to co-owner Michael Lensing. Lensing Funerals also has a location in Coraville and a pet cremation service.
CREMATION | 2A
UI students cut hair for a cause Over 50 people cut their hair at the UI Dance Marathon this year.
Healing Prairie Farm set to open for youth in crisis The Iowa City center is expected to start accepting youth on March 1 at its first location. NEWS | 3A
20 years after TheFacebook’s launch on college campuses A group of Harvard students created Facebook in 2004, one of the most prominent modern social media platforms. 80 HOURS | 1C
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Memorial Union ballroom, Dance Marathon members and volunteers alike counted down to the famous Short Hair Don’t Care event, a longstanding tradition at Dance Marathon. Over 50 Dance Marathon members volunteered to cut or shave their hair on Feb. 3. Lining the hallways of the IMU, students excitedly took before and after selfies in anticipation of their new hairstyles. Haug said she has been passionate about the cause ever since her sister introduced her to Dance Marathon in high school. Many UI Dance Marathon students had a personal reason or motivation for going on stage and cutting or shaving their heads. UI first-year Lauren Vogts has family members of her own who have had cancer. Her mother and her aunt have gone through multiple rounds of chemotherapy. “It’s just been very close to home how they lost their hair and wanted to get wigs,” Vogts said. “The only way to get those wigs is for people like us to donate.” All Dance Marathon members were tasked with raising a minimum of $300 to participate at the Big Event. The proceeds would go to UI Stead Ayrton Breckenridge | The Daily Iowan Family Children’s Hospital, research, family supLogan Ehrecke, a member of the entertainment committee for dance marathon, reacts to receiving a port, and operating funds. haircut during the University of Iowa 30th Dance Marathon at the Iowa Memorial Union in Iowa City on All money raised at the event will go to childFeb. 3. Ehrecke was one of over 50 students who cut or shaved their hair. ren who have cancer, those who have survived cancer, and families who have lost a child to the disease. Shreya Reddy Marathon, Haug finally got her chance. Vogts said donating is important so families News Reporter Haug donated her entire head of hair to pedia- know they are not alone. “They are going through some of the hardest shreya-s-reddy@uiowa.edu tric cancer patients at the Short Hair Don’t Care event early on Feb. 3 during the 30th anniversary times in their life and giving them that support of UI’s 24-hour Dance Marathon, which raised is really important,” Vogts said. University of Iowa fourth-year Tess Haug has over $1.4 million in total by the end of the event, UI fourth-year student Logan Ehrecke had waited to cut her hair for a cause since middle an increase from the $1.1 million raised in 2023. school. After raising over $10,000 for Dance As shouts and applause filled the crowded Iowa HAIR | 3A
Turning the tide on UI campus laundry
The app students originally used to pay for dorm laundry was removed. Ella Knickerbocker News Reporter
ella-knickerbocker@uiowa.edu
The University of Iowa has forgone its use of the laundry app 4thID to turn back to student ID card swiping in residence halls. The 4thID app was installed and used during the 2022-23 academic school year with the hope that the digital platform would help students reserve machines and link their Hawkeye Dollars for payment. However, several reports and issues arose regarding the app’s function, including a financial malfunction in April 2023 that ended up charging students for excess laundry transactions.
Von Stange, assistant vice president for student life and senior director of UI Housing and Dining, said in an email to The Daily Iowan that Washlava, the company initially running 4thID, was recently bought out and put under new management, which affected the use, function, and accessibility of the app. The app was even removed from app stores for a period of time. “Washlava’s software partner attempted to assume responsibility for the laundry operations,” Stange said. “They were able to get their apps restored to the Apple store and Google Play but did not have a timeline to fix the problem and enable compatibility with all mobile operating systems.”
Stange added that this unreliable timeline was “unacceptable for the needs of our residents,” which prompted the switch. UI Housing and Dining contacted Transact Campus, an approved UI software vendor that partnered with KioSoft, a software company, to provide UI Housing and Dining with payment readers to install on the washers and dryers. The funds for the installation came from a facilities budget designed for equipment. However, Mayflower washers and dryers were not outfitted with the new student ID swiping system, leaving students to receive free laundry services for the rest of the spring semester.
LAUNDRY | 2A