A Shot of Reality

Former First Lady Betty Ford has connections to IUSM, but she probably
doesn't know it. So does former "first brother" Billy Carter, as do a host of other
celebrities and newsmakers. Their connection is Joe Pursch, MD '59.

Dr. Pursch could be a newsmaker himself - not because of who he knows but because of his innovation and dedication in treating people with addictions. Listening to him describe his work leaves the strong impression that his connections with the rich and famous mean little to him; his interest is simply to help people in need.

This is a man who pulls no punches, shades no truths. The columns he wrote for nearly fifteen years for the LA Times Syndicate are evidence of that. Dr. Pursch isn't any easier on those in the medical community who perpetuate addictive behavior than he is on the addict or their co-dependent friends and loved ones.

For instance: "Alcoholism and other addictions are very easily diagnosed; you do not need to go to medical school. Anyone with an IQ the size of his waistline can diagnose alcoholism, but not many want to because once you diagnose it, you have to do something."

Referring to physicians who mask one addiction by creating another, Dr. Pursch says, "These are the ones who help the Elvis Presleys die"

Along with his directness, Dr. Pursch's wit stands out. "I have a very high cure rate for Alzheimer's; I take them all off alcohol. Turns out they had Anheuser's," he told a group of IUSM alumni attending a luncheon speech during Spring Medical Alumni Weekend.

Referring to those with dual dependencies, Dr. Pursch said the most popular drug in California is "bourzac"- that's Prozac washed down with bourbon.

His no-nonsense attitude may be the reason for his success. An American citizen by a quirk of fate, Dr. Pursch was born in Chicago when his parents lived here briefly. Soon after, the family returned to their native Yugoslavia, near Belgrade, where his father owned a meat processing plant.

In 1944, when he was fifteen, his upper middle-class life took an unexpected turn, as did the lives of many Europeans during World War II. He was sent to Czechoslovakia, along with several hundred other children from his village, to keep them out of the grasp of the invading Russian army.

"Right" Of Passage
Dr. Pursch was in a Czech labor camp when he learned that his family's home and business had been confiscated. He was also told - mistakenly - that his parents had been executed by the Russians. It was not until 1950 that he was reunited with his parents.

With the help of American occupation forces, Dr. Pursch secured passage to Detroit where an uncle lived. His U.S. birth certificate, which he had kept hidden in his shoe, became his "right" of passage.

His uncle got him a job, as he says, "at the top of American industry". He was a high-rise window washer making ninety cents an hour. Within six months he was fluent in English; within a year he owned his own window washing company. Owning a business allowed him to save for college. He completed his pre-med training in Detroit, then completed his studies at IUSM before returning to Detroit for a rotating internship.

Then he began his two-year military obligation in the Navy. The two years grew to twenty and he retired from the Navy in 1980. But it was during his initial stint that his professional career took shape. During a two and-one-half-year tour at sea aboard an aircraft carrier, Dr. Pursch noted that alcohol was the culprit that brought many sailors to sick bay.

"In those days, we called them heavy drinkers," he says. But that attitude of denial didn't work with Dr. Pursch for long; he saw that heavy drinking was a much larger and more pervasive problem for the military and national defense. And it wasn't just enlisted men who suffered from alcoholism.

Simple Medicine
Dr. Pursch did part of his residency in psychiatry at Bethesda Naval Hospital, where he became aware that alcoholism touched the lives of the great and powerful. Once again, he says, they were referred to as "heavy drinkers" because they were accomplished, productive individuals.

Dr. Pursch says that initially he was looking for the cause and not the cure, but after a time his penchant for action took over. "I only practice simple medicine, so I began to focus on the cure," he says. He has kept that focus for more than thirty years.

If you ask what he considers one of his greatest successes, he answers simply "airline pilots." He has a ninety-two percent recovery rate for pilots enrolled in his intervention and treatment programs. And why is the success rate so high? Because a pilot without his wings is a person who has lost everything, Dr. Pursch explains.

"The reason the interventions for airline pilots are so simple and the success rate so high is because there is no power like the one power holding the pilot's career in their hands - and that's the FAA." Like other things in life, Joe Pursch has it figured out in a simple, workable format with a smattering of humor. "Have a safe trip home, and if you fly, may you fly with one of my pilots" he chuckled as he left the podium to the applause of his fellow alumni.