He's Fond of Farming and Medicine

              (The (Tinus Shreveport/Bossier
Page 17-E
Sunday, Sept. 26,1982 PEOPLE Weddings 18,1?
Sheinwold 19
Heritage Scrapbook 22
IKE MUSLOW
He's fond of farming
By JUDY PACE
The Times
He seems almost stern, sitting behind
the big, cluttered desk.
He doesn't smile much, and the words
don't fall out on top of each other.
Then, he begins to talk about his late
parents — his Polish mother, his Russian
father — and he becomes more personal.
He speaks conversationally, answering
and asking questions.
This man, Dr. Ike Muslow, 56, is a promi-nent
physician, the vice-chancellor of
Louisiana State University Medical School.
But, he says, he likes the land.
"My desire is to be a farmer," he said.
"My father was a farmer."
Born in Oil City, Muslow was only six
weeks old when his father died. Muslow's
mother — who couldn't read and write in
English — was left to raise a son and
daughter, earning money from rental pro-perty.
Muslow gardens at home
The family lived in an apartment house in
the 200 block of Stoner Avenue. Other te-nants
became extended family.
"The men there would play ball with me
just like I was their own," Muslow said.
He wonders aloud if his mother could
make it today, if people would be as willing
to help as they were. Is it air conditioning, he
says, that has cut down on people's close-ness,
taking them off their porches where
they learned to know their neighbors?
He wishes, Muslow says thoughtfully, that
he had gotten around to hearing more of the
stories of his parents' past, that he had
learned to speak Yiddish. "I don't have
enough really ... about what went on."
Muslow's link to the land now is his home
in Dixie Garden with Wz acres of land, his
chickens, a garden and two dogs.
He does, he says, a lot of grass cutting.
His deep tan is evidence of his work in the
yard and of his time on the tennis court. He
plays a couple of times a week and enjoys
the game, he says, because it doesn't take
the time a game like golf does.
He is a man who likes chocolate, dreams
about pressing problems and keeps things to
himself. He watches news programs and
sports on television, likes theater and only
goes to movies when they get cave reviews.
He is, he says, protective of his time.
And, though Muslow talks fondly of farm-ing,
he leaves little doubt that he is a man
enamored with the practice of medicine.
That attraction began, he says, when he
developed an infection of his bones at age
4 Vz. The family doctor came out to the house
every day for six weeks, and the charm of
the profession rubbed off on the young
patient.
During the earlier days of Muslow's prac-tice,
he, too, made house calls. And, he said,
if he ever goes back into private practice, he
will do that again.
Such calls are a convenience to patients
and an assurance to them that the doctor
cares, Muslow believes. Also, he says, it
helps the physician learn about patients and
their environment.
Muslow's specialty is internal medicine.
He says when he opened his practice in
Shreveport, he was nervous about whether
he would make it or not and waited a week
for his first patient to come in.
He seems to enjoy the idea of helping
people through his work. The best part of
being a doctor? "You get an awful lot of
positive strokes from grateful patients."
The worst part? The business aspect, such
as the billing process. That, he says, is one of
the major things that made him leave
private practice.
He has had a variety of jobs at the LSU
Medical Center, including the job of dean of
the school, which he calls a high-pressure
job.
Named vice-chancellor for the
Shreveport campus in 1981, he is involved in
developing new programs. He works
especially closely with programs at Conway
Hospital in Monroe and oversees a group of
students at the Veterans Administration
Medical Center here.
He seems more relaxed with his pre-sent
job and refers again to the
pressures of the dean's job. What wasn't
attractive about that job, he said, was telling
people "no," when he really wanted to say
"yes."
He is a member of the State Board of
Medical Examiners. An arm of the
Legislature, the board regulates the prac-tice
of medicine in Louisiana. Muslow is
president of the Public Solicitation Review
Council, which makes recommendations
about proposed fund-raising drives, and he
is vice-president of the Shreveport Jewish
Federation.
Although Muslow says he doesn't "bristle
with confidence," he says he likes
challenges.
And, despite his sometimes reserved
facade, he says he tries to keep people from
being put off.
Chewing on a pencil, he considers a ques-tion
about his personality. "I'm sort of a
demanding person, I guess. I don't mind
someone not having full ability, as long as
they're trying." But, he says definitely, he is
impatient with people who don't put forth
their best effort.
In fact, he lists his biggest fault as that
very impatience.
Jo Row, Muslow's former secretary,
describes him as a decisive man, "a very
perceptive, discerning individual."
"If he ever pays you a compliment, he
means it. He doesn't pass them out frequent-ly
or loosely."
Mrs. Row, who worked for Maslow for
about six years, said his best trait is even
temperament. "He always bandies himself
well. I never saw him when he did not." He
is, she said, a person who puts an air of
calmness on a situation.
She also praised Muslow's honesty, a trait
which his wife, Berte, also admits to being
proud of. His integrity, Mrs. Muslow said, is
something she would admir^ even if she
were not his wife.
and medicine
Times photos/MIKE SILVA
Muslow decided early to be a physician
He is, she said, a family-oriented man
and a caring person. The Muslows
have three children.
Muslow's philosophy of life, he said, is "do
unto others as you'd have them do unto you."
He describes himself as. "pretty con-servative,"
but says when it comes to
medicine he is open to new things. "I'm both
conservative and adventurous in medicine."
He would like to be more involved in
teaching and wants to be sure he keeps his
medical skills honed. The fear of losing
those skills, he says, is a constant thing that
gives you drive.
His goal for himself? "I'd like to be a good
physician again."
He says he likes to do different things. The
changes he has made, though, have never
really been by design, but have just hap-pened.
"I think a person ought to stay in a
position for a period of time," he says, "and
then move on and let someone else follow
through."
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