Dr Doug Butzier was an emergency room physician at Mercy Medical Center in Dubuque. He tragically lost his life in an airplane crash on a rainy Monday night, October 13, 2014. He was returning from a rally in Des Moines where he'd been introduced as the Libertarian candidate for the Iowa state senate seat.
Over the course of seventeen years as an ER physician, I got to know Doug, and consider him a friend as well as colleague. He had a gift for putting patients at ease. He was a skilled diagnostician and approachable teacher of all things related to medicine. He could crack a joke and was laid back. ER physicians need to be cool in crisis situations. I can't ever remember seeing Doug rattled or stressed at work, even when the ER was overflowing with patients who needed his help and concern.
His interests outside of work were many. Hunting, fishing, and piloting his Piper PA-46 airplane were among his passions. I introduced him to geocaching and we had several conversations about places I visited, things I enjoyed seeing. He was interested, and often asked about my recent caching runs. He even offered to fly me out to Colorado for a weekend, so that I could grab a bunch of caches out there, and show him the ropes. It was always on the "Let's do this" list for a day in the future, but we never did manage to align our schedules and make it happen. His death was a shock to all who knew him and he will be very much missed.
This cache is placed in his honor with the enthusiastic approval of Rusty Knight, CEO of Mercy Medical Center, as well as Dan McAuliffe, director of Security. Please park at the designated coordinates in the parking lot to the north of the cache. DO NOT PARK ON WOOTEN STREET to the south of the cache. This is the main road for ambulances to enter the Mercy campus. Parked vehicles can become obstacles to patients at a critical moment in time. It should be a straightforward find for you cachers. Please replace as found, CITO if you spot any litter, and enjoy.
For more on geocaching in Iowa, visit the Iowa Geocachers Organization home page 
