In the fall of 2022, Iowa’s only inpatient eating disorder clinic closed at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. Lexie Olgren, 28, was a patient when she was 26 years old, and said the program is crucial to helping those with eating disorders and is upset about its closing.
Although Olgren still sees a psychiatrist for her struggles, the long-time Iowan said she still grapples with disordered eating often.
“I still struggle with it daily,” Olgren said. “My family watches me struggle with it. My girls watch me struggle with it.”
Lexie Olgren, 28, and her daughter Miley, 3, water plants outside the Olgren family home in Ankeny, Iowa, on Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023. After moving around Norwalk, Des Moines, and Ankeny, the family moved into their new home about three months ago.