man suffering from both depression and diabetes arrives in the emergency room in chronic conditions like asthma, diabetes, arthritis, Alzheimer’s or heart …
WHO CARES: CHRONIC ILLNESS IN AMERICA GRAPPLES WITH OUR NATIONS MOST
CRITICAL HEALTH CARE CHALLENGE AND CONSIDERS THE DIFFICULT CHOICES MADE BY
MILLIONS EVERY DAY
A Fred Friendly Seminar, hosted by journalist John Hockenberry,
premieres November 11 at 10 pm on PBS
Check local listings Times and dates will vary
National Outreach Campaign in communities across the country will
engage the public in dialogue about meeting the challenges posed by
chronic illness
A teenaged girl with asthma and her family are stuck in an unending
cycle of life-threatening attacks, emergency room treatment from harried
doctors, and missed days of work that they can ill afford A stroke victim
in his 50s is released from the hospital into the custody of his
frightened, bewildered wife who must care for him on a daily basis without
adequate help, training or money A man suffering from both depression and
diabetes arrives in the emergency room in nearly comatose, but doctors
cant treat him safely because there is no way to find out what medications
he is taking
People with
serious chronic illnesses are Americas most costly and
fastest-growing group of patients but our nations health care system
remains focused on acute care, which constitutes a significantly smaller
percentage of medical care Coping with long-term chronic conditions like
asthma, diabetes, arthritis, Alzheimers or heart disease, millions of
people are faced with agonizing decisions every day as they struggle with a
health care system not designed to meet their medical needs or provide
necessary care giving While the list of chronic illnesses is long and
diverse, the people who suffer from them and their families share many of
common problems
In the probing Socratic dialogue format pioneered by the Fred Friendly
Seminars, WHO CARES: Chronic Illness in America explores the challenging
scenarios that are playing out in homes and hospitals every day as families
and health care professionals deal with chronic illness John Hockenberry,
correspondent for Dateline NBC, moderates the one-hour program, which
premieres on PBS on November 11 at 10 pm Check local listings Times and
dates will vary The program brings together a diverse group of doctors,
patients, caregivers, and experts who
get to the core of the complex
factors that have thrown the American health care system into crisis and
complicated the lives of families dealing with chronic illness Under
Hockenberrys direction, the panel draws on their personal expertise to
role play in hypothetical situations that reveal the urgent and often
desperate problems that can arise when chronic illness bumps up against the
limits of the medical system
Adding a new dimension to the classic format, a series of brief,
dramatic vignettes throughout the program frame the issues and set up the
hypothetical situations that have always been the signature of Fred
Friendly Seminars This edition of the classic PBS series also debuts a
redesigned set that provides a bright and contemporary context for the
discussion
In the first scenario, a low-income family without health insurance
must make impossible choices when it comes to caring for their daughters
asthma condition Time and again, she winds up in the emergency room after
an acute attack The ER is all they have, but its only a temporary
remedy I know shes going to be in here again soon, says Eleanor
Thornton, director of community outreach for asthma care at
Howard
Universitys College of Medicine, who plays the role of the distressed
mother We cant get the appropriate care we need for her I know that
the emergency room is just a quick fix, but thats what we have to do
Worse, with every attack, the parents must leave work to go to the
hospital, risking their jobs in the process As they scrape to pay for
their daughters medicine, this family is on the verge of collapse from
stress and fear What do you think your daughters future is, going from
ER to ER to ER? asks Hockenberry Im scared, answers Thornton
I know this can take her life from her Im terrified
In the next scenario that Hockenberry sets up, doctors determine that
a stroke victims vital signs have stabilized, and he must be released
The hospital bed is needed But that leaves his wife and family scrambling
for answers All they want to do is shove you out as fast as they can and
then youre on your own, says Suzanne Mintz, president of the National
Family Caregivers Association, who plays the role of the patients wife
Theres nobody there to give you ongoing advice Theres nobody to come
in and watch and see if youre doing it right
The panel moves on to consider
the issues surrounding patients who
suffer more than one chronic condition and are often treated by different
doctors and hospitals over time with no centralized record of care If such
a patient arrives in an emergency room in a coma or unable to speak, the
doctors may have no efficient way to learn the patients medical history or
find out what medications have been prescribed And it becomes a balancing
act with other patients needs on the scales The amount of effort and
time to coordinate these things takes you away from seeing ten other
patients, says Dr Pedro Jose Greer, Jr, an assistant dean at the
University of Miami Medical School, explaining the typical doctors
dilemma Who is going to go out there to call the five different doctors
to get all the information?
Finally, the panel brings home the importance of the discussion to
every viewer Even if we are perfectly healthy today, none of us can
escape the effects of this crisis All of us will be facing these
conditions, either for ourselves or for our parents, says Dr Charles M
Cutler, chief medical officer for the American Association of Health Plans
And I think everyone has a stake in making the system better If
you
think it doesnt affect you today, it doesnt mean it wont affect your
parents or your children or you tomorrow
The panelists are: Dr Keith Ablow, a psychiatrist and author;
Richard J Bringewatt, president of the National Chronic Care Consortium;
Terrell Cannon, a home health aide and instructor; Arthur Caplan, director
of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania; Dr Charles
M Cutler, chief medical officer for the American Association of Health
Plans; Andrea C Davis, caregiver, television writer and producer; Susan
Dentzer, health correspondent with The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer; Rev Will
Dublin Jr, project director of Interfaith Volunteer Caregivers; Dr Pedro
Jose Greer, Jr, assistant dean for homeless education at the University of
Miami Medical School; Suzanne Mintz, president of the National Family
Caregivers Association; Rachel Mont, a high school senior who has chronic
asthma; and Eleanor Thornton, director of community outreach for asthma
care at Howard Universitys College of Medicine
In conjunction with the PBS premiere, WHO CARES: Chronic Illness in
America will be used as a catalyst for community-based dialogues about
meeting the challenges
of chronic illness Working with local chambers of
commerce, union organizations and community-based health care institutions,
the campaign will promote civic engagement ranging from discussion groups
to public forums Major national organizations have joined the campaign as
partners including Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, American
Diabetes Association, American Geriatrics Society, Faith in Action, Family
Caregiver Alliance/National Center on Caregiving, Family Voices, Foundation
for Health and Aging, Fresh Angles, Howard University School of Medicine,
National Chronic Care Consortium, National Family Caregivers Association,
National Health Council, National PACE Association, Partnership for
Solutions, Rosalynn Carter Institute for Human Development, WE Media, Inc,
and Columbia Scholastic Press Association, whose members include high
schools across the country
An extensive companion Web site will launch on September 7, 2001 on
PBS Online at wwwpbsorg/fredfriendly/whocares The Web site will include
additional information and perspectives on chronic illness as well as a
program discussion guide that can be downloaded for use by community
groups
Funding for WHO
CARES: Chronic Illness in America was provided by The
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, making grants to improve health and health
care for all Americans
The program is a production of the Fred Friendly Seminars at Columbia
University Graduate School of Journalism in association with Thirteen/WNET
New York Executive producer: Richard Kilberg Producer: Megan Cogswell
Writer: Joan I Greco Broadcast producer/director: Mark Ganguzza
Editor: Jonathan Fein Executive director: Barbara Margolis Editorial
advisor: Ruth Friendly Thirteen/WNET executive-in-charge: Stephen
Segaller
__________
Press Contacts:
Rose Lynn Marra Colby Kelly
Kelly Salerno Communications Kelly Salerno Communications
203-863-1012 or 203-863-1004
770-438-1778 colby@kellysalernocom
roselynn@kellysalernocom
Source:medstudent.ucla.edu
