November 30, 2011
[VIDEO] By Farah Dosani – Jennifer Lee and her 4- year-old daughter Kristin check out the Halloween candy she brought home from school. “Arlin was so sad that he couldn’t go trick-or-treating that I promised him we wouldn’t go either,” reminded Lee to her daughter. Lee’s 7-year-old son Arlin had been in a behavioral hospital in Orlando for almost two weeks over Halloween. He lives with bipolar disorder and had reached a crisis point. The single mom made the three-hour drive from Cape Coral to get help for her son.
November 3, 2011
By Farah Dosani – If you surf through channels on cable TV, it won’t be long until you come across a reality show on hoarding. The programs often feature forced clean-ups, feuding family members and plenty of drama. “I think sometimes it may give the public the impression that these situations are wrapped up quickly and dramatically in one big sweep of the clean up company, psychologist and everyone coming in just a matter of a couple of days,” says Mark Chidley, a Fort Myers mental health counselor. “My experience is very definitely not that.”
January 20, 2011
[VIDEO] By Farah Dosani – Death and loss may be a tough subject to talk about – but not for Dr. Ken Doka. The renowned scholar has been touring Southwest Florida this week speaking on issues dealing with death, dying, and grief.
December 7, 2010
By Farah Dosani FORT MYERS – Bodies quickly fill up the twenty-four folded chairs inside a lime green room at a local church. The people are of all different sizes. A Boston-native named “Cathy” sits in the front and heads the meeting for Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous. She stands up and tells her story to the group. “I was born this way,” said Cathy. “I looked to food to fix everything no matter what was happening in my life…. Food was my drug of choice.” We often think of addiction as something coming from a bottle, a cigarette, or a substance pushed on the streets. How can you be addicted to food? It’s a question that even self-described food addicts sometimes ask themselves. But …
November 29, 2010
[BLOG] – By Farah Dosani Repealing the health care reform may not be a popular move, says a new McClatchy-Marist poll. It showed a majority of Americans want Congress to keep the law – or change it to do more. According to the post-election survey, 51 percent of registered voters favor the health care reform, while 44 percent “want to change it to do less or repeal it altogether.”
November 23, 2010
[AUDIO] – By Euna Lhee ORLANDO – Last month, a trial for a new HIV vaccine started up in Orlando. The National Institutes of Health and a Seattle-based research organization have been recruiting volunteers nationwide for over a year, but they haven’t found enough candidates. That’s why they’ve expanded their search to Florida. One problem is the enrollment criteria are so stringent that many people don’t qualify.
November 17, 2010
[BLOG] – By Euna Lhee Here is a press release I received in my inbox that I may make into a feature story : Florida RNs Vote by 92% to Join Nation’s Largest Nurses Union for Stronger Voice for Patients, RNs “In an overwhelming and emphatic statement of support, registered nurses at Osceola Regional Medical Center in Kissimmee, FL voted by 92 percent Monday night to join the nation’s largest organization of registered nurses to build a stronger, unified voice for nurses in securing strong protections for patients and improved standards for RNs.”
November 16, 2010
[VIDEO] – By Euna Lhee LONGWOOD – The “World Vision Experience: AIDS” is an interactive exhibit that has traveled to over 100 cities nationwide since 2007. It stopped at Northland Church in Longwood, near Orlando, from October 30 to November 5. Visitors walk through a replica of an African village and take an audio tour relating the story of a real child dealing with AIDS. This slideshow details the true life story of a Kenyan boy named Kombo, with audio and pictures from the World Vision exhibit. This reporter can be reached at elhee@wusf.org.
By Dalia Colón ST. PETERSBURG — If you learn nothing else from Gail Sheehy, learn this: Ignorance is not bliss. No one wants to think about our parents and grandparents getting older, or our significant other getting sick. But chances are, many of us will find ourselves caring for a loved one long term. How long is long term? Sheehy cared for her late husband, Clay Felker, for 17 years, through four bouts of cancer. Now the prolific author and journalist has written a new book to help caregivers prepare for and navigate the ups and downs. That book, Passages in Caregiving: Turning Chaos into Confidence, is also the subject of a talk Sheehy will give at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 17, at the University …
November 10, 2010
[VIDEO] – By Kimberly Vlach Did you know that your free donation of blood goes on to generate revenue? These charges, called processing fees, are passed on to the hospitals who reimburse the blood centers their expenses of drawing, processing and testing the blood.
[SLIDESHOW] – By Dalia Colón This week I got a preview tour of Tampa General Hospital’s spiffy new neonatal intensive care unit, or NICU. It opens Nov. 30, but TGH invited the media to check out the new digs. When it’s finished, the $35-million facility will be the size of a football field and will be able to accommodate nearly twice as many babies as the old NICU. Why the need to house so many babies? Neonatologist Dr. Terri Ashmeade says there are at least two reasons: 1. “We’re seeing both more premature and smaller babies now because of research and technologies that (allow babies) to survive that wouldn’t have survived even five to 10 years ago.” 2. “There’s also been some increase in the …
November 3, 2010
By Farah Dosani NAPLES – Areas across the Florida are helping their residents find a safe new home for their unwanted prescription drugs. Prescription drug “take-back” events are popping up throughout the state and country. Once or twice a year, community and law enforcement agencies set up temporary sites for people to safely dispose of their prescription and over-the-counter drugs – no questions asked.
By Dalia Colón TAMPA – Attorney General-elect Pam Bondi plans to carry on Florida’s lawsuit challenging the federal health care overhaul. Outgoing Attorney General Bill McCollum filed the suit in a
November 2, 2010
By Farah Dosani NAPLES – For 17 years, Corporal Ken Vila has been making his rounds across 5th grade classrooms in Collier County. He is a D.A.R.E. officer – and each week he brings the message of drug prevention to his students. D.A.R.E., which stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education, was the first of its kind. The program was launched by the Los Angeles Police Department in 1983 and made its way to Florida three years later. Law enforcement agencies partner up with the school districts to run the program.
[VIDEO] By Farah Dosani – Anti-drug PSAs over the years have run the gamut. Who can forget the fried egg symbolizing “your brain on drugs” or celebrities telling you that “crack kills”? Scare tactics have been the common theme to these drug prevention efforts. But the Lee County School District has been trying a different approach: one that focuses on the positive. Through surveys, poster campaigns, and PSAs, they are showing kids that the majority of them actually don’t do drugs. This reporter can be reached at fdosani@wgcu.org
October 28, 2010
by Kimberly Vlach TAMPA – Few people take a trip abroad with the goal of challenging their beliefs and values. Ryan Kania did. And far fewer return from their trips with a decision to launch a non-profit organization in order to aid the country they visited.
October 27, 2010
By Euna Lhee ORLANDO – Next week is elections, and one of the biggest issues is the debate over health care. Candidates are getting heated up while debating President Obama’s health care overhaul, but central Floridians aren’t sure what to make out of the bill and how the issue is going to affect their votes.
October 22, 2010
By Dalia Colón SEMINOLE – In case it’s been a few years since you had acne, let two students from Seminole High School remind you what breakouts are like: “It was very embarrassing,” said freshman Gage Bass. “I didn’t want to go to school at all. It was just horrible.” Added junior Brett Phillips, “Girls weren’t attracted to me, and yeah — it didn’t work out.” Both have dealt with severe acne; about 16 percent of teens do. And they’ve seen how it can affect their peers.