THE TRUTH ABOUT CANCER

THE TRUTH ABOUT CANCER, airs Wednesday, April 16 at 9:00 p.m. on WPBT/Channel 2 in Miami.
As the third installment in PBS’ Take One Step health campaign, this program seeks to answer the question, “Why does anyone still die of cancer?” Award-winning filmmaker Linda Garmon shares the story of her husband’s battle with the disease. In the first 90 minutes of the program, she returns to the hospitals and institutions where her husband was treated to chronicle the lives of patients, doctors and researchers who are united in the hope for a cancer cure. Part science, part personal catharsis, part character-driven storytelling, this powerful documentary uncovers the truth about cancer and tells us where we stand in fighting the battle against the disease. Immediately after, news journalist and breast cancer survivor Linda Ellerbee hosts a 30-minute follow-up discussion, “Take One Step: A Conversation About Cancer With Linda Ellerbee.” The panel covers the importance of prevention and screenings, what to expect if you or a loved one is diagnosed and how to live with the disease.
Watch a preview clip on uVu.

Boomers & Beyond: A Day for Health & Wellness

WPBT/Channel 2 is sponsoring Boomers & Beyond: A Day for Health & Wellness  to be held Sunday, March 30, 2008, 12 noon – 4 pm on the main campus at NOVA Southeastern University in Davie.

Many screenings will take place including balance, BMI, bone density, peripheral arterial disease and aortic aneurysm, mental health screening, vision, & stroke prevention. Lots of important health information will be provided.

An “Ask the Expert” Q & A sessions will be available all day long . Raffles, prizes and snacks will be given out as well.

For more information, you can call (866) 284-4678 or visit here

Added 4/1: Watch a video from Boomers and Beyond

UNNATURAL CAUSES: IS INEQUALITY MAKING US SICK?

UNNATURAL CAUSES: IS INEQUALITY MAKING US SICK?
Thursdays, March 27-April 17 at 11:00 p.m. each week on WPBT/Channel 2 in Miami.
(Read a review from the Sun Sentinel here)

UNNATURAL CAUSES is a four-hour series that, for the first time on television, sounds the alarm about glaring socio-economic and racial inequities in health and searches for their causes.

The U.S. already spends twice per person on health care than any other industrialized nation. Yet our life expectancy ranks 30th; Costa Ricans live longer. Infant mortality? We’re tied with Hungary, Poland and Slovakia for next to last among industrialized nations. Illnesses cost American business more than a trillion dollars a year in lost productivity.

Further, research has revealed a gradient to health. At each step down the socio-economic ladder — from the rich to the middle class to the poor — people tend to be sicker and die sooner. It’s no surprise that poor Americans die eight years before the rich on average, but middle-class Americans die almost three years sooner than the rich.

UNNATURAL CAUSES looks at what’s making us sick in the first place, investigating startling new findings that suggest there is much more to poor health than bad habits, inadequate health care or unlucky genes. The series circles in on a slow killer in plain view: the social circumstances in which we are born, live and work that can affect our risk for disease as surely as germs and viruses.