Provide names of other journalists involved.
Pauline Bartolone Steve Milne Amy Isackson Andrew Nixon Pamela Wu
List date(s) this work was published or aired.
April 6, 2012 (CapRadio) July 11, 2012 (KGUA) May, 2012 (KPBS)
Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
By some estimates, every dollar spent on prevention today could yield savings of more than 5 dollars in future health care costs. “An Ounce of Prevention” profiles community health innovators in California and Mexico who are championing strategies and technologies to help people become more resilient and require less medical care. You’ll meet healthcare heroes from the foothills of the Cascade Mountains to towns south of the Mexican border who connect people to the care they need to live healthier lives. Including; A cross-border public health collaboration provides international access to low cost medicines and high tech solutions for better diagnosis and treatment of Tuberculosis; A community clinic in rural Shasta County that offers hope and healing to clients through a surprising range of local services; A South Sacramento emergency room that becomes the turning point for young victims of violence to get their lives back on track; And community health workers in Visalia who are the heroes of a hospital-based program that reduces costs by coaching high-need patients back to health and self-sufficiency. These innovative programs help reduce violence, strengthen mental health, cure disease, and lower the costs of medical care.
Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
* Kaiser Foundation Report: Characteristics of Frequent Emergency Room Users * California HealthCare Foundation: Frequent Users of Health Services Initiative * Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Violence Prevention * National Network of Home-based Violence Intervention Programs * City of Sacramento Youth Development Services * California HealthCare Foundation Report: California’s Rural Health Clinics Obstacles and Opportunities * Map of Federally Qualified Health Centers in California * San Diego County TB Control * International Community Foundation TB Report * USAID: TB in Mexico * World Health Organization: TB * Centers for Disease Control: TB * HealthyCal.org
Explain types of human sources used.
* Rural health care clinic providers * Rural mental health consumers (youth and adult) * Mexican TB pioneer Dr. Rafael Laniado * TB patients and staff at clinic in Tijuana, Mexico * Global Health researchers at UC San Diego working on high-tech drug compliance strategies * Violence prevention counselors * African- and Asian-American youth victims of violent crime * Emergency room doctor in high-crime area of Sacramento County * High-need clients of a rural hospital-based program to reduce ER visits * Patient advocates coaching clients towards self-sufficiency * Hmong health care navigator
Results:
A segment from the documentary was re-posted on telecom industry blog shortly after the program aired. Dr. Richard Garfein, the researcher profiled in this segment by reporter Amy Isackson, wrote us, “With this exposure, a contact of mine who is a member of USTelecom forwarded the story to an executive at Verizon Wireless, which resulted in my receiving an invitation from the Director of Healthcare at the Verizon Foundation to apply for a grant. I just learned that our proposal to scale-up the Video Directly Observed Therapy (VDOT) for TB project was approved by the Verizon Foundation and they will be sending a check for $300,000 next week.”
Follow-up (if any). Have you run a correction or clarification on the report or has anyone come forward to challenge its accuracy? If so, please explain.
No.
Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
Make sure that broadcast work is also available online in some form. CapRadio produced web versions of our radio segments that included streaming and downloadable audio as well as transcripts, resource links and web-only videos, slideshows and Reporter’s Notebooks. Make time to promote your stories as widely as possible, extending the life of your work and expanding your audience using any and all available channels, including Twitter, Facebook, industry blogs, organizational contacts, email.