1. Provide the title of your story or series and the names of the journalists involved.
The series was titled "Worlds Apart". It was written by Robert Joiner and edited by Sally J. Altman and Richard H. Weiss
2. List date(s) this work was published or aired.
October 10, 14, 21; November 7, 12, 14, 21; December 5, 20.
3. Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
St. Louis has plentiful medical facilities and providers, two world-class medical schools and a thriving biotechnology industry. Yet our reporting showed that many St. Louisans suffer from health maladies at a rate far greater than in other cities. Using these health assets as a backdrop, the "Worlds Apart" series examined the quality of life in several largely African-American and low income neighborhoods to show St. Louisans that where they live, as well as the availability of health services and facilities, can influence how long they live. To test the validity of this premise, we reviewed public health data and interviewed numerous experts and ordinary people to show how public policies, some of them based on race, have perpetuated the isolation of African-American residents and adversely affected their health and well-being. We showed how the resulting policies have influenced black-white disparities involving several health issues, including diabetes, infant mortality, sexually-transmitted diseases and lead poisoning. Some of the interesting findings from this series included the disconnect between doctors and patients on health literacy issues as well as flaws in the way Missouri runs its Women Infant and Children food supplement program. The state limits WIC supplies to full-service supermarkets, which are nonexistent in many low-income zip codes. Yet hundreds of WIC eligible families live in these zip codes. These are zip codes that also happen to have high infant death rates, a problem that the WIC program is supposed to help address.
4. Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
The main sources of documents and data were from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Missouri Department of Health, the St. Louis Health Department, and from several local public policy groups.
5. Explain types of human sources used.
Residents whose health conditions illustrated various disparities were featured in the series, along with medical doctors, health researchers, and health workers.
6. Results (if any).
Lots of positive feedback in the articles, and interest in developing print copies of the series for more convenient dissemination and use of the material.
7. 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.
None
8. Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
One of the biggest challenges in doing this series involved finding good examples of people to help us tell the stories. That's not easy, we learned, in an era when privacy of medical records is emphasized more than ever before. Moreover, some health providers and government agencies were suspicious of our motives and weren't always eager to supply data or help us find ideal candidates to interview out of fear that we would produce stories that would embarrass their organizations or agencies. This suspicion persisted even as we explained that our goals were to highlight problems and find out how well the solutions were working. In some instances, journalists looking for health data are encouraged to start with data managers rather public relations officers. At times, the public relations officers were clueless about how data is kept or stored. It's best to touch bases with a data manager or an epidemiologist, letting them know that type of data you are seeking and letting these experts relay the request to the public relations unit in order to get permission to supply the data and be interviewed. In addition, we discovered that, if time permits, one of the best methods of finding people to interview is to stand outside of health centers, get to know lots of people, and hope that through persistence the right people will emerge with compelling stories that match the disease or program that you want to highlight.