Media & Policy Center: Health Care

In 2002, we applied our new media model to And Thou Shalt Honor, a program on caregiving and the eldercare crisis. This program was honored as a special "PBS Program of Note" in October 2002. It has reached an audience of 16 million viewers, garnered over 110 million media impressions, and won numerous national media awards. In keeping with the importance of examining national and world-wide issues from local perspectives, we held ten regionally broadcast town hall meetings on health care and caregiving, and have several new town hall broadcasts coming in 2008.

an excerpt from And Thou Shalt Honor: click to play

In addition, we and our partners created a Caregiver Resource Library with over 15 specially produced films that addressed specific parts of caregiving. One of these, Getting Around, was produced for PBS broadcast as an examination of the plight of the senior driver.

We are currently developing new programs in health care, focusing on the relationship between the design of public spaces and the health of the people living in and around them (Balancing Public Space with Public Health), and on the state of health care for our youngest and most vulnerable citizens (America's Children). Both of these projects will fit well into our strategy of combining global media with local action.

Balancing Public Space with Public Health

Hosted by public health innovator and pediatrician Dr. Richard Jackson, this two-hour PBS documentary and national outreach initiative will help to inform the American public's understanding about the beneficial and deleterious relationship between the built environment in which we live and the country's overall public health.

America's Children

This multi-hour PBS series and community outreach effort, hosted by Dr. Irwin Redlener, co-founder of the Chlidren's Health Fund, will focus on the current state of physical, emotional, and psychological health of our nation's children. It will examine the conditions and circumstances that affect the quality of life — and health — of our children, and highlight best practice solutions from around the country.

And Thou Shalt Honor

This two-hour PBS broadcast tells the stories of people who have found themselves taking on the role of caregivers to loved ones. Their journeys through the experiences, challenges, and rewards of caregiving can inform and inspire anyone whose life is touched by caregiving.

Getting Around

This project tackles the challenge of developing mobility options and helping older, at-risk drivers plan for and transition to life after driving. Focusing on the mobility needs of our nation's elders, it addresses the issues that older drivers and their families face in a society so wedded to the car.