Side Effects Public Media

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We're a health news initiative exploring the impacts of place, policy and economics on America's health. Our reporting sheds light on root causes of community-wide health problems—from chronic disease, to mental health and addiction, to infant mortality—and on new efforts to solve them.

We are headquartered at WFYI Public Media in Indianapolis, and work in partnership with KBIA in Columbia, Missouri; St. Louis Public Radio; Illinois Public Media in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois; WNIN in Evansville, Indiana; and WOSU Public Media, in Columbus, Ohio. We also work with contributing reporters from other public radio stations around the Midwest and Great Lakes regions. We're intent on telling stories from under-covered communities and hidden-away places.

Series

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3 Pieces

In rural America, older people face more health issues, like chronic illness, mental illness and complications from loneliness and isolation. This series looks into those issues in rural Kentucky.

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0 Pieces

An unusual court in Columbus, Ohio, offers a therapeutic approach instead of a punitive one to sex workers. In this two-part series, we hear the story of Stephanie Rollins' recovery from two decades of addiction and sex work, and the judge who offered her a new path for her life.

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4 Pieces

This series explores the health needs and concerns of foster children.

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2 Pieces

In 2007, 12,000 inmates with mental illness sued the Illinois Department of Corrections, alleging the agency punishes inmates with mental illness instead of properly treating them. A settlement was reached in 2016, when the state agreed to revamp mental health care and provide better treatment. But a federal judge has ruled that care remains “grossly insufficient” and “extremely poor.”

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4 Pieces

In the grips of an opioid addiction epidemic, many communities are increasing efforts to prevent overdose or stem the easy access to drugs. Meanwhile, long-term recovery for many people struggling with drug or alcohol addiction remains elusive. Despite advances, addiction has strikingly high relapse rates. This series explores obstacles that hold people back from treatment and new approaches to care that can help people stay well in the long term

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3 Pieces

Sick is a podcast about the things that can happen to our bodies—and how we respond.

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50 Pieces

Our health journalism collaborative explores the impacts of place, policy and economics on Americans' health.

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5 Pieces

Personal experiences of people in recovery shared at a live storytelling event in Indianapolis.


Pieces

Caption: Kathi Arbini holds a photograph of her son, Kevin Mullane, who died of a heroin overdose at the age of 21., Credit: SEBASTIÁN MARTÍNEZ VALDIVIA/SIDE EFFECTS PUBLIC MEDIA
The opioid crisis has hit American communities hard. States have responded by creating databases to keep track of prescriptions, so people can’t go...

Bought by WRST-FM Oshkosh


  • Added: Feb 27, 2019
  • Length: 03:53
  • Purchases: 1
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Research shows African-Americans are less likely to access treatment for mental illness. Cultural norms and the stigma associated with having a men...

Bought by WRST-FM Oshkosh


  • Added: Feb 26, 2019
  • Length: 03:40
  • Purchases: 1
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Obesity is a big problem across the U-S -- it affects about 40 percent of the population. And it’s even worse in Midwest states like Ohio, Illinois...

Bought by WAMC Northeast Public Radio


  • Added: Feb 21, 2019
  • Length: 03:27
  • Purchases: 1
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Health officials say teenagers are using e-cigarettes at epidemic rates. Lawmakers in a number of Midwest states, like Indiana, Illinois and Minnes...

  • Added: Feb 19, 2019
  • Length: 03:20
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Increasingly, sports teams, especially in the NBA, are hiring "sleep coaches" to help players. This follows research that good sleep can be as bene...

  • Added: Feb 12, 2019
  • Length: 03:06
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Dr. Wanda Thruston and Dr. Barb Pierce are examining what they call a “wicked problem” -- helping children deal with trauma and violence. Side Effe...

  • Added: Feb 07, 2019
  • Length: 03:52
Caption: The staff of Positive Recovery Solutions wait for patients to come to the clinic each Wednesday., Credit: Paige Pfleger, Side Effects Public Media
The area around Columbus Ohio has been hit hard by the opioid epidemic. And judges say courtrooms are jammed with misdemeanor cases that are tied t...

  • Added: Feb 06, 2019
  • Length: 04:03
Caption: Nearly 800 inmates with serious mental illness have been transferred to Joliet Treatment Center and three other similar treatment facilities. Two layers of barbed-wire fence surround the campus, which includes single-story "dorms," a dining hall, a gym, a, Credit: Christine Herman, Side Effects Public Media
Inadequate treatment of mentally ill prisoners is a problem across the U.S. When psychiatric institutions began closing down in the 1950s, they we...

  • Added: Jan 28, 2019
  • Length: 07:18
Caption: The Joliet Treatment Center, located just southwest of Chicago, is one of three mental health treatment facilities now providing mental health care to 765 of Illinois' sickest inmates. The facilities were created as part of a lawsuit settlement., Credit: Christine Herman, Side Effects Public Media
In 2007, 12,000 inmates with mental illness sued the Illinois Department of Corrections, alleging the agency punishes inmates with mental illness i...

  • Added: Jan 28, 2019
  • Length: 03:58
Caption: Melody Lynch-Kimery, left, stretches on a Pilates reformer machine while physical therapist Camille Fenwick directs her breathing. Lynch-Kimery is in physical therapy to relieve pain around her C-section scar.
Across the United States, an alarming number of women die during pregnancy or childbirth. And for each one who dies, dozens wind up with health pro...

Bought by WAMC Northeast Public Radio and KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio


  • Added: Jan 17, 2019
  • Length: 03:51
  • Purchases: 2