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: Insurers like the Morgan White Group (whose advertisement is pictured above) offer 'gap insurance' plans to help cover the financial risk of high-deductible health insurance.
In the coming year, people insured under the Affordable Care Act may be facing, on average, about a 10 percent rise in the price of their health in...

  • Added: Sep 13, 2016
  • Length: 03:34
Caption: Allan Henderson, second from right, who manages Safe Routes to SChool programs with the non-profit Health By Design, leads a group of students on a walk audit., Credit: Jake Harper/Side Effects
A few decades ago, almost half of all students in the U.S. walked or biked. According to a 2009 study, that number has dropped to to one in eight. ...

Bought by KSKA and KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio


  • Added: Sep 12, 2016
  • Length: 03:30
  • Purchases: 2
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This year, in the wake of Flint, Michigan’s water crisis school districts around the country have been testing their tap water for lead contaminati...

Bought by KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio


  • Added: Sep 09, 2016
  • Length: 03:21
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Jake Harper, 29, is Side Effects Public Media's resident hypochondriac. His newest health anxiety stems from the human papillomavirus, or HPV., Credit: Brian Paul/Side Effects
A generation of young men missed out on the HPV vaccine. Now, Side Effects Public Media's 29-year-old correspondent wonders if that’s putting him a...

  • Added: Aug 22, 2016
  • Length: 03:23
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An occupational therapy researcher explores the idea that acting in a play can help people recover from drug and alcohol addiction.

Bought by WAMC Northeast Public Radio, Northeast Indiana Public Radio, and 90.1 WFYI Public Radio


  • Added: Aug 08, 2016
  • Length: 03:22
  • Purchases: 3
Caption: After the demonstration, one attendee tries to insert and remove the rods from the pork skin. Physicians needs to pass both a prescriber test and implanter test to offer Probuphine as a treatment to patients.
Practicing surgery on a piece of pork - that's how these doctors are learning to implant a new drug at FDA-required training that curbs opioid crav...

Bought by KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio, Northeast Indiana Public Radio, and 90.1 WFYI Public Radio


  • Added: Aug 05, 2016
  • Length: 03:43
  • Purchases: 3
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Few states have been harder hit by the nation’s opioid epidemic than Missouri, which has one of the country’s highest overdose rates. A new center ...

Bought by WRST-FM Oshkosh, WAMC Northeast Public Radio, and 90.1 WFYI Public Radio


  • Added: Aug 03, 2016
  • Length: 03:28
  • Purchases: 3
Caption: When used in conjunction with psychological therapy, Suboxone strips placed under the tongue, doctors say, can help ease opioid cravings and other withdrawal symptoms in people trying to quit a heroin or painkiller habit., Credit: Jake Harper/Side Effects
When used in conjunction with psychological therapy, Suboxone strips placed under the tongue, doctors say, can help ease opioid cravings and other ...

Bought by KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio, WABE, and 90.1 WFYI Public Radio


  • Added: Aug 03, 2016
  • Length: 03:40
  • Purchases: 3
Caption: Dave Adox communicates about his commitment to be an organ donor through a machine that speaks for him., Credit: Karen Shakerdge
Every day about 22 Americans die while waiting for an organ transplant. One donor can save up to 8 lives. But despite this, one man living with ALS...

Bought by 90.1 WFYI Public Radio


  • Added: Jul 27, 2016
  • Length: 07:53
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Keith Smitherman works as a violence intervention specialist for Prescription for Hope. The program is run out of Eskenazi Hospital and connects victims of violent crime to social workers who help connect them to career and educational opportunities. , Credit: Jake Harper/Side Effects
Violent crime is on the rise in Indianapolis. And research shows that poverty is often a factor. But a hospital in the city is working with young...

Bought by WILL


  • Added: Jul 20, 2016
  • Length: 03:41
  • Purchases: 1