May 12, 1997 - The tiny northwestern Minnesota town of Ada is in the midst of a medical crisis. The city lost its only clinic, hospital and nursing home to flooding last month. The facilities are doubly important because together they comprise the town's biggest employer. At first, Ada heard it would probably get enough federal funds to rebuild the hospital. But recent visits by federal inspectors have not been so optomistic. As Minnesota Public Radio's Lorna Benson reports, the hospital's future is now in doubt: Ada was one of the first communities to be hit hard by flood
May 14, 1997 - A new independent report says the Army spraying over the Twin Cities in the 1950s and 1960s probably didn't hurt anyone's health. The Army says it was testing how biological warfare substances might disperse in the air, so it sprayed zinc cadmium sulfide over several neighborhoods as well as the Chippewa National Forest. The substance is fluorescent, and can be traced easily. But cadmium's also carcinogenic, although that wasn't known at the time. When details of the spraying were revealed a couple of years ago, many people worried about the health impact, including Representative Martin Sabo, who successfully pushed for a million-dollar study. That study, by the independent National Research Council, is now complete.
May 23, 1997 - Residents of Texas can now sue their managed health care plans if they've been injured by benefit delays or denials. Texas is the first state in the nation to pass such a law. Supporters say the law allows patients to hold their health plans accountable.... but Critics warn it will lead to a rash of lawsuits and ultimately higher health care costs. So far, there has not been any similar proposal in Minnesota. But as Minnesota Public Radio's Lorna Benson reports, the state's managed health plans are coming under more intense public scrutiny and regulation:
May 28, 1997 - More than a hundred outraged veterans came to the capital today to voice their opposition to the balanced budget agreement passed by Congress last week. As part of the budget, more than two BILLION dollars is being cut from the Veterans Administration...which is mostly for health care. As Minnesota Public Radio's Lorna Benson reports, some veterans fear the cuts will do irrepairable damage to a medical system already struggling to compete in today's health care market. Initially, the V.A. thought Congress would freeze its spending for the next five years. But, in what some veterans describe as back room politics, Congress and the President decided at the last minute to cut more t
May 29, 1997 - Mainstreet Radio’s Rachel Reabe visits a correctional facility in Faribault. Secure behind high chain link fences topped with coiled razor wire, the oldest prisoners in the system live out their remaining years.
May 29, 1997 - Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone will tour several towns in the Mississippi Delta today ... in the first part of what he's billing as a nationwide poverty tour. Over the coming weeks, Wellstone plans to retrace the steps of Robert Kennedy... who visited some of the country's poorest regions in 1967 and '68. Minnesota Public Radio's John Biewen reports on how poverty has... or has not... changed... in the past thirty years. When Senator Robert Kennedy traveled to the Mississippi Delta in 1967... he found children in tattered clothing... with no access to a doctor and, in some cases, not enough to eat. Their parents had lost their cotton-plantation jobs to mechanization. A few months later... Kennedy found similar conditions among displaced coal mining families in eastern Kentucky. Georgetown
June 2, 1997 - As part of the “Voices of Minnesota" series, this program features two health related interviews. MPR’s John Biewen speaks with Dr. Ron Cranford of the Hennepin County Medical Center. Cranford is an ethicist and end-of-life specialist. Infertility specialist. MPR’s Stephanie Curtis speaks with Dr. Robert Jansen, author of Overcoming Infertiity: A Compassionate Resource for Getting Pregnant.
June 6, 1997 - Midday presents the MPR/Soundprint documentary Working Nights. MPR’s Stephen Smith looks at health and science behind the experience of people who work nights.
June 26, 1997 - Midday host Gary Eichten discusses U.S. Supreme Court ruling on assisted suicide with guest Dr. Steven Miles, associate professor at the University of Minnesota Center for Bioethics. Miles provides reaction on the court decision that individuals don’t have right to physician-assisted suicide and details various state laws. Listeners call in with questions.
July 2, 1997 - One of Minnesota's top health officials is threatening to quit, if lawmakers don't approve an executive pay increase by the end of August. State epidemiologist Michael Osterholm says the pay dispute has severely limited the health department's recruitment program AND is ruining morale. Minnesota Public Radio's Lorna Benson reports: Osterholm says he has nothing to gain from the executive pay bill. His 96-thousand dollar salary was approved two years ago through a special legislative exemption after lawmakers heard that Osterholm was being courted by other health departments and private employers. But Osterholm says few of his lesser-known colleagues have any hope for a special exemption...instead their salaries are tied to their department's executive pay.