Minnesota plays a unique role in the arena of health, with impactful political/cultural moments, and important contributions from institutions such as Mayo Clinic, Hazelden, UCare, among others. Over the decades, MPR News and American RadioWorks have produced a breadth of reports and programming specifically dedicated to the subject of health. This collection includes interviews, debates, speeches, and documentaries that provide greater detail to the many facets of healthcare, from both a local and national perspective.
August 17, 1978 - MPR’s Rich Dietman interviews Dr. Michael Eisenberg, head of gastro-intestinal surgery at the University of Minnesota hospitals in Minneapolis. Eisenberg discusses definition of ulcers, causes, and their impact on those inflicted by them.
August 21, 1978 - Dr. Virgil Richard Zarling, of St. Mary's Hospital in Minneapolis, discusses the causes and diagnoses of muscular dystrophy with reporter Dan Olson.
September 11, 1978 - Jobs consultant Tom Jackson discusses his philosophy on finding and valuing one’s job and developing a satisfying professional life.
September 26, 1978 - Dr. Keith Sehnert discusses how to be your own doctor, sometimes. The focus is on patient activation and taking care of oneself. Sehnert also answers listener questions.
October 26, 1978 - Isabel Wolf, University of Minnesota nutrition specialist, discusses what is and isn't good nutrition. Wolf also answers listener questions.
November 11, 1978 - Dr. Lois Phillips Hudson, author and English professor at University of Washington, Tacoma, describes how rape and fear of being raped work to drain women of energy and assurance they might use to be creative.
January 18, 1979 - Excerpt of Dr. V. Elving Anderson, director of the Dwight Institute at the University of Minnesota, speaking on the topic of genetic engineering and human values.
January 25, 1979 - MPR’s Dan Olson interviews Isabel Wolf, University of Minnesota extension nutrition specialist, who comments on current nutrition news and answers listener questions on a variety of issues related to food, nutrition, and health.
February 6, 1979 - MPR's John Ydstie interviews Charles Lutz, the director of the World Hunger Program for the American Luther Church. Lutz speaks on the irony of hunger in a time of world food surpluses.
March 7, 1979 - MPR’s John Ydstie reports on discussion about dealing with veterans, as part of The Vietnam Experience and America Today Symposium, held at Macalester College. Veterans of the war and officials of the Veterans Administration discuss conditions, actions and attitudes of the VA in regard to Vietnam veterans, as well as medical and psychiatric problems veterans face.