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.
June 21, 1979 - Dr. Robert Bonner, University of Minnesota Department of Medicine; and Dawn Laine, president of the Minnesota Dietetic Association, talk with Dan Olson about the effects of sugar on human bodies. Bonner takes Dan Olson on a tour of the University's Clinical Research Center. He and other scientists at the center have performed several studies in recent years on sugar.
June 29, 1979 - MPR’s Tom Meersman interviews Lee Botts, chairman of the Great Lakes Basin Commission. She discusses the present and future status of the Great Lakes. Topics include phosphorus and algae problems, the definition of “dead lakes,” and pollution.
July 20, 1979 - MPR’s Rich Dietman interviews Dr. Frank Busta, member of the Food Science Department at the University of Minnesota. Busta discusses controversy that has arisen in a related sorbate study and about whose side food scientists are on...consumers or big business?
July 28, 1979 - Dr. James Kern, psychologist and former professor of guidance and counseling at Winona State University, speaking at a conference of the Mental Health Association of Minnesota at Carleton College in Northfield. The theme of conference was "The Value of Children.” Kern shares stories and insights of the child.
August 10, 1979 - On this segment of People On Books, Daphne Krause, president of the Minneapolis Age and Opportunity Center, reviews the book Your Second Life: Vitality and Growth in Middle and Later Years by Gay Gaer Luce.
August 13, 1979 - Midday presents “The Way to 8-A,” a documentary sound portrait on the involuntary commitment to Hennepin County General Hospital's Ward 8-A, a psychiatric ward. Program looks at the people being committed, those doing the committing, the staff, and the entire process of involuntary commitment.
August 17, 1979 - Professor Robert McKinnell, of the Department of Genetics and Cell Biology at the University of Minnesota, talks with MPR’s science reporter Rich Dietman about the controversy and research concerning cloning.
September 15, 1979 - On this regional public affairs program, MPR’s Bob Potter talks with Greg Barron, producer of “The Way to 8-A" documentary; and Eric Janus of the Supreme Court Committee on Mental Health, about mental commitment procedures.
December 5, 1979 - On this segment of People On Books, Brother Theodore Drahmann from College of Saint Thomas, reviews Surviving and Other Essays by Bruno Bettelheim.
December 18, 1979 - MPR’s Brigid Shea interviews Robert Spaeth, vice-president for sales and marketing for the Corn Products Council (CPC International), who discusses the bright future for corn and sugar products.