For Mothers-to-Be, Finding Health Care in a Group

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/18/for-mothers-to-be-finding-health-care-in-a-group

Tina Rosenberg

The New York Times

18 December 2013

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To educate and prepare new mothers, Centering Pregnancy and Centering Parenting sites in the United States offer community-based patient-centered care in low-income areas. Centering offers interactive learning, check-ups, and social support, so that women can take charge of their health.

For some, prenatal care is a community affair

https://www.pri.org/stories/2014-06-18/some-prenatal-care-community-affair

Shuka Kalantari

Public Radio International (PRI)

18 June 2014

Radio / 3-5 Minutes

Latin American women in San Francisco have suffered from post-partum depression, social isolation, and chronic stress at the time of their pregnancies. Run by midwives, the Centering Pregnancy program at the San Francisco General Hospital provides patient-centered care, an environment to speak in Spanish, and a nurturing community for women’s group appointments. The results boast fewer c-sections and pre-term births, and an improvement in emotional support and overall prenatal health.

For Veterans, a Surge of New Treatments for Trauma

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/26/for-veterans-a-surge-of-new-treatments-for-trauma

Tina Rosenberg

The New York Times

26 September 2012

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Post-traumatic stress has dire consequences for U.S. veterans, including an increase in suicide, and not all therapeutic treatments for the disorder have succeeded. To treat and potentially cure the effects of PTSD, the Center for Mind-Body Awareness offers veterans Buddhist-inspired meditation, and mindfulness, as well as skills to develop creative expression.

One Hospital Tells Bronx's Sick: You Call Us, We'll Call You

http://www.wnyc.org/story/new-bronx-hospital-model-please-call-us-well-call-you

Amanda Aronczyk

WNYC

3 June 2014

Radio / 5-15 Minutes

Hospitals in New York improve healthcare quality and reduce medical costs by staying in frequent contact with patients requiring frequent or long-term care. Montefiore's Accountable Care Organization pulls in care providers from across the medical and social spectrum to improve patient health while curbing expenses.

If this was a pill, you'd do anything to get it

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/04/28/if-this-was-a-pill-youd-do-anything-to-get-it

Ezra Klein

The Washington Post

28 April 2013

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*Medical research has done wonders to rid populations of diseases; however, the U.S. health care system has failed to appropriate the right resources to Medicare patients with one or more chronic conditions. Health Quality Partners in Doylstown, PA enrolls Medicare patients with at least one chronic illness and hospitalization and sends a trained nurse to see them on a routine basis, whether they are healthy or sick. As a result, the HQP program has reduced hospitalizations and cut Medicare costs.

In Detroit Hospital, black babies are latching on

http://womensenews.org/story/health/150417/in-detroit-hospital-black-babies-are-latching

Molly Ginty

Women's eNews

20 April 2015

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Many African American women are reluctant to breastfeed their babies. The Mother Nuture Project at Detroit’s St. John Hospital and Medical Center offers peer counseling to educate women (mostly African American) and encourage breastfeeding. Mother Nurture’s program has helped boost breastfeeding rates from 46 percent to 64 percent.

Playing With Toys and Saving Lives

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/29/playing-with-toys-and-saving-lives

Tina Rosenberg

The New York Times

29 January 2014

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Many different people are inventing health devices for resource-poor settings, but some organizations - like M.I.T.’s Little Devices group - are empowering developing communities and increasing access to healthcare by building medical devices that nurses and doctors in very poor settings can adapt themselves — or kits for making their own, often harvesting parts from toys to cleverly rig up medical equipment. It’s part of a major idea shift, one that’s transforming the design of foreign aid.

Scientists search Palau's coral reefs for new anti-cancer drugs

http://www.pri.org/stories/2014-02-24/scientists-search-palaus-coral-reefs-new-anti-cancer-drugs

Ari Daniel Shapiro

Public Radio International (PRI)

24 February 2014

Radio / 5-15 Minutes

Often it is faster and easier to harvest molecules for medical purposes from nature than to make them in a laboratory. A scientist is looking for cancer-fighting molecules in coral and sponges in the tropical Pacific.

Inviting Patients To Help Decide Their Own Treatment

http://kaiserhealthnews.org/news/inviting-patients-to-help-decide-their-own-treatment

Anna Gorman

Kaiser Health News

16 March 2015

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The Patient Support Corps at UC San Francisco Medical Center pairs interns with patients to provide support during visits. The program, which now acts as a model for other hospitals, encourages patients to speak up and offers them the information needed to make decisions about their care, rather than having the doctors make the decision for them.

Helping New Drugs Out of Research's ‘Valley of Death'

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/02/helping-new-drugs-out-of-academias-valley-of-death

David Bornstein

The New York Times

2 May 2011

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Despite significant increases in funding and advances in biomedical research, the rates of new treatments and drugs for illnesses that reach the market every year have plummeted. A group called the Myelin Repair Foundation, along with several other foundations, uses an intensely goal-directed and collaborative method to tackle the bottleneck.