Episode 24
Original Cablecast: Novemeber 4, 2008

• HEAT (Health and Education Alternatives for Teens) Program: SUNY Downstate Medical Center provides Brooklyn teens with comprehensive HIV counseling & testing, mental health care, outreach, support services, and more. We’ll watch as they plan their next Safe Sex Party.
• What is GERD?: It’s gastroesophageal reflux disease, or simply, reflux, and while many people may think it’s just heartburn, it shouldn’t be taken lightly. At Brooklyn Gastroenterology, a physician and patient help us understand symptoms and treatments.
• Progress for Parkinson’s?: Kings County Hospital’s Center for Parkinson’s Disease is doing clinical trials that may make possible earlier diagnosis, as well as new treatments. We meet a doctor and his patient, who’s seen some positive results.
• Shoot for Better Health: This initiative by Lutheran Medical Ctr. is aimed at the alarming rise in childhood obesity. Lutheran’s Norma Villaneuva, MD, tells host Monica Sweeney, MD, about the project, and explains why the code “5-2-1-0” may help kids lose weight.

Episode 23
Original Cablecast: October 7, 2008

• Quit Smoking: On a visit to Woodhull Hospital, we see how tough it is to break the cigarette addiction, and how a smoking cessation program there helps those wanting to kick their habit ‘in the butt.
• Fish is Good for Us, Right?: Right -- but too much of certain types of fish can lead to an increased mercury level in the body. An expert from the NYC Department of Health tells us more…
• Brownsville Multi-Service Family Health Center: Brownsville Multi-Service Family Health Center provides cost-effective medical services for low-income local residents who prefer not to visit traditional hospital settings. See exactly how this very active clinic serves its community, and why this healthcare model can be so effective.
• National Breast Cancer Awarness Month: In honor of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we introduce you to a woman (and her two daughters) whose personal battle with breast cancer spurs her to not only inform her community about this disease, but to find hope and strength in her daily challenges.

Episode 22
Original Cablecast: September 2, 2008

• Calories on Menu: That little thing has 500 calories? How are Brooklynites reacting to the city’s new rule that many fast-food chains must post the caloric content of their menus? Is the law doing what it set out to do?
• Behind the New Law: What does NYC’s Dep’t of Health & Mental Hygiene hope the new calorie-counting regulation will accomplish? Host Monica Sweeney talks to Cathy Nonas, Director of Physical Activity & Nutrition Programs for the DOH.
• Flatbush Diabetes: Diabetes is said to be epidemic in parts of New York City. There is even a form of it named for a section of Brooklyn. At SUNY Downstate Medical Center, we find out why it’s such a major healthcare threat.
• Summer Sun & Skin Cancer: Lying on a beach towel and soaking in the rays: pure pleasure, yes, but does it also carry a real risk – called melanoma? What it is and how best to avoid it.

Episode 21
Original Cablecast: July 1, 2008

• Where Do (High-Tech) Babies Come From?: Meet the founder and director of New York Methodist’s fertility clinic, and find out what it’s like for his patients – the moms – to go through the process.
• Interview with Iffath Hoskins, MD: The Chair of Obstetrics & Gynecology at Lutheran Medical Center talks with host Monica Sweeney, MD, about high risk pregnancies for both older and younger prospective mothers.
• First Aid For Kids: The playground, the pool, the beach, the woods – all places your child may find him or herself in the summer. Here’s what you should know about keeping them safe.
• Pilates Primer: More and more people are trying it – so just what is Pilates anyway? It’s an exercise system that – a century after it was created – is really coming on strong. Especially in Fort Greene…

Episode 20
Original Cablecast: June 3, 2008

• Wash Your Hands: At Maimonides Medical Center, inside a hospital-wide campaign to urge doctors, nurses, staff, and visitors to frequently and carefully wash hands. With all our modern medical know-how, why is something so simple so important?
• Behind the Screens: Speaking of Maimonides, host Monica Sweeney, MD, talks to author Julie Salamon about her acclaimed new book, Hospital. Salamon, a former NY Times reporter, spent a year getting a first-hand look at how a large urban medical center deals with the pressures of serving a complex and diverse society.
• The Sniffling Season: We get the latest from an allergist on why this spring has been such a rough season for sufferers. She offers advice on the new medications, shares tips on keeping those allergens at bay, and tells us how to tell a cold from an allergic attack.
• Rescue Dogs: To help certain patients recuperate, New York Methodist Hospital uses an unusual program to bring specialists into the rehab ward. These specialists have four paws, fur, and an instinctive ability to make sick people feel better.

Episode 19
Original Cablecast: May 6, 2008

• Door to Ballroom: At SUNY Downstate, a look at how this initiative helps get heart attack patients from the hospital door to balloon-angioplasty surgery as quickly as possible, in an effort to save critical heart tissue.
• Learning to Relate: In addition to educating autistic children, The Brooklyn Autism Center teaches them how to strengthen their ability to relate to other children.
• STDs and Teens: One in every four teenage girls in America has a sexually transmitted disease. Host Monica Sweeney, MD, talks to someone who fights this battle every day: Dr. Michael Augenbraun, Director of the King’s County Hospital STD Clinic.
• Letting It Go: Stress is with us at almost any age…we go inside a program at New York Methodist Hospital that helps those over 60 how to get it under control, using tools like breathing, meditation, and imagery techniques

Episode 18
Original Cablecast: April 1, 2008

• Medication Noncompliance: Why don’t patients take their meds the way they’re prescribed? A doctor at Long Island College Hospital takes us through the reasons.
• Medication Nation: Over-medication, mixing medications, self-medication…host Monica Sweeney, MD, talks to Assoc. Professor Lorraine Cicero from Long Island University about these and other prescription-drug-related issues.
• Fibromyalgia: A somewhat mysterious disorder that leads to fatigue and widespread chronic pain, sometimes extreme sensitivity to touch…how doctors treat patients at Brooklyn Women’s Services.
• Crunch Crisis: Working out is meant to make you strong and fit, but pushing too hard can leave you hurting, or even put you out of commission. Here’s how to prevent injuries at the gym.

Episode 17
Original Cablecast: March 4, 2008

• Sexual Safety for Teens: Project Reach Youth uses its Project SAFE to teach Brooklyn teens about AIDS, sexual health, and to help train other teens. Watch as they rehearse some of the skits they perform when they visit schools.
• Public Health, Private Stories: Host Monica Sweeney, MD, talks about AIDS and its impact with two young men living with the virus.
• Osteoporosis – Not Just for the Aged: It may come as a surprise that osteoporosis – loss of bone density – affects many younger people, women in particular. At Long Island College Hospital, we learn what can contribute to this disease and how it can be treated.
• To Dance with Parkinson’s: At Mark Morris Dance Group, people suffering from Parkinson’s disease get relief from the mental and physical challenge of weekly dance classes.

Episode 16
Original Cablecast: February 5, 2008

The Senses

• Hearing: How the faculty at St. Francis De Sales School for the Deaf uses new technology and plenty of care and attention to prepare their students for life in a hearing world.
• Smell: Asthma & Allergies Host Monica Sweeney, MD, talks to Kathy Garrett-Szymanski, the Administrator for the Asthma Center at Long Island College Hospital.
• Sight: At Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center, a neuro-opthalmologist explains how what may look like simple eye trouble is sometimes an indication of more serious illness.
• Touch: Only one hospital in the country is using an acupuncturist to help mothers during labor and after delivery – and it’s right here in Brooklyn.