[HTML1] In today’s first segment, Your Health Matters host Christopher Springmann speaks with Dr. Russell Ward, Co-Director of Sarcoma Services at Scott & White Healthcare, about identifying and treating sarcomas. A sarcoma is a type of cancer that appears as a painless mass on both soft tissue and bone. Its cause is idiopathic, as Dr. Ward puts it, is “a fancy word for ‘we don’t know.’ But we’re starting to understand more about sarcomas,” he explains. Because the average physician may not see these frequently enough to recognize them, part of Dr. Ward’s job at Scott & White is helping his colleagues recognize and diagnose sarcomas so that they can refer their patients for treatment.
Then we go to Life Love & Health: Special Edition, where Executive Producer Christopher Springmann talks with John Chandler, Senior VP and Chief Marketing Officer with Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, about Easter Seals’ “Living with Disabilities” Study and Mass Mutual’s Special Care Program. Both the study and the program focus on the realities of people living with autism and other disabilities, specifically how this affects the quality of life and long term financial picture of the families caring for these individuals. “The reason that Mass Mutual developed the Special Care Program,” says Mr. Chandler, “is that while it’s very easy to work with a traditional financial professional, and do what you thought were all the right things, it’s also easy create some fundamental mistakes or flaws in your plan. For example, putting assets into the name of the disabled individual will disallow their participation or reception of federal benefits. You can make plans in your estate taxes that give or take away rights that you may not have intended. You can have all of the legal documents and financial documents done, but never thought to write down a life-care plan, which is an insight into the individual that you care about so that their care can be provided when you’re gone.”
In our final segment, Christopher Springmann speaks with Dr. William Schaffner, chair of Vanderbilt University’s Department of Preventive Medicine, about the herpes zoster virus, a dormant souvenir of childhood chicken pox more commonly known as shingles. “The main reason we get shingles,” says Dr. Schaffner, “is that, if we once had chicken pox, the virus stayed with us and went into hibernation in some nerve cells that run along our spine. And they stay there dormant until our adult immune system, which kept the bear in the cave, diminishes. And then some of these viruses reactivate and then run along the nerves that extend from the back along the spine to the skin in different parts of the body.” This painful disease affects about one million Americans annually, and the good news is that it’s not life threatening, and there is a vaccine.
Segment A (0:00 – 11:00)
Your Health Matters host Christopher Springmann speaks Scott & White Healthcare’s with Co-Director of Sarcoma Services Dr. Russell Ward about identifying and treating sarcomas
Segment B (11:01 – 22:00)
Life Love & Health: Special Edition Executive Producer Christopher Springmann speaks with John Chandler, Senior VP and CMO of Mass Mutual, about Easter Seals’ “Living with Disabilities” study
Segment C (22:01 – 33:00)
John Chandler on Mass Mutual’s Special Care Program for families and caregivers of children and adults living with autism
Segment D (33:01 – 44:00)
Christopher Springmann speaks with Dr. William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University’s Department of Preventive Medicine about the herpes zoster virus, also know as shingles
More about Russell Ward
Dr. Russell Ward is Co-Director of Sarcoma Services at Scott & White Healthcare’s Temple, Texas clinic. He earned a B.A. at the University of Texas at Austin, and an M.D. at Texas A&M University Health Science Center College of Medicine. He trained in orthopedic surgery at Scott & White, and in orthopedic oncology at the University of Utah and Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City. Dr. Ward joined Scott & White in 2009, bringing a patient care emphasis on musculoskeletal oncology.
More about Scott & White Healthcare
When Arthur C. Scott, M.D., and Raleigh R. White Jr., M.D., began their medical practice in Temple, Texas in 1897, they shared one fundamental conviction: medicine must serve the people. Today, Scott & White Healthcare is a fully integrated health system — the largest multi-specialty practice in Texas and the sixth largest group practice in the nation. Scott & White employs more than 1,100 health care providers and research scientists who care for patients covering 25,000 square miles across Central Texas.
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More about John Chandler
John Chandler is Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company’s U.S. Insurance Group. He oversees the company’s corporate and product marketing efforts, including field support, advertising, public relations, on-line, and community responsibility. Before joining Mass Mutual, Mr. Chandler was CMO at The Hanover Insurance Group. Prior to that, he held senior marketing positions with leading consumer marketers Hasbro, Holiday Inn, Cadbury Schweppes, and Frito Lay. He earned his bachelors degree at Trinity College and an M.B.A. from the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth.
More about William Schaffner
William Schaffner, M.D., chairs the Department of Preventive Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He is one of the country’s leading experts on infectious diseases, with more than 30 years of public health experience. He is often consulted as the preferred source on a wide array of topics including cold and flu, mumps, bird flu and H1N1. Also a leading expert on vaccinations, Dr. Schaffner is a member of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and is the current president of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. He is a consultant with the Tennessee Department of Health on issues of public health and has a critical understanding of how biological agents could be used as weapons.
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