[HTML1] In our first segment, Your Health Matters host Christopher Springmann speaks with Dr. Linda Hitchcock, Director of the Division of Geriatric Medicine at Scott & White Healthcare. Dr. Hitchcock brings her experience of compassionate care for senior health and medical issues to the very real problem of an aging Baby Boom population in a difficult economy. Her approach is based on visiting her patients where they live, whether in their own homes or in assisted living or skilled nursing facilities. “It’s important to see them where they live,” says Dr. Hitchcock, “and to provide the care there. These people generally are frail and elderly. We don’t have to worry about transportation. We don’t have to worry about the hassle of the families trying to get off work to get there. We can make the phone calls. Sometimes it’s easier for us to get to the nursing home than it is to get the patients and transport them to the office.”
Next, Life Love & Health: Special Edition Executive Producer Christopher Springmann speaks with Bob and Whitney Pond, a San Francisco Bay Area family who lost wife and mother Jeri to breast cancer. Whitney, now a high school senior, is participating in her second Climb Against the Odds, an annual event in which a team of men and women whose lives have been touched by breast cancer scale California’s Mount Shasta in support of the Breast Cancer Fund. As Bob explains, this is an organization that focuses on prevention rather than cure. “The Breast Cancer Fund has been pioneering what they call a state-of-the-evidence,” he says. “Every year they publish an update of data from scientists who are looking at hard facts about chemicals in everyday products that contribute to breast cancer. And it’s really through knowledge that consumers become aware and we can take action. If we don’t know that these chemicals are in the products, or that these chemicals contribute to breast cancer, then we can’t be educated to make decisions with our wallet that will send a message to the manufacturers that they need to clean up their products.”
In our third segment, home improvement expert Ron Hazelton talks about an issue that surprisingly few families consider on a day-to-day basis: home fire safety. “When I was much younger I was involved in a fatal fire,” he tells us. “The neighbors next door did not survive that fire. So I’ve been up close and very personal to a fire disaster. But I think when I became most interested in doing fire prevention work was when I had my children. There was a fire in Staten Island, New York, and I remember to this day the description in the newspaper. And the father who had gone out to get something at the grocery store, coming back and seeing the apartment engulfed in flames and actually hearing his children up there screaming for help and unable to do anything. And I thought that would be the most horrible position I could ever imagine myself being in. So I decided that I would do whatever I could to eliminate the danger of fire death in our own home.” As an internationally known TV personality who specializes in helping people upgrade their homes in many ways, Mr. Hazelton is ideally positioned to get the message out there.
We end with Christopher Springmann’s Crossroads, in which the familiar voice of our program takes us behind the scenes of where he gets his ideas and how he develops them. In the case of a well-received Life Love & Health episode about uterine fibroids, it all began with an in-flight conversation when a fellow passenger shared her concern about the health of a pregnant granddaughter. “There’s a magic moment of convergence when a chance counter becomes an opportunity for engagement and intervention,” Christopher recalls. “I initially tried to find some humor in all this, telling Mrs. Williams that I had a Bachelors degree in photography, which hardly qualified me to give medical advice. She didn’t buy that . . . so I suggested that a second opinion would be a good idea. Mrs. Williams sat there silently . . . so I suggested I’d look into it and get back to her. She put out her hand, asked for my business card and said, ‘That’s wonderful, thank you, I’ll call you tomorrow.’ And the next day I interviewed a physician about fibroids and Mrs. Williams’ concerns and questions were firmly on my mind . . . besides, what would you do if someone reached out to and asked you for help?”
Segment A (0:00 – 11:00)
Your Health Matters host Christopher Springmann speaks with Dr. Linda Hitchcock about medical care for seniors.
Segment B (11:01 – 22:00)
Life Love & Health: Special Edition Executive Producer Christopher Springmann speaks with Bob & Whitney Pond about the Breast Cancer Fund’s “Climb Against the Odds”
Segment C (22:01 – 33:00)
Christopher Springmann speaks with home improvement expert Ron Hazelton about home fire safety.
Segment D (33:01 – 44:00)
Christopher Springmann’s Crossroads shows how an in-flight conversation turned into a powerful radio program about uterine fibroids.
More about Linda Hitchcock
Dr. Linda Uhrig Hitchcock serves as the Director of the Division of Geriatric Medicine at Scott & White Healthcare, the Medical Director of Santa Fe Hospital’s Skilled Nursing Facility, and the Associate Medical Director at Scott & White Hospice. She earned a B.A. and M.D. at University of Missouri-Kansas City, and trained in family practice medicine at Southern Illinois Geriatrics. She has been certified by the American Board of Family Medicine and the American Board of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Dr. Hitchcock joined Scott & White Healthcare in 2009.
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.
To hear additional Your Health Matters podcasts, click HERE!
More about the Pond Family
When Bob Pond lost his wife Jeri to breast cancer in 2006, he took a break from his career to care for his family. His daughter Whitney Pond, now a senior San Ramon Valley High School in the San Francisco Bay Area, is participating in her second Climb Against the Odds, an annual event supporting of the Breast Cancer Fund. Whitney joins a team of women and men whose lives have been touched by breast cancer with the goal of raising awareness and funds to eliminate the environmental and other preventable causes of this disease. Their climb of California’s 14,179-foot Mt. Shasta symbolizes hope and perseverance.
Visit Whitney Pond’s Breast Cancer Fund Sponsorship Page to learn more.
More about Ron Hazelton
Ron Hazelton’s mission is providing people with friendly advice and motivation to improve their homes and surroundings. A leading authority in the do-it-yourself home improvement field, Ron produces and hosts the home improvement series “Ron Hazelton’s HouseCalls,” now in its eleventh season. He assists viewers with a wide variety of “weekend” projects. Reaching nearly 80% of U.S. markets, the reality-based, how-to show has also been seen in the United Kingdom, Australia, Israel, and Mexico. As the former Home Improvement Editor for “Good Morning America,” Ron reported on a variety of topics related to home improvement, design, repair, health, and safety. He hosted the History Channel series “Hands on History,” and other History Channel programs including “Modern Marvels” and “Save our History: Frontier Homes.” Ron has also offered his home improvement expertise on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and “Inside Edition.” The son of a building contractor, Ron left a successful marketing career to return to his roots and hone his woodworking skills. After founding an antique restoration workshop in San Francisco in 1978, he became recognized as a master craftsmen and cabinetmaker. Hoping to share with others the satisfaction of working with his hands to enhance the beauty and comfort of a home, he embarked on his first television venture in 1989, pioneering the concept of reality-based, on-location home improvement TV with “The House Doctor.” The series of 200+ episodes, which he originally created, co-produced and hosted for ABC-owned KGO-TV in San Francisco, aired on the Home and Garden Television Network (HGTV). Ron is the founder of the online destination Ron Hazelton.com and often uses television and the Internet to get across home safety messages. He is national spokesperson for the Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition, a non-profit, fire safety organization. Ron is the author of Ron Hazelton’s HouseCalls: America’s Most Requested Home Improvement Projects, published by Time-Life books. In 2009, he authored the first two books in the F+W Publications’ Home Basics series: Plumbing Made Easy and Electrical Made Easy. He lives in Fairfield, Connecticut with his wife, two children, two dogs, a dozen fish and a never-ending “honey do” list.
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