Rural Healthcare In America – The Mississippi Delta
Healthcare has become a paramount concern for Americans. Providing all Americans with access to quality healthcare is one of the most complicated social policy issues of our time. In the United States, the divide is not just between rich and poor or the insured and uninsured. It is also about where you live –- in an urban or rural area. This story follows the doctors, nurses, community organizers and patients who are part of an innovative and well-planned healthcare network in the Mississippi Delta. The Delta is an area where the need for quality rural healthcare is great. The project presents an approach to community care that can provide a model for other parts of the country.

Link to Documentary Film

Living Stone
The story focuses on the exploitation of men, women and children working in the stone crushing industry in Jaflong, Bangladesh. More than 10,000 people work as stone laborers. The uncontrolled industry is harming the environment, endangering the health of workers, creating sound and air pollution, and shrinking the biodiversity of the region.

Coal’s Consequences
Coal generates half of America’s electricity. This issue focuses on coal production, energy needs and the impact production has on the culture and healthcare on the communities that produce it. This story takes place in West Virginia and revolves around communities that have a unique historical link to coal. The issue looks at global production and usage, new mining techniques, the increase in Black Lung Disease, the medical and benefit programs created to help disabled miners and the legal system that works against them.

The Music Therapist
This issue focuses on a music therapist working with Music Therapy Institute in White Plains, NY. The story follows Lisa’s Sandagata helping people with disabilities find a way to communicate and connect to their world. The idea of using music for healing is not a new one. Music therapy is used to treat people with AIDS, Alzheimer’s, autism, developmental disabilities, mental health disorders, medical and surgical patients, hospice care patients, William’s Syndrome, and the needs of veteran’s with post-traumatic stress disorder. It is estimated that over 1.5 million people have received music therapy services in the U.S. in the past year.

International Shipping: Globalization In Crisis
Roughly ninety percent of the world’s goods are transported by sea with over seventy percent as containerized cargo. This process was streamlined in the 1950s when companies developed an intermodal system using standardized containers that facilitated efficient transfer between trucks, ships and trains through specialized terminals. International container shipping has made the
world smaller and the world economy bigger, but not without problems. This story illuminates the complexity of the situation.

Wheels and Heels: Dance As Therapy
This issue focuses on a group of professional dance instructors who have chosen to work with the disabled. The program gives this underserved, special needs population the opportunity to experience the joy of moving to music while developing strength, flexibility and self-confidence. It is called Wheels and Heels. In it, stand-up dancers work together with wheelchair dancers to create a unique and beautifully choreographed dance piece. An important goal for the project is to reduce the barriers confronting people with disabilities and to encourage the non-disabled community to redefine the meaning of ability.

Cancer Alley – Louisiana
In Louisiana, stretching 80 miles from New Orleans to Baton Rouge, there lays one of the most polluted areas of the United States. Because of the dense cluster of oil refineries, petro-chemical plants and other chemical industries, this area is known as Cancer Alley. Designated as an enterprise zone, loose oversight has enabled industry to release into the environment extremely toxic materials. Recent studies have found that the entire population of this region has been exposed to thousands of toxic chemicals and very little is being done to clean up the mess. Cancer and respiratory problems are widespread. Greenpeace has labeled Cancer Alley a Global Toxic Hotspot.

 

American Prisons
This issue focuses on prisons and incarceration. The United States has over two million prisoners locked behind bars on a given day. There are more people incarcerated in the United States than any other country in the world. American prisons hold 25% of the world’s prisoners, though the U.S. comprises only 5% of the world’s population. Unfortunately, in an attempt to lower expenses, funding for many rehabilitation programs has been decreased or discontinued. This has led to a revolving door crisis wherein the recidivism rates have soared to about 60%. This issue looks at the conditions and several programs set up for both men and women in prison.

 

Cuba: An Island In Transition
Cuba is quickly approaching a crossroad. The end of an era is at hand and the nation will have many new decisions to make. The Spanish colonial traditions stand side by side with Marist philosophy, Christianity and Cuban Nationalism. Another critical factor is Fidel Castro’s age and the transition of power after his death. A sea change is inevitable. This issue looks at the situation as the next generation of Cubans confronts a myriad of complex decisions.

 

Devotion and the Martial Arts
This issue focuses on the Sisters of the Fraternity Notre Dame, a group of French nuns living in Spanish Harlem. In addition to their religious and community services, which includes a soup kitchen and care for AIDS patients, the nuns have chosen to practice Tae Known Do.

 

The African Refugee Crisis
For decades, Africa has been afflicted by the horrors of war, refugees and famine. This issue focuses on situation across sub-Saharan Africa where millions of people have died due to the effects of armed conflicts. Currently, over one-quarter of sub-Saharan African states are engaged in either civil or interstate conflict, or both. Several other countries are threatened with imminent political, religious, or ethnic division. The United Nations estimates that there are 21 million internally displaced people and 5 million refugees in Africa. The promise of an “African renaissance,” deteriorated rapidly into severe instability across the continent and shows no sign of abating.

 

The Darkness Within
This issue looks at a Psychiatric Ward for Children at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. The purpose of the ward is to stabilize the patients and reduced or halted dangerous behavior until long-term care can be found. Using of therapeutic drugs and counseling, the story is an inside look at the difficult processes that defines the first and painful steps on the long road to possible recovery.

 

Blindness In India
India has the highest population of blind people in the world. This issue looks at the Indian government’s attempt to confront the problem by creating mobile eye care centers known as Cataract Camps and the help and intervention of the international organization, Project Orbis. Orbis has converted an airplane into a traveling eye hospital and education center. Their humanitarian efforts teach doctors, nurses and technicians - around the world - the newest advances in surgery, technology, and healthcare.

 

An Affirmation of Life – Summer Camps for Children with HIV
The burden of AIDS falls heavy on anyone who carries the HIV virus. For children, the burden is far more tragic. Their life is usually a solitary one confined to their immediate family and caregivers. This story focuses on two summer camps, one in New York and another in California, that gives these children the opportunity to have some fun and be just kids.

 

The National Guard Challenge Program
Every year approximately 57,000 boys and girls drop out of school. This issue looks at a special program designed to help young men and women get back on track, reshape their lives and earn a high school equivalency diploma. The program is called the National Guard Challenge. The goals of the program were education, skills building, discipline, teamwork and community service.