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Understanding heart disease in women. For years, heart disease was thought of as "a man's disease." But the truth is quite different and quite sobering: one-in-three women in America dies of heart disease. Symptoms go unnoticed, warning signs are often ignored, and delays in seeking care make heart disease the #1 killer of women in the U.S. On today's program, we talk with Dr. Lori Tam, a cardiologist at the Providence Heart Clinic in Portland, Ore., about the ways heart disease in women differs from heart disease in men and some of the particular warning signs women should be aware of.  Also, we talk with Kris Kleindienst, a small business owner in Missouri who had a heart attack a year ago. She tell us about her experience seeking care and the ways she's changing her life in recovery. Lori Tam, M.D. Providence Heart Clinic St. Vincent Medical Center Portland, Ore.   Kris Kleindienst Owner Left Bank Books Saint Louis, Mo.  

On today's program we explore life post-COVID with Dr. Jim Jackson, author of "Clearing the fog: From surviving to thriving with Long COVID — A practical guide" (Little Brown Spark, 2023).

On today's program, we are listening to nurses as they reflect on their experiences on the frontlines during the COVID-19 pandemic. These are stories of uncertainty and fear, of anger and resilience, dedication, recovery, and camaraderie. But most of all these are stories about caregiving. The readings that make up this episode are drawn from the book, Providence Nurses Inspire Hope through Healing: Reflections from the Frontlines of the COVID-19 Pandemic, edited by Hilary Alison, Katie Adams, Katie Grainger, and Hayley Pike. Our thanks to the editors and to all the nurse-contributors.

Host Seán Collins talks with Dr. Titilope Fasipe, co-director of the Sickle Cell and Thalasemis Program at Texas Children's Cancer and Hematology Center in Houston about advances in both the treatment of sickle cell disease and progress towards a cure.

Exploring the barriers to long-term care at home. We spoke with Drs. Lisa Iezzoni and Maureen Nash about the mental, emotional, physical, and financial challenges for people with disabilities or age-related issues who want to remain at home.

Coaching to quench the fires of burnout.  We talked to front-line healthcare professionals about their experiences with a pilot program that connects certified coach-physicians with medical staff who are feeling some degree of burnout. For more stories, information or resources, visit: Hear Me Now

One of the unforeseen consequences of the COVID pandemic has been increasing popular awareness of a nursing shortage that was already well in place. COVID just made it worse. Nurse turnover has cost healthcare organizations enormously — both in terms of dollars, but also in lost expertise and institutional memory. On today's program, host Seán Collins talks with two senior nurse leaders about a vision for how hospitals might be structured moving forward and the new models of care that will ensure nurses are able to focus on the tasks that require their training and expertise as well as their professional license. For more information and Hear Me Now stories, visit: Hear Me Now

The latest iteration of Russia's war on Ukraine has entered its second year prompting us to examine the issue of war trauma — especially the toll war takes on civilians. Russia's indiscriminate targeting of civilian housing, schools, hospitals, and infrastructure has not only made civilians witnesses of war, but victims of it. War-rape, which was only recognized as a crime against humanity following the war in the former Yugoslavia, is being used by Russian forces and paramilitaries as a means of terrorizing civilians. On today's program, four conversations about civilians during and after war. For more Hear Me Now stories, visit: Hear Me Now Stories

Do physicians engage in discrimination? On today's program, a conversation with Harvard's Lisa Iezzoni, M.D. — a researcher at the Health Policy Research Center at Mass. General Hospital. She has been studying healthcare for people with disability for a generation now and finds the attitudes of her fellow physicians alarming, even 30 years after passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. For more Hear Me Now stories, visit: https://providence-institute-for-human-caring.simplecast.com/

There's growing evidence that the routine practice of meditation improves quality of life (including relief from anxiety, increased focus, and the mitigation of negative emotions) and that these benefits can be seen after as few as five sessions of meditation. But we didn't really need scientific journals to tell us that: practitioners of mindfulness meditation have been enjoying the benefits of this natural brain hack for millennia. For more information and resources, visit: instituteforhumancaring.org

If you take only one fact away from this podcast today, it should be this: more than 30 years after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, healthcare providers in the United States remain ill-equipped to meet the needs of deaf, deaf-blind, and hard of hearing people who come to them for care. On today's program, host Seán Collins talks with Drs. Poorna Kushalnagar and James Huang of Gallaudet University about the barriers that exist in the healthcare setting for people with hearing loss and some of the steps medicine can take to make the best care possible a reality for all patients. A transcript of this episode is available on our website: Hear Me Now

What do we listen to when we need to take care of ourselves? "Self-care" became a common discussion topic at the start of the pandemic to the extent that it's now not unheard of for relative strangers to share their life-hacks with each other. So, as we come to the end of 2022, with all of the stress and craziness that come from turning the page of a calendar, we offer you a life-tested playlist for well-being: deep cuts our guests recommend for those moments when you want to pull back, recharge, take stock, reset, and find that special sweet spot between listening-and-hearing where you connect with your wellness and can be restored. For more information and resources, visit: instituteforhumancaring.org