Who Cares? Access to Health Care

Nevada City, CA, 1998

In the context of welfare reform, the goal of Who Cares? was to inform, involve, and inspire citizens to take an active role in the changing health-care system. No other local media offer consistent, in-depth information on access issues. KVMR collaborated with the Nevada County Department of Human Services and FREED—a successful advocacy group for the disabled—to address access to health care in this rural community.

The heart of Who Cares? was a weekly call-in program with two or three guests--most often a provider and a recipient, but sometimes simply people with different takes on an issue.

Access to health care—for everyone, not just for welfare recipients—is affected by changes brought about by welfare reform. In rural Nevada County, access to health care is an octopus, its arms spreading into medical and alternative health services, law enforcement, and social services, and affected by the political swings of the Board of Supervisors. Each week the programs unraveled interacting layers of public and private services to paint a clearer, bigger picture: Who makes decisions? Who gets what services and who does not? What's missing? What needs to change and what can change? How do you navigate the bureaucracy?

A weekly Who Cares? will continue, providing excerpts for the evening news. Town hall meetings, broadcast live with call-ins and rebroadcast by local community access television, will provide a forum for community interaction and in-depth discussion. Welfare to Work and Mental Health were the topics of two town hall meetings that augmented weekly programming.

In October 1998, Human Services asked Who Cares? and KVMR to join it in a proposal to the State of California to fund a Medi-Cal outreach program, a request that indicated respect from the health-care community.

This project has helped generate News/Public Affairs and Production departments at the station itself and has had a significant effect on public perception of KVMR as a viable, respected voice of community affairs.

Click here to see other KVMR project profiles.

Contact Information

KVMR-FM
Joan Buffington, Project Director
Tel: 530-265-9073

FREED
Ann Guerra, Director of Services
Tel: 530-272-1732

Awards:

KVMR Round Three

2003 Social Consciousness Award to Joan Buffington
— KVMR Broadcaster's Award

Who Cares? program award
— National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, Nevada County Chapter

$14,500 to establish Gates Place, a peer empowerment center
—Nevada County Department of Behavioral Health

$250 Community Service Award to Spirit Peer Counselors
— Briarpatch Community Co-op

KVMR Round Two

2001 Community Impact Award
— National Federation of Community Broadcasters

Additional Funding: Who Cares? received a $10,000 grant from the Women's Foundation of San Francisco towards establishing a Women's Desk, which will enable the project to continue, with a focus on women's health and aging issues. The station and project staff received special recognition by the Nevada County Board of Supervisors for its role in helping to secure $400,000 in additional funds in the California state budget earmarked for mental health in Nevada County.