Silent Stories

Provincetown, MA, 2002

WOMR 92.1 FM Outermost Community Radio, in partnership with the Center for Life Care, Planning and Support (a program of Hospice & Palliative Care of Cape Cod) and The Cape Cod Voice, produced Silent Stories, a multimedia public-awareness initiative giving voice to Cape Cod residents with chronic illnesses, long-term disabilities and/or chronic pain.

The program profiled ten local individuals who are living with chronic conditions. Caregiver and family stories were told, as were those of children with chronic conditions. Profiles aired on WOMR in Provincetown and on WCAI in Woods Hole. They are posted on WOMR's website, an interactive Web component that links the community in discussion of these issues. Profiles—with additional issue-based reporting—were published in a special edition of The Cape Cod Voice, a community newspaper dedicated to in-depth coverage of local issues. Reprints were distributed to consumers and health and human service agencies. The program culminated in a month-long series of seminars and workshops.

Silent Stories augmented work already being done by the Chronic Care and Disabilities Collaborative (CCDC), a program administered by Hospice & Palliative Care of Cape Cod. The CCDC community-action project comprises consumers and health and human service professionals who are building a consumer-driven model of care for chronic conditions.

CCDC's origins lie in a 1998 communitywide health care needs assessment survey that found that Cape Cod is home to a large number of people living with chronic illnesses and long-term disabilities—and that their health care needs go largely unmet. The goal of Silent Stories was to highlight services that can help people living with chronic conditions, identify barriers that preclude them from living well and find ways the community can support quality of life.

Contact Information

WOMR-FM
Bob Seay, Executive Director
Tel: 508-487-2619

Center for Life Care, Planning and Support
Karyn Kuhn, Program Coordinator
Tel: 508-957-0234

The Cape Cod Voice
Seth Rolbein, Editor and Publisher
Tel: 508-247-8900