Quality of Care, Lessons from the Field

Learn how KFAI and NHCN worked together to promote affordable health care options in their local communities.

Read how WJAB and its partner, the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service, joined forces to help abused women access health care and other services.

West Virginia Public Radio helped fuel the West Virgina Department of Health and Human Resources the most controversial section of its welfare reform policy. Read about their impactful programming.

When is a soap opera more than just entertainment? When its characters grapple with physical and mental health issues through compelling and complex storylines that speak directly to the experience of its audience of at-risk African Americans. The on-going radio soap opera, "Bodylove" is just one of the community health tools created through the "Making Sense of Mental Health" partnership. Read more about it in the multi-media online publication "Local Voices." The January 2006 Local Media Issue is the third in a series telling stories from the successful projects of Sound Partners for Community Health. Download the 9-page PDF document. (1.6 MB PDF)

Maliha Zulfacar, who left Afghanistan as a young mother in 1979, reunites with old friends and brings their stories to the radio as part of a four-part series exploring how U.S. immigrants give back to and make a difference in the homelands.

Ten journalists write about the stories that have driven -- and affirmed -- their devotion to their work in this Poynter Online column by Butch Ward. Most are newspaper writers on sports, medical, or politics beats. NPR's Daniel Zwerdling chimes in as do a few television reporters. Their words are worth the read. And the links to their stories will inspire you to do better journalism.

"National Kidney Foundation researchers recently found that using patients trained to educate their peers about planning for end-of-life decisions is an effective strategy for providing culturally sensitive information to dialysis patients who are members of racial and ethnic minority populations, according to a study published in the July American Journal of Kidney Diseases." (Source: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation)

This profile takes an in-depth look at the structure of Sound Partners for Community Health and its effects on participants and their communities, including an overview of the type of programming and outreach used to reach audiences, interviews with stations, community organizations and Sound Partners' staff, and what the future holds for community-based journalism. This report appeared in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's 2001 Anthology. (2001)