HealthCetera is a media platform providing evidence-based news, analysis, and commentary by diverse, dynamic, front-line experts discussing the latest real-world effects of healthcare and health policy. HealthCetera includes a blog, radio programming and a podcast.
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Photo by New York Suburban Homes on Unsplash New York State has been providing funds for villages, towns and cities to revitalize their communities. A couple years ago, Roxbury received some of these funds and now Margaretville and Stamford have had their proposals funded. Lissa Harris wrote much of Margaretville’s proposal for the Mark Project for what is now called NY Forward. She’s also the outreach coordinator for the HUBB, an initiative under the umbrella of the MARK Project that works on increasing people’s access to free community programs. HealthCetera producer and host, Diana Mason, R
Photo by Gizem Nikomedi on Unsplash GLP-1s are all the rage these days, helping obese people to lose weight and improve their health. Everyday, there seems to be a new report on other benefits of GLP-1s, including helping people with longstanding addictions to reduce their substance use. As the popularity of these medications spreads and insurance companies cover some of their costs, questions are arising about whether they are safe and effective in older adults. Liz Seegert is a freelance journalist who writes about aging issues, including for the Association for Health Care Journalists (AHCJ
Photo by Troy T on Unsplash Cigarette smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States. Over 2/3 of those adults who smoke want to quit and more than half try to do so in any given year; but only 1 in 10 will be successful. Nicotine e-cigarettes were designed to help people to stop smoking cigarettes but their use for withdrawing from regular cigarettes has been controversial, as some argue it perpetuated the nicotine addiction that cigarettes induce and with its own set of toxins. And an additional concern has been that youth, in particular, may be takin
Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash Margaretville Hospital is taking advantage of its affiliation with Health Alliance of the Hudson Valley, a network of health care services that is part of WMC Health, by tapping specialists in Kingston to come to Margaretville to provide outpatient specialty services. One of these specialists is Elly Wagner, PA-C, a women’s health physician assistant. HealthCetera producer and host, Diana Mason, RN, talked with Elly Wagner about the role of physician assistants/associates and top-line issues in women’s health, particularly for older women who may
Photo by Unseen Studio on Unsplash Congress passed HR.1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, last year and President Trump signed it into law in July. It requires people on Medicaid to meet certain work requirements or lose their coverage. Several states had already put such a rule into place and one would think that Congress and the President would pay attention to the experiences these states had. Georgia is one state that did so and Dr. Blake McGee, RN, Associate Professor of Nursing at Augusta University, has studied that state’s experience. He’s also a fellow in the Betty Irene Moore Fellowsh
Photo by Thomas Loizeau on Unsplash The Reporter is a newspaper covering the Catskill region, with a focus on Delaware County. Joan Lawrence Bauer, a reporter for The Reporter, talks with HealthCetera producer and host, Diana Mason, RN, about two topics she is reporting on for the newspaper: 1) an annual tour of artists’ studios in SouthEastern Delaware County, and 2) the fourth agreement between New York City and local communities on the Watershed that protects NYC’s water supply from the Catskill region and has become controversial because of “land swaps” that could see a rise in solar field
Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash Mental health problems have worsened in the United States, worsening since the COVID pandemic. It’s particularly a problem among young people, as they appear to be experiencing higher rates of anxiety and depression, among other problems. It’s crucial for local communities to examine how to promote mental health and how to ensure that people with mental health problems are about to get the help they need. But local communities often lack the resources to ensure that they have robust mental health services. They depend upon funding from the federal government an
Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash In 2015, the Primary Care Development Corporation conducted an analysis of primary care capacity in counties in New York State. Delaware County in the Catskill region of the state was found to be a primary care desert. Since that time, Margaretville Hospital, a critical access hospital that is part of Health Alliance of the Hudson Valley and WMCHealth, has worked to build primary care in the region. Among the new providers at the hospital’s primary care practice is family nurse practitioner, Erin Black, MSN, FNP. HealthCetera producer and host Dia
Photo by Curology on Unsplash You may know someone who has had a horrible gastrointestinal illness with “explosive diarrhea” with no obvious cause. Well, it may be cyclosporiasis that is spreading throughout the country. HealthCetera producer and host Dr. Diana J. Mason, RN, talks with Dr. Luis Marcos, MD, a Professor of Medicine in the Renaissance School of Medicine at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and Director for the Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program at Stony Brook Medicine about cyclosporiasis, its symptoms and treatment, and how to prevent it. This interview first a
Photo by Hakan Nural on Unsplash The misinformation and disinformation about vaccines has been on the rise, particularly since the COVID pandemic and, more recently, since Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. assumed the position of U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Trump Administration. KFF is a nonprofit health policy research, polling and news organization that recently conducted a national poll to look at whether the public has embraced myths about vaccines that are based on this misinformation. HealthCetera producer and host Diana J. Mason, PhD, RN, discusses the poll and its findings
Photo by Marlon Lara on Unsplash Stigma surrounding substance use disorders (SUD), including addictions, is a major barrier to people seeking treatment. Many healthcare providers can also consciously or unconsciously contribute to the stigma that people with SUDs may feel, including through the language they use, images, and how they treat their patients. Addictions are physiological states, not flaws in one’s character. While we seldom treat people with insulin-dependent diabetes with disdain, we are not as likely to try to rid ourselves of stigmatizing language or behaviors when working with
Photo by Kristine Wook on Unsplash HR.1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that Donald Trump signed into law a year ago, cuts Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funding substantially and makes changes in the Affordable Care Act’s insurance coverage such that an estimated that over 10 million people will become uninsured and millions more becoming food insecure from cuts to or termination of their SNAP benefits. But these cuts affect all of us, as hospitals and other health care organizations will lose revenue that they need to support offering services that communit
Whether or not one agrees with the science that unequivocally confirms that our planet is becoming warmer and more polluted, we are all seeing the negative impacts of humans on our planet, whether worsening storms, flooding and rising seas, warming of seas, extension of deserts, loss of biodiversity, plastic pollution, and more. Dr. Susan Hassmiller, PhD, RN, and Dr. Katie Huffling, DNP, CNM, RN, know that nurses and other health care workers are key to both reducing the human impact on our fragile planet and to ensuring that we are able to respond to help individuals and communities to be pre
Photo by Mockup Graphics on Unsplash Health professionals often think that the public understands that high blood pressure is dangerous for their health. But many people may not even understand what a blood pressure reading represents, let alone the acute and chronic damage it can do to your body. To explore what a blood pressure reading means and the impact of high blood pressure on our health, HealthCetera producer and host, Diana J. Mason, PhD, RN, talks with Dawn Aycock, PhD, RN, the Distinguished University Professor and PhD Program Director for Nursing at Georgia State University. Dr. Ay
Photo by Marcelo Leal on Unsplash New York now has a law for Medical Aid in Dying (MAID), providing people in this state with the option of ending their suffering from a terminal illness through medication to end their life. The law has a number of guardrails in place but there is a lawsuit that has been filed to stop its implementation. HealthCetera host Diana Mason talked about the status of the law and this lawsuit with David Leven, Executive Director Emeritus and Senior Consultant of End of Life Choices NY. This interview first aired on HealthCetera in the Catskills on WIOX Radio on June 1
As cutbacks in programs and funding for health care and social services escalate at the federal level under the Trump Administration and Congress, the need for local action to support the most vulnerable among us in the Catskills is escalating, whether it be advising people on how to maintain their enrollment in Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or helping with housing assistance. Delaware Opportunities is a lifeline organization that provides such assistance to people in Delaware County. Dr. Shelly Bartow is the Executive Director of Delaware Opportunities and
Photo by Yassine Khalfalli on Unsplash Keeping people out of hospitals depends, in part, on robust ambulatory services, whether primary care or specialty care. Margaretville Hospital, part of the Health Alliance of the Hudson Valley and WMCHealth, is a critical access hospital in the Catskill region of New York State that has been expanding its ambulatory care services. Vicky Misner and April Brimberry are two registered nurses who work in this part of the hospital’s services. They spoke with HealthCetera host Diana Mason, RN, about these services. This interview first aired on HealthCetera in
The Reporter is a local newspaper that covers issues in Delaware County, NY, and Catskills towns and villages. Joan Lawrence-Bauer is a reporter for the newspaper and HealthCetera host Diana Mason, PhD, RN, talked with her about some of the issues and stories the paper covered in May 2026. This interview first aired on HealthCetera in the Catskills on WIOX Radio on May 20, 2026. The post The Reporter Newspaper appeared first on HealthCetera.
Photo by Robina Weermeijer on Unsplash When older adults talk with their peers of the same age group, they often talk about whether their forgetfulness is a sign of dementia. None of us wants that diagnosis for ourselves or those we love. Most of us know people who have been caregivers for people with dementia and have witnessed the emotional toll it takes on family and friends, as well as the person who has dementia. Shandaken, New York, is a rural community that aspires to be a “dementia-friendly community” and received a grant from the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation through the Pine Hill
Photo by Dose Juice on Unsplash HR1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, was enacted on July 4th of 2025. The law includes cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, that have already resulted in over 3 million people losing this important benefit. On June 1st, the federal government issued the regulations that operationalize the law’s requirement that people between the ages of 18 and 64 who do not live with a child under the age of 14 and who receive SNAP benefits–and/or Medicaid–either work 80 hours a month, do that time in community service or volunteer work, or be enrolle
