Logo

Polio Fight Wins the Prize for RLTV

Apr 12, 2009  •  Post A Comment

Every year since 2004, the Association of Health Care Journalists has honored the best in health care reporting at its annual gathering.
This year’s first-place winner in the television category was a segment of “Healthline Presents” on Retirement Living TV (RLTV). “Polio Revisited” examined the highly infectious viral disease that, before the advent of a vaccine, caused paralysis and in some cases death for thousands of people, nationally and internationally.
The show profiled survivors and victims of the disease, the vaccines and their creators, the genuine risk that polio presents today for American children who aren’t immunized and the challenge of post-polio syndrome.
“We really backed into this documentary,” said “Healthline” executive producer David Wasser. “We had decided to do an episode on post-polio syndrome, a condition that can impact those who thought they had recovered from the crippling effects of the disease.”
While producing that episode, Mr. Wasser realized they had a wealth of material, including rare archival footage, that simply would not fit into a typical episode of “Healthline.”
“We also were made aware of the medical community’s concern for the increasing number of children who are not vaccinated against polio,” Mr. Wasser said. “Since our audience (adults age 50-plus) lived through this terror, they are in a perfect position to remind their adult children about ‘the bad old days’ and encourage them to vaccinate their kids. It’s a natural intergenerational call to action. The stakes are so high that I felt compelled to bring this project to fruition.”
In their comments about “Polio Revisited,” the AHCJ judges wrote, “This riveting documentary takes us back to the days before the development in the early 1950s of the polio vaccine. With heartbreaking archival footage, it shows the fear that gripped families as the number of polio cases continued to mount after World War II.” Depicted in that archival footage was the role the March of Dimes played in finding the cure, as well as President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s battle with the disease and its aftermath.
“This project was filled with surprises, but perhaps the biggest was finding out that there are still a handful of people living in iron lungs,” Mr. Wasser said. “We were fortunate to interview Diane Odell, who had contracted polio at age 3 and had spent the past 57 years in an iron lung. She managed to accomplish so much even though she was confined to the device, and was an inspiration to so many people.”
Sadly, Ms. Odell didn’t live long enough to see the finished project. She died before editing was completed. “I’m very thankful she was able to share her story, but regret she didn’t get to see the completed version,” Mr. Wasser said.
When informed that RLTV had won the top prize from AHCJ, Mr. Wasser said he was surprised. “There are so many great health stories being produced these days, so I was a little stunned,” he said. “It’s a special honor to be recognized by one’s peers.”

21 Comments

  1. if every editor wrote like you believe me the world would be a better place! this was an excellent read expecting more!

  2. Thanks for posting this. Would be intrested to read more or possibly please contact me by email thank you!

  3. Hi, super article, I truly enjoyed reading this. This blog gave me the momentum to attempt my own article, please check my article by clicking my name at the top of this post, Many thanks

  4. I wanted to praise you for this exceptional post!! I without a doubt liked each part of it. I have bookmarked your site to

  5. thank you, for the great post

  6. Really great information. Im happy I found this post. Thanks for sharing

  7. If Emanuel soon is chosen Chicago mayor, he’ll almost certainly give new meaning to phrase ‘swearing-in ceremony.’

  8. Great wordpress blog here.. It’s hard to find quality writing like yours these days. I really appreciate people like you! take care and see you soon

  9. High quality info here! Keep up the great work. I love the feelings being expressed.

  10. Wow, amazing blog layout! How long have you been blogging for? you make blogging look easy.

  11. This is good info! Where else can if ind out more?? Who runs this joint too? Keep up the good work 🙂

  12. I would like to start my own blog one day. This was a really nice blog that you made here. Keep up the success 😛

  13. Interesting thoughts here. I appreciate you taking the time to share them with us all. It’s people like you that make my day 🙂

  14. Way to focus and straight to your point, i love it. Keep up the work people. Dont let anyone stop us bloggers.

  15. I love the expression. Everyone needs to express there own opinion and feel free to hear others. Keep it up 🙂

  16. I agree with your thoughts here and I really love your blog! I’ve bookmarked it so that I can come back & read more in the future.

  17. I love the way you write and also the theme on your blog. Did you code this yourself or was it done by a professional? I’m very very impressed.

  18. I am extremely impressed with your writing skills and also with the layout on your blog. Is this a paid theme or did you customize it yourself? Either way keep up the nice quality writing, it’s rare to see a nice blog like this one these days.. 🙂

  19. I love your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you create this website yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you? Plz reply back as I’m looking to create my own blog and would like to know wheere u got this from. thanks

  20. Nice!! Great Ifo. Great People. Great Blog. Thank you for all the great sharing that is being done here.

Leave a Reply to Season Savitch Cancel Reply

Email (will not be published)