Insights

You learn a lot when you spend months reporting on a given issue or community, as our fellows can attest. Whether you’re embarking on a big new story or seeking to go deeper on a given issue, it pays to learn from those who’ve already put in the shoe leather and crunched the data. In these essays and columns, our community of journalists steps back from the notebooks and tape to reflect on key lessons, highlight urgent themes, and offer sage advice on the essential health stories of the day. 

Author(s)
By Astrid Viciano

<p>Kristin Molini has five reasons to celebrate this year. The 22-year-old is recovering after five organ transplants – liver, stomach, pancreas, and small and largeintestines. Only 300 similar interventions have been performed worldwide. The story – reported in the New York Daily News this January – could be the script for a movie. It could be an episode of a TV series, it could, most importantly, get people interestedin organ donation, giving them information about the importance of the procedure.</p>

Author(s)
By William Heisel

<p>One of the reasons that state medical boards frown on doctors who start relationships with their patients is because of the power differential. The doctor is in a position of authority, like a teacher or a preacher, and is not supposed to abuse that position by using it, even in a subtle way, to coerce a patient into intimacy.</p> <p><a href="https://techmedweb.omb.state.or.us/Clients/ORMB/Public/VerificationDeta…. Gregory Gomez</a> was not subtle about it.</p>

Author(s)
By Peggy Girshman

<p><em>In <a href="http://www.reportingonhealth.org/blogs/applying-job-tips-online-editor"… with Career GPS</a>, Kaiser Health News Executive Editor, Online Peggy Girshman shared a document she has created over the years chronicling her DOs and DON'Ts for journalism résumés. Here, she shares her tips with the ReportingonHealth community.</em></p> <p>(All examples drawn from real-life résumés)</p> <p><strong>Don't</strong></p>

Author(s)
By Roseann Langlois

<p>Exposure to radon in the home is responsible for an estimated 20,000 lung cancer deaths each year, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In South Lake Tahoe, more than half of the homes contain toxic levels of the colorless, odorless and tasteless gas.</p> <p>The dangers and causes of radon in our region are well known. Radon is the second-leading cause of lung cancer in the United States. It is also naturally occurring throughout our area due to the granite that dominates our landscape.</p>

Author(s)
By Annette Fuentes

<p>A lot more goes on in schools than the three Rs, and a lot more can be discerned about the health and well being of children by using schools as the laboratory through which to investigate a variety of health care issues. As a health reporting fellow, I'll be joining my interest and experience in covering health and education by exploring the convergence of both within schools in the Bay Area, the readership audience for The Bay Citizen, where I work.</p>