April 1943: Dr. Schreiber of San Augustine County, Texas, gives a typhoid inoculation at a rural school (Photo: Library of Congress)
What’s our experience with health, illness and living between the two?
How do we navigate the complicated landscape of policy, politics and real life that surround health care?
Who or what contributes to our sense of security and well-being?
What role do our communities — families, colleagues, friends and acquaintances — play as we negotiate health and wellness?
"I greatly want girlfriends. Like my kind mom says, I need patience and the real advice from a knowledgeable person. Like, how do you find the woman of your dreams?"
Dementia costs more to treat each year in the U.S. than cancer or heart disease and much of that cost is borne by family members in a caregiver role. Here is the story of one Minnesota family -- the parents who couldn't plan for early-onset Alzheimer's, and their daughter, who is ready for the worst.
A new update to a longstanding website gives users access to a plethora of health data for nearly every county in America -- everything from smoking rates to the number of dentists or fast food restaurants. Maps make it easy to compare your county to the rest of your state.
What is your experience with this word or other similar words? Should "retarded" become socially unacceptable or just be better understood? What is your reaction when you hear the word? And how hard or easy is it to really change the way people talk about something?
Many hail the FMLA as a success, 20 years on. But it's far from perfect -- especially in the eyes of doctors, who tell us the paperwork asks them to be soothsayers and places them in the middle of companies and their employees.
The Family and Medical Leave Act turns 20 this week. Medical professionals, we want to hear from you. Have you witnessed attempted abuse of the law? Do you feel trapped in the middle of a tense relationship between employer and employee? What's your experience with the FMLA?
Straight from doctors' mouths: What would make their lives better -- and yours. Mostly, it's time they say they need -- and lots of financial change.
We heard from parents who have taken FMLA time to care for sick children, others who have lamented the law's time limitations -- and from a doctor who's found himself caught in the middle of delicate negotiations between his patients and their employers.
Twenty years ago today President Bill Clinton signed the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) into law, granting 12 weeks of job protection to workers recovering from an accident, tending to a sick loved one or caring for a new baby.
Steve Portenga, lead psychologist for the U.S. track and field team, suggests it's more than fame and fortune that can motivate athletes to break the rules of sport to enhance their performance. It's about the fear of losing an identity -- and sometimes a paycheck.
Too much paperwork? Better equipment? More time with patients? Help shape our ongoing coverage of health care by telling us what one change -- tangible or intangible -- would make your work and life as a health care provider better.
What changes will affect your work most this year? Is it pay? What about regulations? Or labor issues? What about electronic records? How are the demographics of your patients changing? How are you preparing for the Affordable Care Act to take full effect?
The joy of the season is tempered by bittersweet memories of loved ones who are no longer around to celebrate with us.
What is one change you've made to improve your health this year? And what advice do you have for someone who wants to make a similar change?
When Chris McNaught lost his voice, he had to leave his job as a school counselor. Now he's back in the classroom, trying to work through his condition and pass on what he has learned about the value of listening.
Both stories keep the focus on the human stories behind the numbers.
Saying the word "pig" when you have flu-like symptoms these days can set off unexpected alarm...even in a place full of trained medical professionals.
Harvard Medical School researchers studying the health issues related to service in Iraq and Afghanistan are seeing some troubling early results.
New census data about health insurance details which counties have the highest rate of uninsured residents.
Modern terms emphasize the market relationship between "consumers" and "providers" over the personal. Does this reflect the modern reality of medical care or degrade the humanity of both parties?
It is remarkable how infrequently reportage on the health care debate charges into the big existential questions at the heart of illness and healing.
Parents are making some tough choices about whether to let their kids participate in sports. And there are no set rules about how young is too young to play contact sports, what kind of game play is too dangerous, or how many concussions are too many.
Ragnar Thorissen, Sean Klomparens and Brian Powers didn't expect to be planning their futures around the availability of health insurance. But for each of them, the ACA has provided a lifeline.
The struggle as a caregiver is immediate and practical: What can the patient eat amid nausea and bone-rattling fatigue? Have I covered my bases at work? Who’s going to walk the dog? We have received generous, wise and intriguing stories from those who have cared for others.
Medical interpreters talk about the unique challenges of the job, what it takes to do it right, and how 'MRI' can sound an awful lot like 'hemorrhoids.'
Because of a rapid increase in the need for medical interpreters and no comprehensive national legislation on interpreters or oversight of the work, health care providers are not always willing or able to meet the need.
For the parents of the millions of kids who play contact sports, all that research and news coverage boils down to one simple question: Should I let my child play?
For decades, medical interpreting has been done primarily by passionate and underpaid advocates of the immigrants and refugees not proficient enough in English to get them through a routine hospital or clinic visit.
We know that the Supreme Court's upcoming decision on the Affordable Care Act could throw a lot of people's health care into limbo. Could that happen to you?
How might the Supreme Court's ruling this month affect people whose health care has already changed because of the Affordable Care Act?
