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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 aired on HealthCetera in the Catskills on WIOX Radio on July 15, 2026.

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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 with Alex Montero, PhD, Senior Survey Analyst for Public Opinion and Survey Research at KFF. This interview first aired on HealthCetera in the Catskills on WIOX radio on July 15, 2026.

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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 people with SUDs. HealthCetera producer and host, Diana J. Mason, RN, talks with Beth Rutkowski, an Epidemiologist and Director of Training for the UCLA Integrated Substance Use and Addiction Programs, and  Co-Director of the Pacific Southwest Addiction Technology Transfer Center, about the evidence confirming that stigma around SUD is prevalent and harmful, as well as how to help clinicians, family members, friends, healthcare providers, and even the people with SUDs themselves to reduce and eliminate stigma. This interview first aired on HealthCetera in the Catskills on WIOX Radio on July 8, 2026.

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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 communities need. This is such an issue in rural communities that some of these hospitals may close. In response to this concern, Congress created the Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) to bring money to health care in rural communities. HealthCetera producer and host, Dr. Diana J. Mason, RN, talked about these cuts with Dr. Leighton Ku, Professor in the Deptment of Health Policy and Management and Director of the Center for Health Policy Research at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University. He and his colleagues conducted an analysis of what the impact of HR 1 cuts would be on rural communities and whether the RHTP would offset the losses from Medicaid and insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act. The paper is titled “H.R. 1 Funding Cuts Will Overshadow Gains from the New Rural Health Transformation Program” and it was published on June 9,  2026, by The Commonwealth Fund. This interview first aired on HealthCetera in the Catskills on WIOX Radio on July 8, 2026.

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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 prepared for disasters and public health emergencies and to build resilience in our communities. They have edited a new book on how nurses and others can take action to protect health in a changing climate. It’s titled, Taking Action: Top 10 Priorities for Nurses to Protect Health in a Changing Climate but it’s relevant to all of us. Dr. Katie Huffling is a registered nurse, certified nurse midwife, and Executive Director of the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments. Dr. Susan Hassmiller is Senior Advisor for Nursing Emerita at the RWJF and Co-CEO of Sulu Coaching and Consulting. HealthCetera producer and host Diana Mason, PhD, RN, talked with Huffling and Hassmiller about their new book and its implications for everyone. This interview first aired on HealthCetera in the Catskills on WIOX Radio on June 17, 2026.

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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. Aycock is an expert in cardiovascular disease prevention. Along with research funding from the National Institutes for Health, she has been a Fellow in the Betty Irene Moore Fellowship for Nurse Leaders and Innovators that provided support for her to develop an initiative around preventing strokes, particularly among African Americans between the ages of 20-35 years of age. She calls this initiative SCORRE and talks about its success in helping people to be proactive in addressing high blood pressure. This interview first aired on HealthCetera in the Catskills on WIOX Radio on July 1, 2026.

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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 17, 2026.

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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 talked with HealthCetera host, Diana Mason, PhD, RN, about what she is seeing in terms of the need for services and the ability to meet these needs. This interview first aired on HealthCetera in the Catskills on WIOX Radio on June 10, 2026.

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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 Catskills on WIOX Radio on June 10, 2026.

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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.

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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 Community Center to support this work.  HealthCetera host Diana Mason, PhD, RN, talked about this important initiative with Dr. Patricia Ruane, president of Catskill Neighbors, Inc., and Mark Wagner, a new member of the board for Catskill Neighbors whose wife suffered from dementia. This interview first aired on HealthCetera in the Catskills on WIOX Radio on May 20, 2026.

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