In this episode, we talk about the intersection between sex and menopause. Between 17% and 45% of postmenopausal women say they find sex painful, and that’s where Dr. Debra Wickman comes in. She is Director of Female Sexual Medicine Vulva Disorders and Menopause Health at Banner University Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona. Wickman talks about how women often tolerate painful sex and why embracing our intimate anatomy can be the first step toward healing.

We know many women will experience menopausal symptoms, and they don’t just happen at home. Tamsen Fadal, an Emmy-Award winning TV journalist and now menopause advocate, talks about navigating those symptoms at work. We’ll also hear from Dr. Jewel Kling, a professor of medicine and chair of the division of Women's Health Internal Medicine at Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona.

We’re calling this episode Menopausal Hormone Therapy 101. We won’t cover everything. Think of it like a primer so you can more comfortably talk to your provider — or know when to walk away. Joining us is Dr. Stephanie Faubion, director of Mayo Clinic Center for Women's Health in Florida; she’s also medical director of the Menopause Society.

The menopausal transition can affect our cardiovascular health in ways that can’t be explained by age alone. Dr. Rebecca Thurston is a principal investigator for SWAN, the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation, and also leads the MSHEART and the MSBRAIN studies, which look at menopause and the cardiovascular/brain connection.

Vasomotor symptoms, aka hot flashes and night sweats, are the most common manifestations of menopause. Women of all cultures have different names for it and ways to cope. We talk to Professor Lynette Sievert, a biological anthropologist at UMASS Amherst, whose studies of menopausal women span the globe.

KJZZ's Kathy Ritchie likes to talk about things that make most people uncomfortable — like menopause. In this episode, Kathy dives into the big why. Why do we go through "the change?" Anthropology professor Kristen Hawkes takes us to Africa, where the study of one of the last hunter-gatherer tribes led her to this conclusion: menopause is an adaptive advantage.

During and after World War II, the United States conducted hundreds of nuclear tests in the American Southwest, mainly Nevada and New Mexico. The radioactive fallout produced by these explosions traveled hundreds of miles, crossing state lines into Arizona and Utah. People who lived and worked in areas exposed to this radiation were more likely to develop cancer and other illnesses. They are known as downwinders. But not all of them are created equal in the eyes of the federal government.

Prisons aren't designed to accommodate the aging. Think about it: there are stairs, narrow doorways, long corridors, and bunk beds. About 1 in 4 inmates in Arizona prisons is aged 55 plus, and the ACLU estimates nearly half of all inmates over 50 have a chronic health condition. All of this is in a system that doesn't provide constitutionally adequate healthcare. In this episode, Nathan Collins explores the difficulties older prisoners face while incarcerated and what advocates of criminal-justice reform are doing to help.

As the COVID19 pandemic continues, millions of Americans have found themselves without work, and people with disabilities have been hit especially hard. In this episode, Zoie Simon searches for a new job in the midst of worldwide economic uncertainty. Meanwhile, host Andrea Pasquale explores some of the options and protections for unemployed people with disabilities. How secure is Arizona's disability safety net?

The COVID19 pandemic is uniquely affecting the lives of people with disabilities, and many people who have underlying health conditions are more susceptible to the virus. In this episode, host Andrea Pasquale and producer Jaye McAuliffe search for resources that can help people with disabilities during a public health crisis. And Jon Meyers of the Arc of Arizona proposes ideas for how to be more prepared for a crisis like this in the future.

Without access to independent housing or reliable transportation, some people with disabilities experience intense isolation. In this episode, host Andrea Pasquale and producer Jaye McAuliffe explore the ways people with disabilities build community and solidarity among each other. And Candice Bennett and Jim Warner talk about supporting one another while living in a nursing home.