Guest guest Posted January 10, 2004 Report Share Posted January 10, 2004 Yesterday's interview with Angie Coiro on KQED San Francisco has kept me hopping with phone calls and emails here at NUFF -- but it's now available online and I thought I'd share: http://www.kqed.org/programs/program-landing-local.jsp?progID=RD19 Scroll down some to find the show on uterine fibroids and you'll then see the link which allows you to listen to the entire radio interview with myself, Dr. Indman, and Pat Boersma. Special thanks to Nina Thorsen for suggesting this topic and assisting us with getting this information on air! I was blown away by the number of website hits that NUFF.org received during the hour of the interview, as well throughout the remainder of the day yesterday. Truly, the impact was felt immediately and the public response tremendously positive. Thank you thank you thank you Nina! Carla Dionne Executive Director National Uterine Fibroids Foundation Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 11, 2004 Report Share Posted January 11, 2004 Just sharing again (hoping I'm not oversharing!) I wrote to my local NPR station to ask them to rebroadcast the KQED program here or to do a similar program in our area. I'm including my letter to the programming director of the station below, feel free to use and amend. You can find your local NPR station by visiting their website and entering the call letters or your zip code (http://www.npr.org/) --Ann Dear [program director], Recently on KQED, a Bay Area public radio station, a program aired about uterine fibroids. I was wondering if KUOW might be willing to look into doing a rebroadcast of this discussion, or to help sponsor a similar program up here in Seattle. I have include program details at the end of this message. Uterine fibroids are a condition that people don't really talk about yet the affects they have on some women are really quite devastating. Associated health problems range from extensive bleeding lasting 1-3 weeks or more leading to terrible anemia, to pressure on the intestines, ureters, bladder and kidneys. Fibroids are also implicated in some cases of infertility as well, and as more women postpone childbearing into their 30s they increase the risk of developing fibroids that may interfere with their ability to have children. Current treatment options for fibroids include: laparoscopic or abdominal surgeries, embolization, hormonal treatment (lupron, birth control pills, etc.) and several other procedures which are more experimental. Many doctors still however simply recommend hysterectomy which is a pretty radical treatment of a benign disease and might not be necessary. The cost of hysterectomy I have seen cited averages about $12,000, abdominal myomectomy (removal of the fibroids alone) can carry a similar cost, embolization isn't that much less expensive but the recovery period is much shorter. The costs of this disease include also missed work, medications, and long recovery periods. Considering that it is estimated that between 25% and 75% of women have fibroids, if even a percentage of women require treatment the impact to our health system is enormous. There is a great need to get information out to women about their options and to help advocate for better research, education and treatment of uterine fibroids. There is also currently congressional legislation that has been in committee for some time called the Uterine Fibroids Research and Education Act that would greatly increase the amount of funding for this condition over the next five years. Having this program air could help increase support for this much needed legislation as well. If there is anything that I can do to provide you with more information, suggest speakers, etc. please let me know. KQED Forum Fri, January 9, 2004 -- 10:00am Uterine Fibroids Forum discusses uterine fibroids and the health risks for women. Host: Angie Coiro Guests: Indman, MD, doctor of gynecology with Advanced Gynecology Solutions in Los Gatos Carla Dionne, founder and executive director of National Uterine Fibroids Foundation and author of " Sex, Lies and the Truth about Uterine Fibroids: A Journey From Diagnosis to Treatment to Renewed Good Health " Pat Boersma, fibroids patient http://www.kqed.org/programs/program-landing-local.jsp?progID=RD19 Many thanks for your consideration, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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