SoCal Connected Examines Public Heal Consequences When Parents Refuse to Vaccinate their Kids and How Diabetes Impacts African Americans Oct 4 at 8:0 PM

SOCAL CONNECTED EXAMINES PUBLIC HEALTH CONSEQUENCES

WHEN PARENTS REFUSE TO VACCINATE THEIR KIDS

AND HOW DIABETES IMPACTS AFRICAN AMERICANS

OCTOBER 14 AT 8:30 PM

LOS ANGELES, October 11: This weeks installment of SoCal Connected explores two troubling health trends - the growing number of PBEs or Personal Belief Exemptions to opt out of vaccinating children and the increase of Diabetes, a leading cause of death among African-Americans. The all-new episode airs Friday, October 14 at 8:30 p.m.

VACCINATION BATTLE

Contagious diseases that were long thought to be under control are returning in alarming numbers. Health officials believe these spikes may be a result of more and more parents waiting to vaccinate or not vaccinating their children at all. As a result, the state of California has mandated the Whooping Cough vaccine for all 7th through 12th graders. Correspondent Laurel Erickson explores why Personal Belief Exceptions have increased four-fold in recent years, with some parents more concerned about the vaccines than the diseases they prevent. Angela Shelley is the producer.

DIABETES

The rate of diabetes among African-Americans has tripled in the last 30 years. Today over 3 million African-American men have the disease - 12% alone in Los Angeles. So a local podiatrist named Dr. Bill Releford has dedicated his life to decreasing that statistic. Every weekend, he makes house calls at local African American barbershops spreading the word about the dangers of diabetes. Anyone who comes by gets a trim and a free check-up as well as advice on healthy eating. Releford hopes his barbershop clinics will keep these men from becoming his long term patients.

THE UNGER REPORT

Satirist Brian Unger opines this week about the high cost of animal healthcare.

The all-new episode airs Friday, October 14 at 8:30 p.m.

The Executive Producer of SoCal Connected is Bret Marcus. Co-Executive Producer is Justine Schmidt. Anchor is Val Zavala.

About SoCal Connected

SoCal Connected, winner of the Peabody and duPont-Columbia awards, 14 Emmy Awards, 15 Golden Mikes, 18 LA Press Club Awards, the Edward R. Murrow Award for Best News Documentary and Los Angeles Magazines Best New Local TV Program of 2009, airs Fridays (8:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.), with encores Saturdays (6 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.), Sundays (6:30 p.m. - 7 p.m.) and Mondays (10:30 p.m. to 11 p.m.) exclusively on KCET. For more information, to view episodes online or to post comments, please visit www.kcet.org/socalconnected.

SoCal Connected is made possible through the generous support of The Ahmanson Foundation, serving the Los Angeles community since 1952; Jim and Anne Rothenberg; The Maddocks-Brown Foundation; The Elizabeth Hofert-Dailey Trust; The John Randolph Haynes & Dora Haynes Foundation; The City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, UCLA and U.S. Bank.

Press Contacts

Nick Jones or Liza Nedelman, MPRM Communications

323-933-3399; socal@mprm.com

LINK:	http://www.kcet.org/about/pressroom/press-releases/socal-connected-exa...
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