Common Health 2008
A Focus on Public Health

Common Health is a community radio series that airs on the third Wednesday of every month at 10 a.m. on WERU-FM (89.9 Midcoast and Downeast, 102.9 in Bangor, weru.org on the web). We began broadcasting in 2003 with a series of programs about health care access and quality. See the link to the 2003 Common Health series for information on the Study Circles and other community dialogues about key health issues in Maine. In 2005 we shifted our focus to the many factors that affect our common health.

In the broadest sense, public health deals with the overall health of a community. Public health involves preventing disease, as well as improving the overall mental, physical, and emotional well-being of community members.

Common Health examines the definition of public health and how it is practiced in Maine. In partnership with the Hancock County Planning Commission and the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, WERU considers topics as diverse as pollution, emergency services, civil defense, immunizations, workplace health, clean water, and food safety. The program explores how public health services are provided and where the gaps are. The conversation doesn't stop at the studio door. We want to mobilize local action to create healthier communities.  

The monthly Common Health radio forums on WERU are complimented by a web site and by short news features produced at WERU addressing public health topics. Past programs and short news features will be available for listening at any time on the Common Health web sitet. Listeners will also be able to access background information on public health topics, send in questions they would like discussed on upcoming programs or suggest topics for Common Health to cover, and even take a short quiz on some topics if they wish to do so.

The Common Health Project in 2005 was supported by a grant from Sound Partners for Community Health, a project of the Benton Foundation with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. WERU has continued the project in 2006 and 2007 with support from underwriters and the Hancock County Planning Commission.