Fight Back

Dr. Laith Alshawabkeh, a board-certified cardiologist, discusses the latest advancements in the treatment of heart disease, specifically valve replacements and stents.

Dr. Alshawabkeh specializes in caring for adults with congenital heart disease, an abnormality in the heart present at birth. He leads the Adult Congenital Heart Disease Program at UC San Diego.

Click here to listen to the full “Cardiovascular Disease” podcast.

Everyone loves to go to the dentist, right? After listening to this surprisingly fascinating Fight Back episode, you might not exactly love your dentist, but you will be more informed and even inclined to visit your dentist more often.

Our special guest, Dr. Joel Strom, discusses how oral hygiene impacts overall health and how preventive care almost always spares you from losing teeth and other problems. He also addresses a number of questions: Is flossing your teeth more important than brushing? Ever wonder what your wisdom teeth are for? Is gum disease associated with an increased risk of developing heart disease? Can dentists spot sleep apnea in their patients? 

Dr. Strom is a former President of the California State Dental Board, past Chairman of the California Science Center, and presently is a member of a Dental Advisory Panel at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He also is a practicing dentist and an Adjunct Faculty member at The Forsyth Dental Institute, the only independent research institute in the United States focusing on the connections between oral health and overall wellness.

In this Fight Back Minicast episode, our special guest, world-renowned Dr. Kathy Magliato, who is one of the few female cardiothoracic surgeons in the world, will discuss with us why heart disease is called the silent killer, its signs and symptoms, and some of the lifestyle changes you can make to improve your heart’s health.

Do you ever feel overwhelmed trying to keep up-to-date with the latest information on COVID-19, its variants, treatments, how to stay healthy, and so many more questions? 

The Healthcare Consumer Rights Foundation is proud to announce the release of our brand new podcast series: "What you need to know about COVID-19!" In this new series, Dr. Brad Pollock from UC Davis joins us to discuss all these topics and so many more! 

Dr. Pollock is the Chairman of the Department of Public Health Sciences and Associate Dean for Public Health Sciences at the University of California (UC) Davis School of Medicine. He is a Fellow of the American College of Epidemiology. Previously he was the Founding Chair of the Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and on the faculty of the University of Florida. He received his B.S. in biological sciences from UC Irvine, and his MPH and Ph.D. degrees in epidemiology from the UCLA School of Public Health. 

Appointed in March 2020, Dr. Pollock serves as the Chair of the UC Systemwide Public Health COVID-19 Workgroup. He also is the Director of Healthy Davis Together, a large demonstration project involving a partnership between the City of Davis and UC Davis. Healthy Davis Together is employing a model for applying integrated response and recovery strategies to combat COVID-19 in the community, including K-12 schools as well as special populations such as the unsheltered, those in congregate living facilities, and migrant farmworkers. 

Dr. Pollock will join us each month to discuss the latest COVID news, studies, information, and misinformation. Enjoy the February, 2022, update!

In this Fight Back Minicast episode, our special guest, Claire Day, discusses the symptoms of Alzheimer’s and how it differs from dementia and answers questions about the newly FDA-approved treatment for Alzheimer’s.
 
Claire has been on the staff of the Alzheimer’s Association since 2001. She is currently the Chief Program Officer at the Northern California and Northern Nevada Chapter. Claire oversees all clinical operations and service delivery throughout the Chapter’s territory. She and her highly trained staff deliver community social services in the form of education, support, advocacy, and care management to people with Alzheimer’s and their families, as well as to professional caregivers.

In this episode of Fight Back, we get an insider’s look at Intensive Care Units.

We are privileged to interview Dr. Wes Ely, author of Every Deep-Drawn Breath: A Critical Care Doctor on Healing, Recovery, and Transforming Medicine in the ICU.

Dr. Ely sheds light on what patients and their loved one’s experience when entering an ICU, how mental health plays such a significant role for an ICU patient’s mind and body, the potential long-term effects from a stay in an ICU (known as Post Intensive Care Syndrome), the ways that COVID has led to changes in how ICU medical teams treat their patients, and so much more.

Dr. Ely is an internist, pulmonologist, and critical care physician and serves as the Grant W. Liddle endowed chair in medicine and is a physician-scientist and tenured professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He is also the associate director of aging research for the Tennessee Valley Veteran’s Affairs Geriatric Research Education Clinical Center (GRECC). He is the founder and co-director of the Critical Illness, Brain Dysfunction, and Survivorship (CIBS) Center, an organization devoted to research and ongoing care for people affected by critical illness. In addition to his book, Dr. Ely has had numerous studies published in The New England Journal, JAMA, and The Lancet, and his writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, USA TODAY, StatNews, The Daily Beast, and many other publications.

In the debut of our Fight Back Minicast series, renowned sleep expert Dr. Rafael Pelayo will provide you with answers to "What is Insomnia?", and "Are sleep monitoring devices effective?" Dr. Pelayo is a clinical professor at the Sleep Medicine division of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at Stanford University.

To listen to the full "Trouble Sleeping" podcast with Dr. Pelayo, click here.

Today, we have a unique podcast for you, and we are excited that our Founder and Executive Director, and the usual host of this podcast, Steve Poizner, will join us from the hotseat as our guest for our Annual Year-in-Review podcast! 

This episode of Fight Back is an all-encompassing update on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our guest is Dr. Linda Halderman, a board-certified general surgeon with over 20 years of experience. Her interest in medicine and public health began after high school when she volunteered at an HIV clinic and hospice during the 1980’s AIDS pandemic. Dr. Halderman had her first experience treating a deadly virus in 2009 when she provided medical relief for three months in the U.S. territory of American Samoa during the H1N1 influenza pandemic. Since March 2020, Dr. Halderman has studied the SARS-CoV2 novel coronavirus, providing public education on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of COVID-19. During one of the surges, she served as a relief physician at a COVID-19 field hospital and antibody infusion center set up by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. She continues to volunteer at mass vaccination sites in southern Nevada and rural communities. 

 As we enter the third year of the pandemic, Linda will review what we have learned about the biology, prevention, and treatment of COVID-19, including how it mutates into new variants like Omicron, the monumental success of the mRNA based vaccines and why they are the primary weapon to defeat the pandemic, the development of new treatment options for those infected with COVID-19, and more.

In this episode of Fight Back, we will discuss the little-known yet potentially impactful Independent Medical Review system that gives healthcare consumers in every state of the country a powerful tool to fight back when insurance companies deny doctor-prescribed medical treatments. 

Our special guest is Mary Watanabe, Director of the California Department of Managed Health Care, the state entity that oversees health plans that provide healthcare services to more than 27.7 million Californians. As Director, Mary is responsible for protecting consumers’ healthcare rights and ensuring a stable healthcare delivery system in accordance with federal and state rules. 

Mary will discuss why the Department of Managed Health Care is the first place healthcare consumers should go when they encounter problems with their coverage. She explains the free, available tools that consumers can use to make an appeal, including a simple phone call or visit to the DMHC website. From how to use the independent medical review process to how to file a complaint against your health insurer or provider, Mary will give us the answers and more.