Side Effects Public Media

GroupAccount image

We're a health news initiative exploring the impacts of place, policy and economics on America's health. Our reporting sheds light on root causes of community-wide health problems—from chronic disease, to mental health and addiction, to infant mortality—and on new efforts to solve them.

We are headquartered at WFYI Public Media in Indianapolis, and work in partnership with KBIA in Columbia, Missouri; St. Louis Public Radio; Illinois Public Media in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois; WNIN in Evansville, Indiana; and WOSU Public Media, in Columbus, Ohio. We also work with contributing reporters from other public radio stations around the Midwest and Great Lakes regions. We're intent on telling stories from under-covered communities and hidden-away places.

Series

Caption: PRX default Series image
3 Pieces

In rural America, older people face more health issues, like chronic illness, mental illness and complications from loneliness and isolation. This series looks into those issues in rural Kentucky.

Caption: PRX default Series image
0 Pieces

An unusual court in Columbus, Ohio, offers a therapeutic approach instead of a punitive one to sex workers. In this two-part series, we hear the story of Stephanie Rollins' recovery from two decades of addiction and sex work, and the judge who offered her a new path for her life.

Series image
4 Pieces

This series explores the health needs and concerns of foster children.

Caption: PRX default Series image
2 Pieces

In 2007, 12,000 inmates with mental illness sued the Illinois Department of Corrections, alleging the agency punishes inmates with mental illness instead of properly treating them. A settlement was reached in 2016, when the state agreed to revamp mental health care and provide better treatment. But a federal judge has ruled that care remains “grossly insufficient” and “extremely poor.”

Series image
4 Pieces

In the grips of an opioid addiction epidemic, many communities are increasing efforts to prevent overdose or stem the easy access to drugs. Meanwhile, long-term recovery for many people struggling with drug or alcohol addiction remains elusive. Despite advances, addiction has strikingly high relapse rates. This series explores obstacles that hold people back from treatment and new approaches to care that can help people stay well in the long term

Caption: PRX default Series image
3 Pieces

Sick is a podcast about the things that can happen to our bodies—and how we respond.

Series image
50 Pieces

Our health journalism collaborative explores the impacts of place, policy and economics on Americans' health.

Caption: PRX default Series image
5 Pieces

Personal experiences of people in recovery shared at a live storytelling event in Indianapolis.


Pieces

Caption: Adam Paarlberg (left) and medical assistant Ngun Tial (right) demonstrate how the live interpreter Martti system works., Credit: CARTER BARRETT/SIDE EFFECTS PUBLIC MEDIA.
Across the United States, there’s a push to give new doctors cultural training to work with refugees and other immigrants. And some say it’s the di...

Bought by WRST-FM Oshkosh, WAMC Northeast Public Radio, and WOUB


  • Added: Sep 13, 2019
  • Length: 03:25
  • Purchases: 3
Caption: Henderson, Ky., was the scene of a scavenger hunt by members of a social group geared toward adults with autism. (L to R) Jesse Hopgood, Rose Schriener and Hannah Hall pose for a selfie as part of the hunt., Credit: ISAIAH SEIBERT, SIDE EFFECTS PUBLIC MEDIA
There’s an endless stream of advice online about how to make friends as an adult. The listicles and blog posts often mention that it’s harder for t...

Bought by WRST-FM Oshkosh, WAMC Northeast Public Radio, and WOUB


  • Added: Sep 13, 2019
  • Length: 03:18
  • Purchases: 3
Caption: A horse and buggy drive through Holmes Co., the heart of Ohio's Amish community., Credit: PAIGE PFLEGER / SIDE EFFECTS PUBLIC MEDIA
One of the healthiest counties in the Midwest is also the least insured. About 40 percent of the people in Holmes County Ohio do not have health in...

Bought by WRST-FM Oshkosh, WAMC Northeast Public Radio, and WOUB


  • Added: Sep 13, 2019
  • Length: 04:05
  • Purchases: 3
Caption: Marilyn Evans stands outside the Women's Med Center of Dayton, where both she and her daughter got abortions., Credit: PAIGE PFLEGER / SIDE EFFECTS PUBLIC MEDIA
"This is the spot," Marilyn Evans says, standing in the empty parking lot of the Women’s Med Center in Kettering, Ohio. The Women's Med Center is ...

  • Added: Jul 16, 2019
  • Length: 04:08
Piece image
Rows of silver and pink plastic packages sit on the bathroom counter inside Bean, a Louisville coffee shop. Each package carries these words: emerg...

Bought by WAMC Northeast Public Radio


  • Added: Jul 16, 2019
  • Length: 03:46
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Protesters gather on Monument Circle to protest Gateway to Work., Credit: CARTER BARRETT/SIDE EFFECTS PUBLIC MEDIA.
Starting July 1, tens of thousands of people who receive health insurance through Indiana’s Medicaid expansion are required to report work hours or...

  • Added: Jul 08, 2019
  • Length: 03:47
Caption: This photograph by Henry Domke of a waterlily has sold more than 150 times to clinics and hospitals nation-wide., Credit: HENRY DOMKE / PHOTO PROVIDED
Domke developed his art into a business. He’s since sold prints for more than 340 installations in hospitals and clinics from Connecticut to Califo...

Bought by WHCP-LP Cambridge


  • Added: Jul 08, 2019
  • Length: 04:23
  • Purchases: 1
Piece image
When José moved his family to the U.S. from Mexico nearly two decades ago, he had hopes of giving his children a better life. But now he worries a...

Bought by WAMC Northeast Public Radio


  • Added: Jun 26, 2019
  • Length: 04:06
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Dr. Jonathan Gottlieb, IU Health's Chief Medical Officer, Credit: LEIGH DENOON
As the opioid epidemic continues, hospitals are looking for new ways to treat pain and combat addiction. At Indiana University Health, which has 16...

  • Added: Jun 26, 2019
  • Length: 04:18
Caption: Karen Simms speaks to a group gathered on Friday, May 17, 2019, at the Champaign Community Coalition's first "violence response forum" at Jericho Missionary Baptist Church in Champaign., Credit: CHRISTINE HERMAN/ILLINOIS PUBLIC MEDIA
Losing a loved one to gun violence can cause anxiety, stress and other mental health symptoms. So can simply living in an environment where violenc...

Bought by WAMC Northeast Public Radio


  • Added: Jun 24, 2019
  • Length: 03:32
  • Purchases: 1