Revitalizing Catskills Communities

Photo by New York Suburban Homes on Unsplash New York State has been providing funds for villages, towns and cities to revitalize their communities. A couple years ago, Roxbury received some of these funds and now Margaretville and Stamford have had their proposals funded. Lissa Harris wrote much of Margaretville’s proposal for the Mark Project for what is now called NY Forward. She’s also the outreach coordinator for the HUBB, an initiative under the umbrella of the MARK Project that works on increasing people’s access to free community programs. HealthCetera producer and host, Diana Mason, RN, talked with Harris about both initiatives and how community members can be engaged with them. This interview first aired on WIOX Radio on August 12, 2026. The post Revitalizing Catskills Communities appeared first on HealthCetera.

Photo by Gizem Nikomedi on Unsplash GLP-1s are all the rage these days, helping obese people to lose weight and improve their health. Everyday, there seems to be a new report on other benefits of GLP-1s, including helping people with longstanding addictions to reduce their substance use. As the popularity of these medications spreads and insurance companies cover some of their costs, questions are arising about whether they are safe and effective in older adults. Liz Seegert is a freelance journalist who writes about aging issues, including for the Association for Health Care Journalists (AHCJ), where she writes on aging issues and how to cover them. She is also a HealthCetera Correspondent on aging issues. In July, she wrote a column for AHCJ on GLP-1s with Joseph Burns. HealthCetera producer and host, Diana Mason, RN, talked with Seegert about GLP-1s and their use by older adults. This interview first aired on WIOX Radio on August 5, 2026. The post GLP-1s and Older Adults appeared first on HealthCetera.

Photo by Troy T on Unsplash Cigarette smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States. Over 2/3 of those adults who smoke want to quit and more than half try to do so in any given year; but only 1 in 10 will be successful. Nicotine e-cigarettes were designed to help people to stop smoking cigarettes but their use for withdrawing from regular cigarettes has been controversial, as some argue it perpetuated the nicotine addiction that cigarettes induce and with its own set of toxins. And an additional concern has been that youth, in particular, may be taking up e-cigarettes and quickly get addicted to nicotine. JAMA, the official publication of the AMA, just published evidence-based recommendations about the use of e-cigarettes from a working group within the Treatment Research Network of the International Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco on July 30th. In that same issue of JAMA, Dr. Jamie Hartmann-Boyce, DPhil, Associate Professor in Health Policy and Management at University of Massachusetts Amherst, wrote an editorial about the recommendations on the use of e-cigarettes for smoking cessation. HealthCetera Producer and Host, Diana Mason, PhD, RN, talked with Dr. Hartman-Boyce about e-cigarettes, their use for smoking cessation, and the evidence on whether people should be concerned about using e-cigarettes, including teens. This interview first aired on WIOX Radio on August 12, 2026. The post E-Cigarettes and Smoking Cessation appeared first on HealthCetera.

Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash Margaretville Hospital is taking advantage of its affiliation with Health Alliance of the Hudson Valley, a network of health care services that is part of WMC Health, by tapping specialists in Kingston to come to Margaretville to provide outpatient specialty services. One of these specialists is Elly Wagner, PA-C, a women’s health physician assistant. HealthCetera producer and host, Diana Mason, RN, talked with Elly Wagner about the role of physician assistants/associates and top-line issues in women’s health, particularly for older women who may think they are done with gynecological care. This interview first aired on WIOX Radio on August 5, 2026. The post Women’s Health at Every Age appeared first on HealthCetera.

Photo by Unseen Studio on Unsplash Congress passed HR.1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, last year and President Trump signed it into law in July. It requires people on Medicaid to meet certain work requirements or lose their coverage. Several states had already put such a rule into place and one would think that Congress and the President would pay attention to the experiences these states had. Georgia is one state that did so and Dr. Blake McGee, RN, Associate Professor of Nursing at Augusta University, has studied that state’s experience. He’s also a fellow in the Betty Irene Moore Fellowship for Nurse Leaders and Innovators at the University of California at Davis. HealthCetera producer and host, Dr. Diana Mason, RN, talked with Dr. Blake about Georgia’s experience with work requirements and the implications for the federal mandate for Medicaid work requirements. This interview first aired on WIOX Radio on July 29, 2026. The post Medicaid Work Requirements appeared first on HealthCetera.

Photo by Thomas Loizeau on Unsplash The Reporter is a newspaper covering the Catskill region, with a focus on Delaware County. Joan Lawrence Bauer, a reporter for The Reporter, talks with HealthCetera producer and host, Diana Mason, RN, about two topics she is reporting on for the newspaper: 1) an annual tour of artists’ studios in SouthEastern Delaware County, and 2) the fourth agreement between New York City and local communities on the Watershed that protects NYC’s water supply from the Catskill region and has become controversial because of “land swaps” that could see a rise in solar fields in the region. This interview first occurred on WIOX Radio on July 29, 2026. The post Arts and the Catskills Watershed appeared first on HealthCetera.

Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash Mental health problems have worsened in the United States, worsening since the COVID pandemic. It’s particularly a problem among young people, as they appear to be experiencing higher rates of anxiety and depression, among other problems. It’s crucial for local communities to examine how to promote mental health and how to ensure that people with mental health problems are about to get the help they need. But local communities often lack the resources to ensure that they have robust mental health services. They depend upon funding from the federal government and they depend upon their state for both funding and policies that can support community efforts on mental health. NAMI is the National Alliance on Mental Illness, a nonprofit organization that provides advocacy, education, and other support for people affected by mental illness. HealthCetera producer and host, Diana Mason, RN, talked with James Norton, the Government & Community Affairs Manager for NAMI New York State about what happened, or didn’t happen, around mental health issues in the NYS legislative session that ended on June 6th. This interview first aired on HealthCetera in the Catskills on July 22, 2026, on WIOX Radio. The post Mental Health Policy in New York appeared first on HealthCetera.

Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash In 2015, the Primary Care Development Corporation conducted an analysis of primary care capacity in counties in New York State. Delaware County in the Catskill region of the state was found to be a primary care desert. Since that time, Margaretville Hospital, a critical access hospital that is part of Health Alliance of the Hudson Valley and WMCHealth, has worked to build primary care in the region. Among the new providers at the hospital’s primary care practice is family nurse practitioner, Erin Black, MSN, FNP. HealthCetera producer and host Diana Mason, RN, talked with Erin about her work in primary care and health care in general. This interview first aired on July 22, 2026, on HealthCetera in the Catskills on WIOX Radio. The post Primary Care in the Catskills appeared first on HealthCetera.

Photo by Curology on Unsplash You may know someone who has had a horrible gastrointestinal illness with “explosive diarrhea” with no obvious cause. Well, it may be cyclosporiasis that is spreading throughout the country. HealthCetera producer and host Dr. Diana J. Mason, RN, talks with Dr. Luis Marcos, MD, a Professor of Medicine in the Renaissance School of Medicine at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and Director for the Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program at Stony Brook Medicine about cyclosporiasis, itssymptoms and treatment, and how to prevent it. This interview first aired on HealthCetera in the Catskills on WIOX Radio on July 15, 2026. The post The Spread of Cyclosporiasis appeared first on HealthCetera.

Photo by Hakan Nural on Unsplash The misinformation and disinformation about vaccines has been on the rise, particularly since the COVID pandemic and, more recently, since Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. assumed the position of U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Trump Administration. KFF is a nonprofit health policy research, polling and news organization that recently conducted a national poll to look at whether the public has embraced myths about vaccines that are based on this misinformation. HealthCetera producer and host Diana J. Mason, PhD, RN, discusses the poll and its findings with Alex Montero, PhD, Senior Survey Analyst for Public Opinion and Survey Research at KFF. This interview first aired on HealthCetera in the Catskills on WIOX radio on July 15, 2026. The post Misinformation & Disinformation About Vaccines appeared first on HealthCetera.