Healthy Options | WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives

Host/Producer: Rhonda Feiman Co-producer: Petra Hall Engineering assistance: Joel Mann Rhonda Feiman explores the intersection of healing and music, with singer and energetic healer Amy Robbins Wilson. -How can we soothe our nervous systems through music? -What is chanting, and why is chanting so powerful in affecting the nervous system? -Does music have to be soft and quiet in order to be healing...

Host/Producer: Rhonda Feiman Co-producer: Petra Hall Studio Engineer: Amy Browne Program Topic: Effective techniques to reduce exposure to infectious disease due to influenza and the emergence of the coronavirus Key Discussion Points: 1. What are symptoms of the coronavirus? What are symptoms of the flu? 2. How are viruses and bacteria transmitted from person to person? 3. What are the most import...

Host/Producer: Rhonda Feiman Co-producer: Petra Hall Production assistance: Vic Tredwell & Joel Mann Program Topic: Mindful Eating Key Discussion Points: 1) What does “mindful eating” mean? 2) How can we balance eating for nourishment with eating for enjoyment? 3) Why is it so important to ask the question, “Am I Hungry?” before eating? 4) Why would we eat when we are not hungry?...

Host/Producer: Rhonda Feiman Co-Producer: Petra Hall Studio Engineer: Amy Browne What do we mean when we speak of resilience? What are some simple techniques that we all can practice to become more resilient? How do kids respond to these techniques? How does resiliency training help reduce substance use, misuse, & addiction? How does resiliency training help reduce incidents of bullying? What...

Host/Producer: Rhonda Feiman Co-Producer: Petra Hall Studio Engineer: Amy Browne What does it mean to have an addiction? How can we understand addiction as an illness? What makes it so difficult for society to really understand that addiction is an illness and not a moral failing? How can we learn to address addiction as a family, community, and societal disorder, instead of putting it all just on...

Host/Producer: Rhonda Feiman Co-Producer: Petra Hall Studio Engineer: Amy Browne The power of storytelling, in personal and community-wide healing, and its importance for our social, emotional and physical well-being, especially in areas where communities have been torn apart by difference, or even, in the aftermath of war. Key Discussion Points: What is “civic empathy”? Why is story work such a p...

Host/Producer: Rhonda Feiman Co-Producer: Petra Hall Studio Engineer: John Greenman a) What are the health hazards of browntail moths? b) How can we try to protect ourselves from exposure to the caterpillar’s toxic hairs, which can cause severe skin rashes and respiratory problems? Are there times when exposure to the hairs are more/less of a threat? c) How are browntail moths causing environmenta...

Host/Producer: Rhonda Feiman Co-Producer: Petra Hall Studio Engineer: John Greenman Ticks, Lyme & other tick diseases: The challenges of diagnosing & treating tick-borne illness, with a discussion of resources & support offered through Midcoast Lyme Disease Support & Education Key Discussion Points: a) What are the challenges in diagnosing tick-borne illnesses? b) Is a negative...

Host/Producer: Rhonda Feiman Co-Producer: Petra Hall Studio Engineer: Amy Browne Key Discussion Points: a) What is “persistent Lyme”? b) What are the issues with blood tests which can make them ineffective for diagnosing Lyme disease? c) What are other tick species and tick illnesses that we are seeing in Maine, and what are their symptoms? d) How can we protect ourselves against tick bites, and t...

Wellspring, Inc. and the treatment of substance abuse and addiction Host/Producer: Rhonda Feiman Co-Producer: Petra Hall Engineer: John Greenman Key Discussion Points: a) What is the Wellspring program? b) What have we learned about the “physiology of addiction”? c) Why do we look at addiction as a chronic disease? d) What are specific treatments and techniques used in the residency programs at We...

Music Therapy Host/Producer: Rhonda Feiman Co-Producer: Petra Hall Engineer: John Greenman What is music therapy? Who benefits from music therapy? How does music affect our nervous system? What benefits do we see using music therapy with survivors of stroke, and Alzheimer or dementia patients? Are there techniques we each can use at home to influence and calm our own nervous system, even if we are...

Producer/Host: Rhonda Feiman Production Assistance: Petra Hall Studio Engineer: John Greenman To (Hand)Shake or Not to Shake…? That is the question (and more) which host Rhonda Feiman explores with Dr. Miryam Wahrman, author of The Hand Book: Surviving in a Germ-Filled World. Key Discussion Points: a) What role does the immune system play in keeping us healthy, and how can we stay healthy in...

Producer/Host: Rhonda Feiman Production Assistance: Petra Hall Studio Engineer: John Greenman Financial health and how that relates to all aspects of our well-being. Key Discussion Points: a) How is financial health related to our well being? b) What are the emotional components of financial health? c) How do our earliest lessons about money affect us as adults? d) What is the difference between o...

Producer/Host: Rhonda Feiman Production Assistance: Petra Hall Studio Engineer: Amy Browne Vision Health: Vision therapy techniques to help us improve and maintain excellent vision. Key Discussion Points: a) What is visual health? b) Is it inevitable that our vision deteriorates with age? c) How does stress affect our eyesight? e) How does our posture affect our vision? f) Are there techniques tha...

Producer/Host: Rhonda Feiman Production Assistance: Petra Hall Studio Engineer: John Greenman Creativity: How to maximize our imagination, productivity, and innovation Key Discussion Points: a) What is creativity? b) How are our brains wired for creativity? c) Are each of us unique in the ways our brains process information? d) What are the different brain types and how does each type determine ho...

Producer/Host: Rhonda Feiman Production Assistance: Petra Hall Studio Engineer: Amy Browne The Mind-Body Connection: How emotions and the human spirit may enhance healing Key Discussion Points: How can we tap into our own inner “higher vibrations” and how can that enhance healing? What do we mean by “higher vibrations”? What studies have been done to show the effectiveness of our own healing proce...

Producer/Host: Rhonda Feiman Production Assistance: Petra Hall Studio Engineer: John Greenman TICKS & LYME DISEASE and other co-infections that are now being seen in Maine. Guest: Dr. Beatrice M. Szantyr, medical advisor for MaineLyme, a non-profit dedicated to decreasing Lyme and related tick diseases in Maine. She is also a member of the State of Maine Vector-borne Disease Work Group, the M...

Producer/Host: Rhonda Feiman Co-Producer: Petra Hall Studio Engineer: John Greenman Programs offered by Maine Family Planning and OUT Maine that educate young people to make healthy sexual decisions. Why is it necessary to educate about health sexual decisions? What are some of the programs and information currently available in Maine? What are the issues that are addressed in these programs? Who...

Producer/Host: Rhonda Feiman Co-Producer: Petra Hall Engineer: John Greenman Adverse Childhood Experiences(ACES) and their effects on long term health, brain development and behavior Key Discussion Points: What is an Adverse Childhood Experience? What are we learning about how these experiences effect learning and health? How is learning effected by ACES experiences? Are there ways to help childre...

Producer/Host: Rhonda Feiman Production Assistance: Petra Hall Interview with Florence Williams, author of the book, BREASTS: A Natural and Unnatural History Key Discussion Points: What are the cultural attitudes toward women’s breasts? How do these attitudes translate into how women perceive of themselves and their bodies? What environmental pollutants, toxins and chemicals affect breasts? What c...

Producer/Host: Rhonda Feiman Production Assistance: Petra Hall Studio Engineer: John Greenman Maine Family Planning -Reproductive health -Family planning -Women’s health access Guests: Julie A. Jenkins, CNP, Maine Family Planning Cait Vaughan, Community Organizer, Maine Family Planning FMI: mainefamilyplanning.org The post Healthy Options 2/7/18 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Main...

Producer/Host: Rhonda Feiman Production Assistance: Petra Hall Studio Engineer: John Greenman Radon and other Indoor Air Quality Dangers Guest: Kurt Johnson, past president and current board member of the Maine Indoor Air Quality Council maineindoorair.org, and a Certified Residential Mechanical Ventilation Designer and Installer www.freshairventilation.com Key Discussion Points: a) What is radon,...

Producer/Host: Rhonda Feiman Production Assistance: Petra Hall Engineer: Amy Browne Healing ourselves through nature: The Nature Fix- Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative Key Discussion Points: Why do you say that “being in nature makes us more human”? What have we discovered about being in nature that helps the immune system? How does noise pollution affect our health and wel...

Producer/Host: Rhonda Feiman Co-Producer: Petra Hall Engineer: Joel Mann Building Resiliency to Trauma: The Trauma and Community Resiliency Models a) What is the Trauma Resource Institute? b) What is the Trauma Resiliency Model? c) What is the Community Resiliency Model? d) How does trauma or stress affect the nervous system? e) Is there a way to regulate the nervous system even when there is trau...

Producer/Host: Rhonda Feiman Co-Producer: Petra Hall Engineer: Amy Browne Techniques to protect your brain and body from the effects of STRESS 1) How does stress affect us? 2) What is the role of melatonin in helping us cope with stress? 3) Why is it important not to “relax” after a stressful experience? 4) What is the relationship between our eyes and stress? 5) Why is diet so important in healin...