On Call with the Prairie Doc® is a one-hour live medical questions program. The Prairie Doc® and the show’s guests discuss relevant medical issues and answer questions from callers. This year marks the program's 16th season! The show is produced on the campus of SDSU, and Journalism students get real-life experience working on the television set.
Prairie Doc® Assistants
The Prairie Doc® Assistant ship is the newest addition to the Healing Words Family. Prairie Doc Assistant are pre-med students who are interested in learning more about the medical field. They help answer phones during On Call with the Prairie Doc® and get to sit and discuss medical topics with the show's guest before the live broadcast. The summer of 2015 marked the first Prairie Doc® Assistants Medical Mission Trip to Nicaragua.
Prairie Doc® Radio
"Prairie Doc Radio®" started 25 years ago and remains a 30-minute live radio show. Callers across the listening area ask questions about health and wellness topics. It’s KBRK’s most popular locally-produced program.
Prairie Doc® After Hours
After the program time for On Call, the Prairie Doc® and guests continue to answer questions from viewers that they didn't talk about during the live portion of the show. After Hours is live streamed to our website and recorded for future reference.
Prairie Doc® Conversations
Prairie Doc® Conversations is a one-minute medical segment. It's broadcast as a public service or though local business sponsors on radio stations across South Dakota each week. The Prairie Doc and guests from On Call with the Prairie Doc provide quick health information to audiences.
Prairie Doc® Perspectives
The Prairie Doc® Perspective is a series of essays written by the medical editor of On Call with the Prairie Doc®. Newspapers across the state publish the essays weekly.
Complicated name for simple disease By Richard P. Holm, MD “How ya doin’?” I asked as I walked into the room. Mrs. X was an 80-something year old widow, generally active and happy, living in her home with her dog, and with family nearby. Her response this morning, however was, “Not so good. That darn old Arthur has been visiting over this last month and he just won’t leave,” she replied. “In fact, it’s getting worse.” The new discomfort was a symmetrical neck, shoulder, and hip stiffness, resulting in trouble getting out of a chair, climbing stairs, and combing her hair. “I can’t sleep at night, and then I’m just so stiff in the morning,” she said. Thinking that this might represent a fancy-named condition that commonly afflicts the elderly called Polymyalgia Rheumatica or PMR, I had the laboratory draw an inflammation marker called erythrocyte sedimentation rate or sed. rate. Making sure this isn’t a vision-destroying condition called Giant Cell Arteritis, I asked if she had any change of vision, pain in the temple regions of the head, or pain with chewing; she said no. It is important to ask about these symptoms because blindness can be prevented if Giant Cell Arteritis is diagnosed. There were no temple pains or chewing symptoms, but her sed. rate was sky high, which along with her story, confirmed my suspicions of PMR. This is one of those wondrous diagnoses about which we can make a huge difference, and so we treated her with daily 10mg low-dose prednisone. When I saw her three weeks later, she was back to her usual self, working in her yard, smiling easily, and giving me back all sorts of fun guff. PMR occurs more often in people of northern European extraction, and we should expect 50 cases per 100,000, or maybe 15 to 25 new cases in the Brookings and the surrounding area every year. It happens a bit more frequently in women than men, almost never before the age of 50, with most cases starting around the age of 70 or 80. We don’t know why PMR develops, but suspect it follows a certain kind of viral infection in a genetically predisposed individual. Some experts believe that PMR and Giant Cell Arteritis are simply different levels of severity of the same disease, and both can be successfully treated once diagnosed. So if you start noticing terrible morning neck, shoulder, and hip stiffness, then you might greatly benefit by a visit to your doctor.