Mental Health

Ten-year-old Jake Herrera and his Los Angeles team run around the diamond as a warmup for baseball practice.

Benefits Of Sports To A Child's Mind And Heart All Part Of The Game

5:53pm September 04, 2015

by Patti Neighmond

In NPR's most recent poll, a majority of American adults say they played sports in their youth. Many say they encourage their kids to play, too, and see health benefits as well as lifelong lessons.

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How Likely Is It, Really, That Your Athletic Kid Will Turn Pro?

10:01am September 04, 2015

by Anders Kelto

More than a quarter of parents in a recent poll say they hope their teens who play high school sports will become professional athletes. But sky-high parental expectations can have a dark side.

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Illinois Rep. Louis Lang, D-Skokie speaks with colleagues on the House floor after the passage of a veto override on his heroin bill at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield.

Illinois House Leaders Override Governor's Veto On Heroin Addiction Bill

1:32pm September 03, 2015

by David Schaper

Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner partially vetoed the Heroin Crisis Act, which would have cleared the way for Medicaid to fund addiction treatments.

Medical student Karen Duong worked in Hereford, Texas, with Dr. Akinyele Lovelace, an instructor with the University of North Texas Health Science Center's rural medical education program.

Texas Strives To Lure Mental Health Providers To Rural Counties

2:17pm September 02, 2015

by Lauren Silverman

In a state where 185 of 254 counties have no psychiatrist, how do you get students to want to become one — and then go to work in underserved areas? A loan repayment program may not be enough.

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California Moves To Stop Misuse Of Psychiatric Meds In Foster Care

12:02pm September 02, 2015

by Elaine Korry

There's ample evidence that children in foster care often get powerful psychiatric medications when other treatments would be safer and more effective. But those treatments can be hard to get.

Oliver Sacks was an author, physician and a professor of neurology at the New York University School of Medicine.

Oliver Sacks: A Neurologist At The 'Intersection Of Fact And Fable'

7:52am September 01, 2015

The neurologist, who died Sunday, saw "infinitely moving, dramatic, romantic situations" during his decades studying the human brain. Fresh Air remembers Sacks with two interviews from 1985 and 2012.

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Renowned British neurologist and author Oliver Sacks, pictured in London in 1983, died Sunday of cancer. He was 82.

Health & Safety

Oliver Sacks Was A Boundless Explorer Of The Human Brain

5:05pm August 31, 2015

by Jon Hamilton

Oliver Sacks, the acclaimed British-American neurologist and author, has died of cancer at the age of 82.

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Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, has been used for decades as a painkiller in the operating room.

How The Prescription Painkiller Fentanyl Became A Street Drug

11:23am August 28, 2015

by Nadia Whitehead

The synthetic opioid fentanyl is used for surgery and to treat severe pain. Abuse has always been a problem. Now that it's being used to cut heroin, the risk of overdose or death has soared.

Heroin sold in the U.S., like this dose confiscated in Alabama last fall, is often cut with other drugs.

Illicit Version Of Painkiller Fentanyl Makes Heroin Deadlier

3:28pm August 27, 2015

by Fred Bever

U.S. drug officials have traced a sharp spike in the already climbing death toll from heroin overdoses to an additive — acetyl fentanyl. The fentanyl is being cooked up in clandestine labs in Mexico.

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University Medical Center New Orleans on Aug. 1, when the $1 billion facility welcomed its first patients.

Katrina Shut Down Charity Hospital But Led To More Primary Care

2:44pm August 26, 2015

by Patti Neighmond

More than 70 percent of New Orleans residents say some progress has been made in the availability of medical services since the storm. Still, most say care for the poor continues to lag.

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