Health

 According to the most recent reports from King County, as of April of this year there are currently more than 7,000 people living with HIV, including AIDS cases, in King County. Those are just the reported cases. Most of the people with HIV in King County are white men between the ages of 20 and 40 years old. That is a different picture than AIDS cases nationally, where more than 50 percent of HIV and AIDS cases are people of color.

David Hyde discusses HIV with Dr. Matt Golden, Director of Public Health at the Seattle & King County HIV/STD Control Program. Plus, hear stories from people who have been diagnosed with HIV.

More Resources

• CDC: 2010 Washington HIV/AIDS Epidemic Breakdown
•  King County Public Health: 2013 Public Health News Releases
• King County Public Health: HIV Surveillance and Epidemiologic Research Program
• Seattle Area Support Groups & Community Center

  Birds do it, Bees do it, comic characters use ZZZZs to do it – it's sleep. Some of us get more sleep than others. Some of us are new parents, and we wonder if we will ever catch up on the sleep we missed. Students are some of the most sleep deprived as well. Will we ever get enough sleep? David Hyde gets the answers from Dr. Sarah Stolz, director of the Swedish Sleep Medicine Program.

Autism is a developmental disorder characterized by social impairment, communication difficulties, repetitive interests or behaviors, and occasional cognitive delays. The number of kids with autism in the United States has skyrocketed in recent years. It's estimated that one in 88 children currently has autism.

Temple Grandin is an activist for autism rights. In her latest book, she talks about genetic research that links brain science and behavior, as well as sharing her own experiences growing up with autism. She spoke at Seattle’s Town Hall on May 20, 2013.

Compared to the rest of the world, Americans take hygiene and cleanliness very seriously. But Dr. Ruchi Gupta, a medical school professor and recent author of a New York Times op/ed article, says Americans are taking cleanliness too far. Dr. Gupta tells David Hyde that not all bacteria are bad, and listeners weigh in on the discussion.

Last October, the National Reproductive Society removed the experimental label from egg freezing. Along with advances to the technology, egg freezing is now available to more women than ever before. Some tout it as the biggest revolution for women’s choice since the birth control pill. Others say the high price tag is prohibitive for most women and could put off real systemic changes needed for women’s rights.

David Hyde talks with Dr. Angela Thyer, founding partner of Seattle Reproductive Medicine, Sarah Elizabeth Richards author of “Motherhood Rescheduled: The New Frontier of Egg Freezing and the Women Who Tried It,” and Jacoba Urist, a journalist for Forbes, NBCNews and The Atlantic.

About a million Washington residents are now without health insurance. Come October, the state hopes to get many of them enrolled in a plan. That’s when Washington’s Health Exchange is scheduled to launch. But signing people up for health insurance is not as easy as it sounds. There’s still a lot of misinformation about Obama’s Affordable Care Act.

 From 2000 to 2009, the number of people diagnosed with skin cancer increased nearly two percent according to the Skin Cancer Foundation. Doctors say much of the rise can be attributed to the mislabeling and misuse of sunscreen. Joining Ross Reynolds to answer your questions on sunscreen and other skin matters is dermatologist Dr. Andrea Kalus, Medical Director of the UW Dermatology Center at Roosevelt.

 Last year the secular Swedish Medical Center stopped performing elective abortions after affiliating with a Catholic health care provider, Providence Health & Services. Now some organizations in Washington state are calling for a moratorium on similar contracts between secular, publicly funded hospitals and religious providers. They fear patients in the state could see a reduction in access to services.

What happens when faith and health care mix? Should the state do anything about it? Ross Reynolds talks with Peter Adler, senior vice president and chief strategy officer for Catholic provider Peacehealth, and Kathleen Turner, head of the ACLU of Washington.

The ACLU is asking Governor Jay Inslee to call for a moratorium on hospital mergers and affiliations for six months.  Many of these partnerships involve faith-based health care providers. The ACLU, along with ten other local organizations, sent a letter to the governor saying they’re worried that these mergers will hurt patients in the long run.

June 2 is National Cancer Survivor Day. But surviving the disease is just one challenge facing cancer patients. A recent study by Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center showed that cancer patients are two-and-a-half times more at risk for filing bankruptcy compared to people without cancer.