Rick Mayer
Health News FloridaI’m the online producer for Health News Florida, a collaboration of public radio stations and NPR that delivers news about health care issues.
This is an important position at WUSF. In 2019, the typical U.S. family spent about 11 percent of its annual income on health care, so it stands to reason issues of cost, quality, access and innovation are consequential to all Floridians. Then COVID-19 came along, and the weight of these matters gained exponentially. I take our reporting on these topics quite seriously, as I’m sure you do, too.
Literally growing up in newsrooms and a little serendipity along the way prepared me well for the post. Here’s the abridged version: I’m a Tampa guy, graduating from H.B. Plant High and thrust into the world with my USF degree rolled tightly in hand. From there, it was three mostly sleepless decades as an editor at The Tampa Tribune, then developing and managing an online journal serving physician executives. There’s also my side job editing a statewide health magazine.
And being married to a longtime hospital nurse/case manager helps; dinner conversation often gives me a feel of what’s happening on the front lines. The good and not-so-good.
Of course, my time isn’t always spent flailing in the health news vortex. You’re actually more likely to find me breaking down the Bucs, Bulls or Bolts after a game, taking Oodle the poodle to the dog park or tinkering the backroom piano while vicariously reliving my former life as a musician. (Remember, kids: Parents of percussionists have plenty of patience. Plenty!)
Contact Rick on Twitter @rmayer2361 or by email at Mayer1@wusf.org.
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Joe Biden's pick for the post next goes to a floor vote, but not before committee Chair Bernie Sanders tried to tie it to reducing the cost of prescription drugs.
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The state reported the most cases of the summer, although numbers remain far lower than in the previous three summers. Also, the state had 90,232 reported resident deaths due to the virus. -
A 2022 law allows local governments to create smoking zones and fines, enact stricter laws on butt disposal and outright bans. Cities and counties previously lacked that authority. -
Sepsis occurs when the body responds improperly to an infection and causes organs to work poorly. More than 350,000 Americans die from sepsis each year. -
The health department says 26 cases of Vibrio vulnificus have been confirmed statewide this year, with two deaths in Hillsborough County, and one each in Pasco, Polk and Sarasota counties. -
The case involves the parasite Plasmodium falciparum, which can cause more severe illness than the P. vivax strain found this summer in Florida. -
The lawsuit alleges the hack was preventable and that the hospital “exacerbated the harm” by failing to notify those affected until “months” after the attack. -
From 2015 to 2020, about 20 percent of the reported U.S. cases were in Florida, and 81 percent of those cases were in Central Florida, according to a research letter released by the CDC.
