Rick Mayer
Digital ProducerI’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.
-
The plan is for health departments in all 67 counties to have kits with two Narcan nasal sprays that can be administered without a health care provider. -
The last place in the nation you’ll want to take a stroll: the Daytona Beach area, according to Smart Growth America’s "Dangerous by Design" report covering 2016 to 2020. Six other regions in Florida didn't fare very well, either.
-
Proponents say the number will be easier to remember or dial in a crisis. They also hope it improves access to services, decreases unnecessary interactions with the police and saves lives.
-
Orlando Health Wiregrass Ranch Hospital is slated for the Wiregrass Ranch community in Wesley Chapel, just north of Tampa. An opening date has not been announced.
-
A number of counties across the greater Tampa Bay region are at a high risk of transmission with case counts as high as they’ve been since mid-February, part of a national surge arriving ahead of the Memorial Day holiday.
-
Health officials says the risk of transmission remains low.
-
Center for COVID Control, which closed its Florida sites in January after receiving complaints about questionable results, is accused of deceptively marketing testing services and violating Oregon’s Unlawful Trade Practices Act.
-
The switch from weekly reports was made public Friday afternoon through a meme on the Twitter account on department Press Secretary Jeremy Redfern.
-
Nationally, more than 90% of the U.S. population is in a location with low or medium COVID-19 community level, the CDC said.
-
The researchers say lockdowns had no noticeable effect on COVID mortality and had a "devastating effect" on economies and social ills.
