Happy Independence Day!

I wonder if our founding fathers would have envisioned this? Congratulations to our new Americans!

A Silent Epidemic

Risk is the potential that a chosen action or activity (including the choice of inaction) will lead to a loss (an undesirable outcome). The notion implies that a choice having an influence on the outcome exists (or existed). Potential losses themselves may also be called "risks". Almost every human endeavor carries some risk, but some are much more risky than others.

And that's why I'll continue to say: STAY OUT OF THE HOSPITAL!

Of course, they'll be circumstances when being admitted to a hospital is beyond your control, but in many instances, by living a healthy lifestyle and being aware of, and avoiding unnecessary risks, a visit to the hospital can often be prevented.

Being admitted to a hospital carries a significant amount of risk.

Medical advances have brought lifesaving care to patients in need, yet many of those advances come with a risk of HAI. Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are infections that patients acquire during the course of receiving healthcare treatment for other conditions. These infections related to medical care can be devastating and even deadly.

A Silent Epidemic is about the many lives that have been impacted by hospital-acquired infections, as well as sepsis, and what can be done to bring an end to this silent epidemic. It is also not in any way an attack on the medical field; it is rather a calling to all people that there are a number of things that can be done to prevent HAIs if we work together.


Healthcare-Associated Infections: A Silent Epidemic from Emily Croke on Vimeo.

The Forest | A Short Film

Antonia is a 12 year old girl. She often has daydreams in which she wonders off into a magical forest far away, where she escapes from the problems of the real world. One day, however, her father takes drastic measures and she has to face a tough decision.


Source: The Forest Website

Blood Brother | A Documentary

Blood Brother is the story of a group of children infected with HIV, and Rocky Braat, a disenchanted young American that met them while drifting through India.

Rocky wanted to save all the children, but in reality he couldn’t cure even one of them. He had to stay. It’s a hard life. He faces opposition in many forms. He lives in a concrete hut. Sometimes, he is close to despair. The truth is, he needs them as much as they need him. They teach him, daily, that love is the only thing that makes life worth living.

The full documentary is coming Fall 2012. Here's the trailer -


Blood Brother Trailer from Blood Brother on Vimeo and Blood Brother Film

PBS Frontline | Endgame: AIDS in Black America

A PBS FRONTLINE special presentation, ENDGAME: AIDS in Black America, is a groundbreaking two-hour exploration of one of the country's most urgent, preventable health crises.

Airing July 10th, the film traces the history of the epidemic through the experiences of extraordinary individuals who tell their stories: people like Nel, a 63-year-old grandmother who married a deacon in her church and later found an HIV diagnosis tucked into his Bible; Tom and Keith, survivors who were children born with the virus in the early 1990s; and Jovanté, a high school football player who didn't realize what HIV meant until it was too late.

From Magic Johnson to civil rights pioneer Julian Bond, from pastors to health workers, people on the front lines tell moving stories of the battle to contain the spread of the virus, and the opportunity to finally turn the tide of the epidemic. Here's the trailer -

PBS POV | Granito: How to Nail a Dictator

In a stunning milestone for justice in Central America, a Guatemalan court recently charged former dictator Efraín Rios Montt with genocide for his brutal war against the country's Mayan people in the 1980s — and Pamela Yates' 1983 documentary, "When the Mountains Tremble", provided key evidence for bringing the indictment.

Granito: How to Nail a Dictator, a documentary by Pamela Yates, Paco de Onís, and Peter Kinoy, tells the extraordinary story of how a film, aiding a new generation of human rights activists, became a granito — a tiny grain of sand — that helped tip the scales of justice. Here's the trailer -


Related Link: Guatemala: The Secret Files

The Gate | A Short Film

In today’s global environment, it doesn’t matter where you live in the world, everyone is at risk from soulless bastards selling unsafe pharmaceuticals. Counterfeit drugs defraud consumers and deny patients therapies that can alleviate suffering and save lives.

Unfortunately, in some cases, these drugs have caused great harm and fatalities.


THE GATE from Joyrider Films on Vimeo. | Hat tip: Short of the Week

Don't become a victim when buying drugs online! Using just one of the thousands of Internet sites that are anything but legitimate pharmacies can become a prescription for disaster.

Do your homework first. Visit the Partnership For Safe Medicines and learn how to find the safest online pharmacies and recognize the warning signs of a rogue online pharmacy with their tipsheet.