Since first airing in 1981, Family Health®
has grown to encompass a network of 280 radio stations and reaches
11 million listeners daily in the United States. In addition,
the series is heard worldwide on the U.S. Armed Forces Radio Network.
Radio stations receive the programs monthly, free of charge,
on a compact disc.
The host of Family Health® is Harold
C. Thompson III, D.O., assistant professor of emergency medicine
at the Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine, became
the host of Family Health® in January 1999. Dr. Thompson,
for many years a staff member at the emergency department at O’Bleness
Memorial Hospital in Athens, Ohio, is now part of the Express
Care team of the University Medical Associates. He is a graduate
of the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine, and previously
practiced as a family physician in Nelsonville, Ohio. He also
has served as director of OU-COM’s Center of Excellence
in Multicultural Medicine.
The series is a service of the College
of Osteopathic Medicine and the Center
For Public Media at Ohio
University. Utilizing the Center's facilities, the programs
are recorded, edited, and mastered by producer Don Bilski. Carl
J. Denbow, Ph.D., OU-COM director of communication, is the project
director for the series. Production and distribution are funded
in part with support from the American
Osteopathic Association, the American
College of Osteopathic Family Physicians, the Brentwood
Foundation, the
Ohio Osteopathic Foundation, the American
College of Osteopathic Surgeons, Pfizer
and
The
Ohio Chapter of
American College of
Osteopathic Family Physicians.