Life in the entertainment community can be stressful and requires great mental and physical energy. What would you do if suddenly "the show must go on" were no longer possible due to your own ill health, or if you had a health-challenged family member or friend? If you're already dealing with such a challenge, are you familiar with the ever-increasing options being created with you in mind?
Back Stage has gathered a list of organizations providing free or low-cost/sliding-scale medical services, educational seminars, and health screenings-most of them in the New York area. We've also found groups focused specifically on aiding the entertainment community, along with hospital outreach programs and respected medical and alternative-medicine sites that are free on the Internet.
B.W.A.Y. Beat
Better Wellness and You (B.W.A.Y.) is a consortium comprised of theatrical union and guild health funds, management organizations, theatrical professionals, and individuals brought together to foster "Wellness." The group was originally spearheaded in 1994 by Harriet Slaughter, director of Labor Relations for the League of American Theatres and Producers, and Dorothy Olim, then secretary-treasurer of the Association of Theatrical Press Agents and Managers (ATPAM), who sought to achieve a greater sensitivity to health awareness-from preventive measures to early detection and treatment.
B.W.A.Y. produces two free Health Fairs each year to the entertainment industry. (The spring fair is Thurs., May 6, noon-5:30 pm, at the Actors' Equity Association Audition Center, 165 W. 46th St., New York, NY, 2nd Fl.) The consortium offers demonstrations and information on both traditional and alternative treatments and therapies. Practitioners screen cholesterol and blood pressure, and provide stress and nutrition information and much more. Among other activities, B.W.A.Y. gives free mammogram vouchers to those who qualify.
B.W.A.Y. is especially proud of its success in jointly launching-with The Actors' Fund of America-the Phyllis Newman Women's Health Initiative. The fund was created in 1996 to address the health concerns affecting women in the entertainment community. Actress-director Phyllis Newman, herself a breast-cancer survivor, created the concept. The initiative addresses conditions including ovarian, breast, and other cancers; domestic violence; anorexia nervosa and bulimia; menopause; and HIV/AIDS.
To be advised of B.W.A.Y. activities, write: Stephanie Coleman, c/o Actors' Fund of America, 729 Seventh Ave., 10th Fl., New York, NY 10019.
For information about the Phyllis Newman Women's Health Initiative, contact: the Actor's Fund of America, 1501 B'way, Ste. 518, NYC; (212) 629-7505.
Since 1882, The Actors' Fund of America has been the only national nonprofit organization providing for the welfare of all entertainment professionals-from the worlds of film, TV, radio, music, opera, dance, and theatre. The fund assists through a wide array of human-service programs (mental health, chemical dependency, senior and disabled programs, not to mention an AIDS Initiative, vocational counseling, supportive housing, and financial assistance).
In 1998 the fund launched the Artists' Health Insurance Resource Center (AHIRC), a significant information resource for the arts community, which is accessible nationwide through The Actors' Fund's website. Fifteen percent of Americans are not covered by health insurance; nationwide that's over 41 million. At least 30 percent of artists are without any kind of health coverage and face unique challenges in obtaining insurance. Visitors to the website's database can access information which is organized state by state-since laws and coverage vary by state. Information includes: individual and group plans, healthcare packages, public-benefit plans, arts associations, what unions and guilds supply, advocacy organizations, and links to other arts resources.
AHIRC, however, is not a place to buy coverage or receive recommendations about specific companies. It does help artists make informed choices and discover a diverse list of artist's resources, relief funds, and foundations. The site was created with major support from the National Endowment for the Arts, and contributions from other organizations. It was, in fact, conceived at a 1994 health-insurance symposium convened by the NEA.
You'll find the Artists' Health Insurance Resource Center website at . For more information about AHIRC or The Actors' Fund of America, call: (212) 221-7300.
The Miller Institute is one of the largest and most comprehensive programs providing healthcare for performing artists in the country. Founded at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center in 1985, with a grant from the Kathryn and Gilbert Miller Fund, the Institute gives general and specialized medical care to musicians, actors, dancers, and singers, as well as to students and those in the allied professions-teachers, coaches, designers, writers, directors, and production crews.
The subsidized care offered includes: the David Berkowitz Memorial Fund for instrumentalists, The Duke Ellington Cancer Screening Center for free cancer-screening services, the Fokine Fund for classical ballet dancers, the Langeloth Fund for uninsured or underinsured performers, and the Solley Fund for active and retired performers over 65. The institute also features specialty care, including hand therapy, pain management, audiology, acupressure and acupuncture, nutrition, music/performance medicine, and much more. It's the only facility in the country that's been custom designed and dedicated to performing-arts medicine. There is a voice laboratory, a sprung floor therapy gym, and an evaluation studio to record performance problems.
The Kathryn and Gilbert Miller Health Care Institute for Performing Artists is located at 425 W. 59th St., Ste. 6A, New York, NY 10019; (212) 523-6200.
Another program with performer's needs in mind is The Institute For Performing And Creative Artists, located at the Postgraduate Center For Mental Health in New York City. Founded in 1982 through the efforts of Gwen Verdon and Bob Fosse, it was originally called the Institute for Performing Artists. It was the first outpatient clinic to provide low-cost psychotherapy and psychoanalysis to New York's performing arts community.
Since 1998 the institute has expanded its services to all creative artists, including actors, dancers, singers, writers, painters, sculptors, directors, producers, musicians, cabaret performers, designers, and photographers. The services include: long- and short-term individual psychotherapy, low-cost psychoanalysis, long- and short-term group psychotherapy, plus special seminars and workshops.
Fees are based on income, on a sliding-scale basis. Medicaid and Medicare are accepted, and most medical-insurance policies will reimburse the individual for treatment fees paid to the clinic. There is an evaluation fee of $50. Individual psychotherapy is $33 and up, low-fee psychoanalysis (three-four sessions per week) is $17 and up, and group psychotherapy is $27 and up.
The Institute For Performing And Creative Artists is at the Postgraduate Center For Mental Health, 124 E. 28th St., New York, NY. To make an appointment, call the intake office at (212) 575-4190.
For more information about the project, call Jennifer Roberts, CSW, coordinator of IPCA at (212) 831-4809.
May is National Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month. More than 200 free screening sites will be set up at shopping malls, schools, and health fairs. To access the locations you can log onto the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology's website: allergy.mcg.edu.
If allergy symptoms make you too uncomfortable to perform or audition, Physician Volunteers for the Arts is a clinic run in New York City by Board-certified allergist and immunologist Dr. Barry Kohn. It is open to all Equity members, as well as to those in the performance community who are getting assistance from The Actors' Fund. The clinic is offered every Tuesday and Thursday, from 1 pm to 5 pm. Dr. Kohn provides general care as well as specialized care for allergies, allergy testing, and allergy shots.
Physician Volunteers for the Arts can be found at The Aurora, 475 W. 57th St., New York, NY. To make an appointment, call: (212) 489-2020, ext. 160; ask for Liz.
Hospitality
When you think of a hospital, is it usually for an emergency, or surgery? Are you visiting family or friends you're seriously concerned about, or in for tests with your nerves on edge? Hospitals are trying to become more accessible and less ominous to communities now, by introducing doctors and programs long before you need them. They provide free community health-lecture series and community outreach through funded, low-cost or sliding-scale treatment and free pre-screening.
Even if you or a loved one already needs care, you may want more options to choose from and as many free or low-cost services as you can find. As a starting point, Back Stage has gathered examples of what's offered in the New York City area. If you don't see your neighborhood hospital listed, or if you live in another area, you can call your local medical center, teaching hospital, etc. and ask about services it might offer that are similar to these. You can also look in newspaper "community bulletin board" sections to find hospital community outreach programs and educational seminars.
Lenox Hill Hospital, through its community outreach activities, offers a full range of preventive and educational health-related services. The hospital's outpatient services-including the Primary Care Center, Children's Center, Ob/Gyn Primary Care for Women, Center for Maternal-Fetal Medicine and the Outpatient Center for Mental Health-offer sliding-scale fees for those patients who qualify. Reduced-fee clinics are also available for AIDS/retroviral disease, orthopedic surgery, plastic surgery, urology, vascular surgery, ophthalmology, otolaryngology, and other subspecialties.
One of Lenox Hill's most visible initiatives is The Health Education Center, which has been used by more than one million people since 1974. Health brochures are available for walk-in clients, on topics ranging from arthritis to cancer to women's health. The center organizes health screenings, which are made available at most major street fairs. Once-a-week free nutrition counseling is also offered at the center, and there is a Health Education Video Library. Information is obtainable, too, via two touch-screen kiosks. One is accessible from the sidewalk, 24-hours-a-day. Another community service is the Tel-Med HealthLine, a free phone service through which the public can access medical and health information 24 hours a day.
Since its inception in 1976, thousands of callers each year have heard over 250 pre-recorded messages approved by the hospital's medical staff. Each tape runs five to nine minutes. To access these, you'll need a brochure listing the 250 touch-tone codes available at the center. To obtain the brochure, either phone the center or mail a request with a self-addressed stamped envelope. Tel-Med HealthLine also provides a SleepLine eight-minute tape for inducing sleep, a Stay Off Smoking HealthLine with daily tips and reinforcements, and a Relaxation Line five-minute tape with basic techniques.
Lenox Hill's Better Health Lecture series draws on the resources and staff of the hospital. Recent topics have included thyroid disease, uterine fibroids, women and heart disease, back pain, chest pain, blood pressure screening, and anxiety disorders screening. Spring events include: Osteoporosis Screening, Thurs., May 20th, 9:30 am-1 pm; "What Every Woman Must Know About Menopause and Osteoporosis," also May 20, at 6 pm; a dental-implants demonstration with individual consultations available, June 21, 9:30 am-1 pm; and exploration of a new approach to Lyme Disease, June 24, at 6:30 pm.
The hospital has a free program for seniors, called Wellness Works, which began in 1998 and blends information with socializing for seniors. Each Wellness Works lecture is presented as part of a tea-time series. The next on June 9, discusses Gastro-Reflux, 1:30-3:30 pm.
Lenox Hill Hospital Health Education Center's address is 1080 Lexington Ave. (at 76th Street), New York, NY; (212) 434-2980. It's open Mon.-Fri., 11 am-4 pm. The Einhorn Auditorium, where many of the seminars are offered, is at 131 E. 76th St., New York, NY (between Park and Lexington avenues).
Call 1-888-LENOX HILL, weekdays, 9 am to 5 pm, to register for the seminars, or to join Wellness Works' senior's education club. The hospital's website is www.lenoxhillhospital.org.
Gotta Dance
The Hospital for Joint Diseases Orthopedic Institute (HJDOI), a member organization of Mount Sinai/New York University Health Services, founded the Harkness Center for Dance Injuries (HCDI) in 1989. The move came in response to the New York dance community's critical need for specialized and affordable health care. The program's creation was financially assisted by the Harkness Foundation for Dance, as a fully functional operational department of HJDOI devoted to prevention and dance-injury treatment. The center's mission is to focus on establishing standards of excellence for dance-medicine practitioners and to enhance the visibility of dance medicine, to assist dancers in financially accessing medical care, and to proactively intervene with the dance community in a preventive manner.
The program's structure focuses on three central areas: the delivery of dance medicine through clinical services, the advancement of dance science through research, and the dissemination of knowledge regarding dance injuries through educational outreach programs. In the area of clinic services, the center offers a variety of medical assistance, including: weekly dance-injury clinics, a state-of-the-arts sports physical therapy center, a 24/7 acute orthopedic care backup facility (called the Immediate Care Center), and several off-site therapy centers.
The goal of HCDI's educational activities is to prevent musculoskeletal injuries and illnesses in dancers and to provide the dance and medical community with the knowledge and skills to properly evaluate and treat injuries. There are lectures and workshops for dancers and dance organizations. Of special interest is a monthly all-day, free-of-charge injury-prevention assessment program to assess risk and discuss dancers' concerns with them before injury occurs. This is the first and only clinic of its kind. Each dancer is seen individually for an hour by a therapist who takes the dancer's complete history, reviews his complaints, and puts him through a battery of screening tests. Each dancer is then given an individually tailored injury-prevention exercise regimen with recommendations on how to modify his technique. Training strategies are offered as well to maximize the potential for wellness. There is financial assistance through a sliding-fee scale, and many insurance policies as well as workers' compensation are accepted.
Harkness Center for Dance Injuries is at 301 E. 17th St., New York, NY; (212) 598-6022.
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center has a Cancer Smart lecture series during the year, on a variety of topics. On Thurs., May 13, 6-8 pm, it presents "Clinical Trials: What You Need to Know." Learn about clinical trials, how to research them, and whether or not you are a candidate. Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center specialists will discuss and explain eligibility at this free Cancer Smart lecture. On Sun., May 23, 4-6 pm, on WEVD-1050 AM, you can tune in to Dr. Barrie Cassileth, chief of the Integrative Medicine Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He'll speak in a live broadcast of "The Group Room," with radio talk-show host Selma Schimmel. On Tues., June 15, 6-8 pm, the center offers "Lung Cancer: What You Don't Know, But Should." During this free community lecture, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center specialists will discuss and explain lung cancer. To register for all lectures call the center.
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center is at 430 E. 67th St., New York, NY; (212) 639-3074.
Gilda's Club-a not-for-profit emotional and social support community for people with all types of cancer and their families and friends-was named in memory of comedienne Gilda Radner, who lost her life to ovarian cancer in 1989. Her experiences led her husband, Gene Wilder, cancer therapist Joanna Bull, and friends of Radner's to create the flagship club in 1995 in New York City. Now there are Gilda's Clubs in Detroit, Florida, Chicago, Ohio, and Nashville. Affiliate clubs in formation now include Bergen County, N.J.; Bucks and Montgomery counties, Pa.; and Westchester County, N.Y.
All lectures, support groups, workshops, and social events are free and available to men, women, and children of all ages. The idea of Gilda's Club is modeled in some particulars on The Wellness Community and the former Center for the Healing Arts, both located in Los Angeles, Calif. A phone call to reserve a space at a New Members Meeting starts the membership process.
In Manhattan, Gilda's Club can be found at 195 W. Houston St., New York, NY; (212) 647-9700.
Until May 29, 1999, the Rite Aid Women's Health Foundation is sponsoring free "Mother's Day Mammograms" for low-income and uninsured women age 40 and older, in 24 states and the District of Columbia. Women who qualify will be referred to a local health-care provider for a free breast-cancer screening.
Call 888-RITE-NOW for more information on The Rite Aid Women's Health Foundation's free "Mother's Day Mammograms."
Knowing the Alternatives
While alternative medicine has been getting more attention and recognition, getting insurance companies to accept many alternative treatments is still difficult. Those looking for more wellness options should know about Healing Works. The organization was founded in 1994 to help provide free holistic/complementary care services to people with little or no disposable income. Its goal is also to educate the community at large about wellness options. Healing Works serves the community in a variety of ways, including: free classes, workshops, and seminars at its wellness center, and matching clients with volunteer HW practitioners for free individual care.
This network of professional practitioners includes the fields of acupuncture, art therapy, and bereavement counseling. Available are energy healers, nutrition experts, social workers, chiropractors, homeopaths, massage therapists, meditation facilitators, psychologists, psychotherapists, and advisors from the medical community. Class schedules are available during the year, with new classes and seminars offered regularly.
Some of the free ongoing classes in the spring schedule include: Yoga, Mondays through May 24, 6:30-8 pm; Basic Meditation, Wednesdays, 7-8:30 pm; and a Reiki Healing Circle, Thursdays, 6:30-8:30 pm. Past seminars have focused on holistic health care for children, T'ai Chi Chuan, Qi Gong, Feldenkrais, etc. No prior experience is required to attend any classes or seminars-but you do need to call at least three days in advance to reserve a space.
Healing Works is always looking to increase its network of volunteer practitioners and finds that actors often have second careers in these fields. The organization is trying to increase its data bank of professional performers willing to perform at Healing Works benefits as well.
Healing Works is at 244 Fifth Ave. (6th Fl.), between 27th and 28th streets, New York, NY. Call (212) 696-9144 to be put on the mailing list for the newest schedule. Website: www.healingworks.org.
Online
Although alternative medicine can involve age-old practices, modern computer technology has made obtaining free information and doing research much easier. Some of the most respected sites include: www.drweil.com for advice from Dr. Andrew Weil and for his monthly newsletter; www.altmedicine.com for Alternative Health News Online, covering topics including naturopathy, homeopathy, herb research, and Ayurveda; www.yogaclass.com/welcome.html for online yoga classes; www.ivillage.com/fitness/tools/yoga for yoga relaxation designed for keyboard users; and www.learningmeditation.com/ for a variety of guided meditations using your computer.
The web can also be used for traditional medicine. Try www.ama-assn.org for the American Medical Association, www.4women.gov for the National Women's Health Information Center, www.drkoop.com for former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop M.D.'s information site, and www.healthyideas.com for Prevention magazine. Other sites of interest are: www.intelihealth.com, www.mediconsult.com, and www.thriveonline.com.
This is by no means a complete list of what's available. If we haven't mentioned an organization that you use, it may have been featured in a previous issue. If you're familiar with an organization that you think should be featured in a future article, write Back Stage about it at 1515 B'way, 14th Fl., New York, NY 10036. Note "Health" on your envelope.