October 2016 – KAREN PRICE FREELANCE

I’ve been working on a few stories for the upcoming issue of Trib Total Media’s Caregiver magazine and the theme for the winter issue is technology. In my research for story ideas I came across a blog called The Medical Futurist that is full of information on the latest advancements in health and medical technology. It’s fascinating if a bit over my head at times, but I came across something he wrote on handheld food scanners. After doing some research I pitched it as one of the stories for the issue and last week interviewed Isabel Hoffman, the CEO of Tellspec, a Canadian company that’s developing a handheld scanner for consumer use that will be available in early 2017.

The scanner is a spectrometer that uses cloud-based analytics to identify things such as calories, nutrients and contaminants. Initially, the scanner will be most beneficial to diabetics in order to accurately track sugar, carbs, glycemic index, etc., as well as people who are committed to eating clean. Ultimately they hope to expand the technology in order for users to be able to scan for allergens, etc., but their long-range goals are much loftier. They hope to spark of a vital change in how people eat and our ability as consumers to eliminate harmful chemicals and contaminants from our diets. I can’t wait to watch as this story unfolds over the coming months.

I also completed a few more stories for the Team USA site including a feature on figure skater Ashley Wagner, who, at the age of 25 is skating better than she has at any point in her career. She ended up winning the Skate America competition over the weekend, and it’s always nice when the athlete or team you feature in a preview is successful.

Last week I got to speak with Jodie Potter, a runner from Philipsburg, Pa., for a story for P3R’s charity newsletter (P3R is Pittsburgh Three Rivers Marathon, the folks who produce the Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon, GNC Live Well Liberty Mile and EQT 10-Miler, among other great races). Jodie is a fundraiser for the Emily Whitehead Foundation, which I highly recommend you check out if you’re looking for something to support. Emily is a little girl who was diagnosed with cancer at the age of five. She’s now 11 and has been cancer-free for more than four years thanks to T-Cell therapy, and was actually the first child in the world to receive the treatment. You can read all about her story on the website:

http://emilywhiteheadfoundation.org

Jodie’s daughter was in the same kindergarten class as Emily when she was diagnosed. It already hit too close to home, but not long after the Potters world would truly shift when their 2-year-son was diagnosed with lymphoma. Like Emily, Corben is also now cancer-free. Jodie and I had a great talk, and the interview was wrapping up. She’d answered all my questions and we were just chatting about running in general and its usefulness in times of stress. I wasn’t even taking notes when she said something I didn’t need to write down in order for it to stick with me.

She said, “Going out on a hot day or a cold day or a snowy day is nothing compared to having to sit with your son in the crib getting chemotherapy, so I’m thankful for the opportunity to get out and do that so another mom doesn’t have to.”

Wow.

As a writer, it was a great reminder that sometimes you need to go with the flow, and while prepared questions are vital, it’s also important to have a conversation with the person you’re talking to. Get to know them, so your audience can, too.

I also did a FaceTime interview with the top-ranked women’s cyclist and 2016 Olympian in the world last week. She was in Doha, Qatar, getting ready for the UCI Road World Championships.

Megan Guarnier feature for TeamUSA.org

One last interview of note was with Dr. Vonda Wright, the well-known orthopedic surgeon, fitness guru and expert on healthy living and aging and women’s health. She has an exciting conference coming up called Women’s Health Conversations, so we chatted about who should attend (women! all women!) and what they expect to get out of it. I’ll circle back with the link once it’s up.

In the meantime, here’s the website:

http://womenshealthconversations.com

Month: October 2016

Week in review 10/24

Week in review 10/17