Dr. Michael Rich
, Director of CMCH, “has been asking young people to create
their own video narratives so doctors could better understand what it’s like to live
with a chronic disease. Through a project called Video Intervention/Prevention Assessment, Rich has sent 36 of his patients
home with video cameras and an order to film everything — their homes, their schools and their daily activities.”



» Hear the broadcast, see the full story, and see video

“Several members of the US House of Representatives joined the American Academy of Pediatrics in urging the music
industry to offer more information in the parental advisory label that appears on recordings with explicit content.”




Dr. Michael Rich
, a member of the AAP Committee on Public Education who testified for the Academy, commented “As a pediatrician who specializes in adolescent medicine, I am keenly aware of how crucial
music is to a teen’s identity, and how it helps them define important social and interpersonal behaviors.
In fact, one study showed that 24% of high school students ranked popular music as one of their top three sources
for guidance on social interaction.”


Dr. Rich continued, “The current system of parental advisory labels provides inadequate information for parents to make appropriate choices for their children.
To disclose the content of their product is not a violation of rights, but truth in advertising.”

According to the revised Media Violence policy statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics, “playing violent video
games accounts for a 13% to 22% increase in adolescent’s violent behavior.”

Dr. Michael Rich
, a member of the AAP Committee on Public Education who helped write the policy statement, commented “There are many
demands made on pediatricians’ time. Media is just one of the things we have to
introduce to families…we should at least let parents know to pay attention to their children’s media exposure.”

“The televised images of hijacked planes making their deadly arcs on Sept. 11 gave parents a special worry:
how would their children react to the sight of the planes plowing, over and over, into the twin towers?
Some may have breathed a sigh of relief to hear recent reports that many kids were less
upset than had been expected.” Dr. Michael Rich
is not relieved.


“I think the reason kids aren’t bothered that much by the recent images is they’re desensitized,” he said. “We don’t know how this is
going to play itself out. Will it show itself in hopelessness and depression years later?”




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Dr. Michael Rich, Director of CMCH, represented the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Public Education at a Senate forum on July 26, 2001, where he testified on how sexually explicit media impact young people.

“’Young people tell me that the media is one of their leading sources of information about sex,’ said Dr. Rich. ‘Each year television and movies offer 14,000 sexual portrayals, of which only 165 deal with risks of pregnancy, HIV, or other STDs.’”

» See Dr. Rich’s Bio

Dr. Michael Rich was invited to Capitol Hill to testify before Congress about entertainment ratings and how sexually explicit media affects children’s health.
» See Dr. Rich’s Bio

Dr. Michael Rich, Director of Video Intervention/Prevention Assessment (VIA) at CMCH answers questions about his career transition from filmmaker to pediatrician, what he’s learned by giving videocameras to his patients, and what one change he would make in medicine.

“In a perfect world, doctors know a lot about the science of treating asthma in children. But children with asthma live in the real world – where doctors can’t always control what they do or the circumstances of their lives.”

Dr. Michael Rich, director of Video Intervention/Prevention Assessment (VIA) at CMCH uses videotapes created by his patients to learn how their chronic illness is managed in real life.

“’What I do is hand a patient a video camcorder and say, teach me about asthma,’ Rich says. ‘I can tell them what the science says about asthma. What I cant tell them is what it does to them and their lives.’”

In a recent 100 page report, the Alliance for Childhood says that the educational value of computers for children is
an “untested premise.” The group has urged a comprehensive examination by the surgeon general on the “physical, emotional, and developmental
hazards computers may pose, and an immediate moratorium on their further introduction in early childhood and elementary education.”

Dr. Michael Rich
commented “It’s absolutely correct that there’s no substantive evaluation on whether computers are a good, bad, or neutral
thing in the classroom, but a moratorium is not feasible.”

He continued, “I worry about intruding on childhood with a machine that says, ‘there’s a right and wrong answer, and we’ll sit you down until we get the right answer.'”

“Medical histories can be rather dry affairs: a doctor at a desk interviews a patient while filling out a dorm. Suppose instead the patients recorder their medical histories, using videotape shot at home, outdoors, everywhere – and could take a few weeks to do the job.”

Dr. Michael Rich, director of Video Intervention/Prevention Assessment (VIA) at CMCH has had his patients do just that.

» Go to VIA website