October 11, 2001
Lifetime series features UW ‘Women Docs’
By Craig Degginger
HS News & Community Relations
Four UW physicians are featured prominently in this week’s episode of “WomenDocs,” a new Lifetime Television series. The series, which began Aug. 11, shows the daily lives of women physicians across the country as they balance professional, family and personal interests.
The episode, which will air on Saturday, Oct. 13, at 10 p.m. on Lifetime, is the first of three filmed earlier this year at UW Medical Center, Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center, and Harborview Medical Center. Air dates for the other programs have not been announced.
The program features orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Nancy Kadel, obstetrician/gynecologist Dr. Edith Cheng, obstetrician/gynecologist Dr. Amy Van Blaricom, and pediatric cardiologist Dr. Maully Shah.
True Entertainment, the producers of “WomenDocs,” followed the physicians around equipped only with handheld cameras, documenting their daily routines over a two-month period. Consents were signed by patients who were filmed.
“It was a little disconcerting at first with the camera present, as most of the time I am having very personal conversations with patients, and at first it was very hard to ignore the extra presence in the room,” Van Blaricom said. “The camera personnel they used were excellent. If it was possible to make themselves unobtrusive, they did.
“But all in all, I really enjoyed the process and actually learned a lot in the process,” she said.
In the Oct. 13 program:
Kadel, assistant professor of orthopaedics, performs surgery on David, who crushed a bone in his heel falling from a mountain board, and treats a gymnast’s stress fracture. The program also shows Kadel, a former professional dancer, teaching a dance class.
Cheng, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology, guides a woman who is a prison inmate through a Caesarean section for the birth of her second child. She also helps another woman, who has schizophrenia, prepare for the birth of her first child.
Van Blaricom, acting instructor in obstetrics and gynecology, performs a biopsy on a patient for cervical cancer and ultimately will perform a radical hysterectomy since the cancer has spread.
Shah, assistant professor of pediatrics, works with young people at Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center.
