Throughout 2007, people across Kentucky gathered in church basements, firehouses, libraries and other public venues to openly discuss their experiences with health care and envision a health system that works for all Kentuckians. A new documentary chronicling the comments of Kentuckians in seven Kentucky communities, Every Heartbeat Has a Voice: Kentuckians Speak Out about Health Care, airs Wednesday, Oct. 24 at 10/9 p.m. CT on KET2 and Thursday, Nov. 29 at 9/8 p.m. CT on KET1.

Sponsored by the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky in partnership with the College of Public Health at the University of Kentucky, the forums’ goals were two-fold: to collect and synthesize the experiences of a diverse cross-section of Kentuckians to present to the Kentucky legislature and to plant the seed for further citizen engagement in health care.

The program begins in Maysville then travels to Smoketown, a predominantly African-American community in the heart of Louisville, where health-care practitioners and patients at the free Harambee Clinic talk about long waits for specialists, high co-pays and high prescription medication costs. In Eastern Kentucky, participants in Clay County relate their problems with isolation and transportation and in Harlan County, two determined women grapple with the stigma of mental illness.

In Murray, the small business employers discuss their problems in providing coverage for employees, and in Berea, community advocates talk about the creation of walkways and bikeways to support healthy lifestyles.

Every Heartbeat Has a Voice: Kentuckians Speak Out about Health Care, part of KET’s Be Well Kentucky initiative, is a KET production, produced by Laura Crawford and Duncan Hart. Judy Flavell is executive producer. More information about KET programming and education services, as well as how to support KET, can be found at www.ket.org.