Kathy Kastan bared her surgical scar in a magazine ad to make women aware of heart disease. Photo courtesy of the The Commercial Appeal.

Tennessee social worker Kathy Kastan will receive a Red Dress Award from Woman’s Day Magazine on Feb. 10 in New York to honor her courageous work in fighting heart disease.

Kastan is also the first patient advocate to receive the award, which commemorates American Heart Month by spotlighting four women who have made big contributions toward fighting heart disease. 

“More women die of heart disease than anything else and yet when people think of heart disease they think balding, overweight man,” she said. 

Kastan, 50, underwent heart bypass surgery in 2002 and did an arresting photo advertisement showing her surgical scar to make more women aware of the disease. To read the full Memphis Commercial Appeal article about Kastan click here.

And to learn more about how social workers help people maintain health and navigate the nation’s health care and nursing home system visit the National Association of Social Workers’ “Help Starts Here” Health & Wellness Web page by clicking here and Seniors & Aging page by clicking here.

Niels Tangherlini. Photo by Luke Thomas, FogCityJournal.com

Cheers to the Washington Post Magazine for its article on a ”frequent flier,” a homeless man who repeatedly used ambulances and emergency rooms for basic medical care.

“The Treatment of Kenny Farnsworth,” also put a positive spotlight on California social worker Niels Tangherlini. Tangherlini is also a paramedic and wanted to find a solution for the “frequent flier” problem.

So in 2004 he formed a team of social workers, paramedics and nurse practioners to provide early treatment for San Francisco residents who overused emergency services.

Thanks to Tangherlini the top 911 users dropped their ambulance use by 80 percent in just a year and a half, the article said. Other cities are now duplicating his program.

“A lot of the problems these folks suffer from are things that are not fixable with an ambulance or emergency room,” Tangherlini said.

Q: Social workers often work to find solutions to pressing issues  such as health care services and family counseling. Have you heard of more heroes such as Tangherlini who are creating valuable programs to serve their communities?

Aracely Neeley

Aracely Neeley has a new job some actors would kill to get. She will get to use her social work skills on camera in “Keeping up with the Joneses,” an upcoming reality television show on Centric that follows entrepreneur Tracey Ferguson.

According to the Centric Web site, Ferguson is an “attractive fashionista” trying to build a magazine that serves affluent African American women in Houston.

“I’m still thinking it’s a joke,” Neeley, LCSW, said. “Did it really happen? Is it really real?”

Neeley is a licensed clinical social worker with a thriving practice in Houston. Producers of the show, which is scheduled to air on the Centric network in early 2010, found her through her Web site.

Show producers needed a professional to provide real-life grief counseling for Ferguson. They filmed several counseling sessions with Neeley and Ferguson. 

“We did actual taping in our office — there was no script,” Neeley said. “They said this is what we need for you guys to cover and we want it to happen organically.”

“And I said ‘I’m just going to do therapy like I do everybody else and they said that’s exactly what we want.’”

Neeley is of Mexican descent and offers bilingual counseling service. She said being a minority was a plus in landing the role. She hopes her work with “Keeping up with the Joneses” will make more African Americans willing to try therapy to ease depression, family strife and other social issues.

“I think this show will depict therapy in a very down-to-earth way, and as a reality TV series has a good chance of (letting minorities know) therapy is an okay and acceptable treatment,” she said.

To find out more about how social workers help clients deal with grief visit the National Association of Social Workers “Help Starts Here” Death and Dying Web page.

Q: Reality shows have sometimes been criticized as exploitative. But do you think such programming  could be useful tools to show the benefits of social work?