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Nurse uses comedy to focus on health
Monday, November 07, 2005 By BETH E. FAND
Staff Writer
Marian Greenberg isn't your typical registered nurse.
Listed among her other professional affiliations is her membership in the Screen Actors Guild - which is appropriate, since she regularly performs health-care-related comedy at the Comic Strip in Manhattan.
"I do a health-care-comedy cabaret, and they do let me sing," says Greenberg, 49, who is also a member of Mensa, the group for geniuses. "I sing `I Left my Heart in Managed Care' and another song called `Drugs.' "
The gist of her material is that patients often lose the opportunity for proper care due to medical bureaucracy or their own fear, and that the trend is unacceptable.
Greenberg wants to prevent that by educating as many people as possible about their options and some looming problems in the medical establishment, she says - which is why she recently began hosting a monthly show on medical issues that's airing on Princeton's TV30. About three episodes of "Health Focus" - which appears live from 6:30 to 7 p.m. on the last Wednesday of every month and then is repeated a couple of times - have been taped so far.
"The problem with health care today is that people don't have access to information," says Greenberg, who grew up in Lawrence but now lives in Hudson County. "By providing a venue for them to participate and learn in a fun way, that should increase their compliance and bring down the overall cost of health care. The show is to help to educate people about health so it's not so scary. That's why people don't get treatment - they're afraid of procedures or how much or where do they go."
On TV30, which is a cable-access station, "Health Focus" will appear as a monthly installment of a more established weekly show called "Talk to Me," says the station's director, George McCollough.
Greenberg hopes that other PBS affiliates or even network news shows will pick it up, as well.
The show - her own idea - is being produced by the Hudson County Medical Society in conjunction with the Nursing Pride Foundation, a project of Greenberg's that is dedicated to bringing audiences health-care-related entertainment.
Doctors and other experts will appear with her on the episodes to discuss issues and answer questions from callers.
Some topics will be inspired by a similar, now-defunct show titled "The Doctor is In," which was produced by Dartmouth University a few years ago, says Greenberg. Segments of those shows will be aired just prior to "Health Focus," which will then address and update those same topics.
Topics will also be picked by the medical society, Greenberg says, and others, she hopes, will be suggested by viewers, who are invited to send their ideas to comments@princetontv.org.
Audience members are also welcome to call (609) 252-1963 with questions during the show.
So far, "Health Focus" episodes have included "Managed Care: What You Don't Know Can Harm You," a show on the high cost of malpractice insurance and how it's driving doctors out of New Jersey; and the most recent, which explored the pros and cons of limiting the awards that can be given to patients who win malpractice lawsuits within the state.
Greenberg remains hopeful that the show will make good medical care more accessible to patients, both now and in the long run. At the same time, she says, the program may help to strengthen the relationship between nurses and doctors.
"It's exciting that nursing and medicine are working together," she says. "It's one of the first times in history, except on a battlefield." The wry joke is the kind of humor that has won her many fans at the Comic Strip, where she's known as "the singing nurse," says the club's manager, J.R. Ravitz.
Greenberg says she loves doing standup not only because she finds it therapeutic, but because she knows that the laughter she brings her audiences can, according to medical studies, boost their health.
Ravitz, meanwhile, enjoys her shtick because he finds it funny.
"Long live the singing nurse," he says. "That's our motto here."
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