GE Medical Systems’ The Patient Channel and iTV Receive Prestigious FREDDIE Award

Programming on Obesity Honored in Nutrition Category

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WAUKESHA, WI., – Obesity: Winning the Battle, a documentary that reviews various forms of obesity and the causes linked to this disease, has received a FREDDIE Award for outstanding nutrition program at the 27th Annual International Health and Medical Media Awards. The program is the result of collaboration between The Patient Channel, a hospital-based patient education TV network created by GE Medical Systems and NBC, and Information Television Network (iTV), an independent television producer and recipient of more FREDDIEs than any other broadcast entity.

Nearly two-thirds of the U.S. population is considered overweight and 35 percent obese. Obesity often starts in childhood and can lead to severe complications for those who remain obese in their adult years. The program negates common myths about weight loss, reveals the truth about fad diets and provides a common sense program on exercise and nutrition to reduce obesity. Real patients share their stories of how they successfully lost weight and kept it off.

“When we launched The Patient Channel last year, our goal was to give patients and their families the best information available so they could better manage their health problems,” said Bruce B. Dan, M.D., executive director and managing editor. “Being honored with the FREDDIE award lets us know that our programs are doing just that, delivering the kind of patient–friendly education that allows people to better understand and deal with their medical conditions. We firmly believe that more educated patients are better patients.”

Medical science is searching for answers to the causes of obesity and working hard to find new and better ways to treat this disease. Studies have shown that American lifestyles and eating habits are most often the culprits that prevent us from becoming a healthier nation.

By providing innovative and relevant programming on a variety of common and current medical conditions, The Patient Channel hopes to become a key resource for hospitals, their patients, and the healthcare industry. “Hospitals asked for this type of programming and we responded,” said David Ross, manager, whole hospital education for GE Medical Systems Healthcare Services. “We see ourselves as an important partner with doctors and nurses, by serving as an extension of the education they can provide.”

iTV specializes in developing programming on major medical and healthcare issues, and has worked with The Patient Channel to develop numerous high quality, original programs for U.S. Hospitals since The Patient Channel launched a year ago.

“iTV is extremely excited to have been involved in the production process from the start,” said Ed Lerner, president and executive producer of iTV. “Obesity is such an important and timely topic which needs to be addressed on a national level. The Patient Channel is an ideal tool to distribute information about the value of eating right and exercising,” continues Ana Cristina Lerner, executive producer of iTV.

The FREDDIE Award recognizes excellence among medical media professionals at the national and international levels. The awards were presented on November 7 in Los Angeles, CA. Each year, the competition celebrates excellence in medical and health media dedicated to exploring the health-related issues that change people’s lives including: documentaries, feature-length films, series, videos, Web sites, and CD-ROMs. The competition’s rigorous judging — conducted by medical and production professionals from across the country — has become the industry standard. World-class filmmakers and producers compete in 36 categories for the FREDDIE, the bronze statuette named in honor of the competition’s founder, Dr. Fred Gottlieb.

About The Patient Channel
GE Healthcare launched The Patient Channel on April 30, 2002 with patient educational programming to help U.S. hospitals provide credible, accurate and up-to-date information to patients and their families, caregivers, and friends. The television programming is seen in patient rooms and waiting areas.

Programming on the channel covers a wide spectrum of topics including heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, arthritis, cancer, asthma, smoking cessation, parenting, health/wellness, and other healthcare topics. The goal of the channel is to educate patients and their families and to increase their awareness of medical issues and treatment options. The educational content is meant to stimulate communication with healthcare providers, improve the ability to make informed decisions, and promote a sense of empowerment at the time when accurate information is most needed.

• Over 40 educational programs
• Broadcast 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
• Spanish and English closed captioning available on all programs
• Provides reliable and focused patient education content
• Topics cover health and wellness topics selected with input from patient educators in our hospital network
• All content is developed according to the standards set and maintained by an external advisory board
• A web site for staff and patients, family and friends with applicable information before, during and after hospital stays

• More About The Patient Channel

About GE Healthcare
GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, drug discovery, and biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies is helping clinicians around the world re-imagine new ways to predict, diagnose, inform and treat disease, so their patients can live their lives to the fullest.

GE Healthcare's broad range of products and services enable healthcare providers to better diagnose and treat cancer, heart disease, neurological diseases, and other conditions earlier. Our vision for the future is to enable a new "early health" model of care focused on earlier diagnosis, pre-symptomatic disease detection and disease prevention. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a $15 billion unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employs more than 43,000 people committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries.

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