ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, March 5, 1997 TAG: 9703050044
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: MARK CLOTHIER STAFF WRITER
Dr. Jody Hershey sits framed by his office doorway, miked by Nick and lighted by Gino. Then - when everything's set - he's prompted by Pam.
His office has become part of the set of a midseason ABC-TV replacement show called "Vital Signs." It airs Thursdays in the Siberia of time slots: 9 p.m - opposite ``Seinfeld.''
But "when" is not the point.
Pam and Nick and Gino are here to tell a story, the tale of how a dozen or so medical detectives tracked the path of a killer germ to a home-improvement store hot tub.
Hershey, director of the New River Health District, in addition to telling the story to millions of TV viewers, soon will help write a medical journal article that details his department's efforts.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls the New River Valley Legionnaires' disease outbreak a textbook case, an epidemiological how-to.
The outbreak brought national attention, catching the eye of the medical community and academia.
Now Hollywood's calling.
The folks at ABC are hoping to bottle a little of that "ER" fever, and "Vital Signs" is their tap.
The show spotlights the true stories of real-life medical professionals and their heroics. The tales are told as medical mysteries, from the point of view of the health care worker, then dramatized with actors. Four such stories are told in each one-hour show. TV's Dan Tana, "Spencer for Hire" himself, Robert Urich, is the host.
Last October's outbreak killed two men and sickened at least 21 other people. In three weeks, researchers from the local and state health departments and the CDC traced the bacteria to a filter from a Lowe's hot tub.
Typically it takes two to six months to find an outbreak's source. In 22 days, a team of medical investigators clocked 14-hour days, interviewed some 60 people and combed thousands of medical files to pin the source.
Researchers for the show came across the story while searching news databases. In late January, producer Pamela Browne called Hershey.
A week later, on Super Bowl Sunday night, Browne, sound guy Nick Blanchet and camera man Gino Bruno rolled into Christiansburg. By Wednesday they'd filmed nine hours of interviews with Hershey, state epidemiologist Betty Rouse, nurse epidemiologist Katrina Watson, Dr. John White, nurse Jennifer Brumfield and three of the patients.
Editors in California spent the next few weeks culling the footage into eight to 12 minutes of narrative called "Deadly Mist."
It's the television equivalent of the instant book: from reality to your screen in four months.
For a public-health director, whose job includes getting the word out about what can and does ail us, that sort of exposure is ideal.
A public-health director is a kind of local surgeon general. Hershey sees the job's role as health protector, disease preventer and health promoter.
Outbreaks and news conferences, however, are fairly rare. Meeting with local governments and faxing news releases on lead-painted toys are more typical daily battles.
The Legionnaires' outbreak was most people's first exposure to Hershey, who started the job in 1995. For those first two October days, his dapper, hair-gelled image led local evening newscasts. That familiarity made Hershey approachable; if he wanted to educate, his chances would rarely be better.
Take the first weekend after the outbreak. Early that Sunday, Hershey hit a Kroger in Roanoke, where he lives. He was unshaven and in sweats. Still, shoppers recognized him, cornered him and asked. His 10-item grocery list took him more than an hour to check off.
Then there was the time he went to renew his driver's license. The guy at the counter had a wife who was so worried about the outbreak she wouldn't leave the house.
"Well, gosh," Hershey said. "Here it is. This is real public health. This is what we do. This is the real guts of public health, right here. Most of the people aren't aware of who we are and what we really do. Something like this begins to lock in for everyone exactly what some of our roles are."
Those include overseeing a $3.5 million budget and a full- and part-time staff of 100. The New River Health District includes five local health departments and four branch offices in four counties and Radford.
He also sits on about 17 local boards and organizations, one of which he'll attend the night the show airs. The Board of the New River Valley Hospice meets Thursday evenings.
He said he's too busy most nights to watch much TV and doesn't plan to change things for his 15 minutes of national attention. He said he'll probably watch a tape of the show later.
The real story, he said, is the good that might come from the attention.
"I look at it as credit for a job well done," Hershey said. "This was a tragedy; two people died. It's my hope that the findings from the investigation will help develop guidelines to keep this from happening again."
LENGTH: Medium: 97 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: MARK CLOTHIER. New River Health District director Dr.by CNBJody Hershey prepares to tell the ``Vital Signs'' crew how a team of
medical investigators found the source of the Legionnaires' disease
outbreak that killed two people last year. color.