"Doctors On Call" Program Concludes Silver Season

February 22, 2007

“Doctors on Call” a live, call-in television program produced by the Department of Family Medicine on the Duluth Campus ended 25 seasons on February 22 with a program about eye problems.  The half-hour program appears weekly on Duluth’s public television station, WDSE-TV, and is one of the station’s top 3 programs in viewership.  16,000 – 18,000 viewers watch each show – competing with the hot prime time Thursday lineup of Grey’s Anatomy and other major network programs.   Duluth medical students sit at phone banks and screen live incoming calls.   Depending on the topic, each show receives 30 to 40 calls and some of those calls start coming in before the show starts! 

Beginning in October, each program is hosted by Ray Christensen MD or Ruth Westra DO, MPH from the Medical School -- Duluth Campus.  Northland physicians or experts from the Medical School who specialize in areas of interest to the general public are asked to discuss and answer questions about topics such as arthritis, allergies, skin problems, obesity and cancer.  18 shows are broadcast from October through February.  Linda Liskiewicz from the Duluth campus produces the program with WDSE-TV and organizes the topic and expert selection.  “Doctors on Call” originated 25 years ago through the suggestion of the Medical School’s new Dean at the time, Paul Royce, MD.