The Hidden Pandemic

For more than a year, COVID-19 has dominated headlines as it has steadily killed hundreds of thousands of Americans. Behind the scenes, another deadly illness, already worsening dramatically in recent years, has spread like wildfire during lockdown. Kansas City PBS shines a light on this continued threat with The Hidden Pandemic, a documentary focusing on the lives of Kansas Citians navigating mental illness. Through personal interviews with patients and the health care professionals who treat them, The Hidden Pandemic uncovers challenges faced on the journey to improving and maintaining mental health. Acclaimed documentary filmmaker Michael Price heads into homes and through doctor’s office doors to capture local stories of mental illness. We will hear from a farmer, a fire chief, a psychiatric nurse, a college student, an IT expert, and many others, all of whom refuse to let their mental illness define who they are and dictate their futures. Americans are told that a return to normalcy is just around the corner as a vaccine for COVID-19 is slowly distributed. Should this normal be accepted even when suicide is in the top 10 leading causes of death in the United States and health care professionals are continually frustrated by a system that in many cases will not allow them to meet their patients' needs? Immediately following the documentary, news host Nick Haines searches for answers to the provocative questions raised in the film and offers tips and workarounds for navigating a mental health system that's experiencing its own pandemic-related crisis. He's joined by filmmaker Michael Price and some of the metro's leading mental health experts. Kansas City PBS - KCPT, Kansas City