Ebola Anniversary and Bail Reform: Wednesday’s Show (September 30, 2015)

We mark a strange anniversary today. This time last year, a disease frightening and foreign to many Americans landed on the Lone Star state’s doorstep. Ebola, a disease ravaging Western Africa, found its way to the emergency room at Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, where Thomas Eric Duncan was told to go home and sleep off his virus. Days later he was back in the hospital with a diagnosis of Ebola, and suddenly the spotlight was on healthcare in Texas and our state’s ability to deal with infectious diseases.

On this edition of Houston Matters, we look at how Ebola affected both Houston and Dallas a year ago. We talk with News 88.7’s health and science reporter Carrie Feibel, and Lauren Silverman, the health, science and technology reporter and blogger for KERA News in Dallas.

Also this hour: We explore recent calls for comprehensive bail reform. Some argue judges under the current system are contributing to overcrowded jails by setting bonds too high, leaving defendants accused of low-level crimes who may pose no flight risk or threat to society imprisoned, simply because they can’t afford to post bail. We talk it over.

Then: A conversation about bipolar disorder, and how it’s treated in Houston, with Dr. Asim Shah, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine.

Plus: A unique production of Peter Pan is on stage now in Houston, combining theater-in-the-round with overhead surround CGI projection, flying actors and puppets. Michael Hagerty drops by the Threesixty Theatre at US 59 South and 610 near the Galleria neighborhood to speak with the director and cast.