Dr. Deanna Lites has over 20 years of local and national health reporting experience on television and on the radio. She's interviewed Dr. Lutz many times over the last 10 years, but today we are turning the tables on her.
She tells stories of covering many different aspects of health, what got her into the field, and the phenomenon of men often putting off their own health care.
Dr. Lites tells the story of her own personal health scare. She was doing a story on heart screenings. And the results of her own screening, despite having no symptoms or issues, would forever change her life. It's a story that underscores the importance of staying on top of your health, even if nothing appears to be wrong.
Resources:
MIU Men's Health Foundation Website:https://www.miumenshealthfoundation.org/
Dr. Lutz: Welcome to the On Call For Men's Health podcast. And I'm Dr. Michael Lutz. This is where we talk about the things you don't wanna talk about, but these are conversations that could save your life or the lives of the men you love. Thank you for joining us. And today we're gonna talk about interviewing the interviewer, because today's guest is Dr. Deanna Lites. She's been the health reporter for WWJ news radio 950 in Detroit. Dr. Deanna Lites is an award-winning television and radio reporter with more than 20 years of local and national experience, including health reporting for the cities of Miami, Boston, Chicago, and now Detroit. Her reporting has garnered numerous awards, including six Emmy nominations, two American Heart Association awards, the Florida hospital association's Jack Hardy communicator of the year of the state of Florida, American Cancer Society Woman of the Year award. A Michigan Association of Broadcaster's award and an Associated Press award. She's been a frequent speaker and moderator for numerous corporate events, including the Detroit Economic Club where she's interviewed CEOs from major corporations, and a speaker on women in heart disease for Ascension Michigan and Beaumont health. And today I'd like to have the opportunity and the honor to introduce Dr. Deanna Lites. Thank you for joining us.
Deanna: Thank you for having me.
Dr. Lutz: That was a lot to talk about. I didn't realize you had so much history behind you. Why did you become a health reporter?
Deanna: Oh, I figured out a way to merge two of the things that I really enjoyed doing -writing and communicating and health.
So I used two backgrounds and merged them together. And that's how I came up with becoming a health reporter.
Dr. Lutz: Do you havea favorite previous job? I mean, I'm not talking about CBS radio. I'm talking about something before this.
Deanna: Well, I was fortunate to work in wonderful cities. So I was a television reporter, as you mentioned before in Miami, in Chicago, in Boston. So, you know, there's nothing wrong with any of those places. I enjoyed living there a lot.
Dr. Lutz: Yeah. So radio versus television, what do you like?
Deanna: Oh, they both have pluses and minuses. They're both though, interesting. You're still talking to interesting people like yourself. I've interviewed you many times for stories, and it's just different ways of putting the reporting together, but it's still trying to get information, make it in an easy to understand manner, and get it out to the listener or the viewer so that they can have some access to new health information.
Dr. Lutz: I always thought I wanted to be one of those TV doctors. And, I realized pretty quickly that that was not who I was or who I wanted to be. And I thought the reason was is. I know what my passion is and I know what I'm passionate about, and I see some of the TV doctors, so to speak. When they get on television, they have to tell the story that they're told to tell.
They don't get to cover their story their way they cover it the way they're advised to cover the story. So how do you manage that and be true to yourself?
Deanna: I've been told topics to cover, but I've never been told that I have to tell it a certain way. I mean, you, as a journalist, you have to put certain information in there in an easy to understand manner. But some topics, maybe you don't enjoy them as much, but I always feel like I'm just sort of a medium to get new or different or interesting health information that can oftentimes be lifesaving out to people.
And whether I might not be as interested in the topic or not, it doesn't matter. I just wanna do a good job and get it out. And I've been fortunate to be able to tell people's personal health stories throughout the years and get that information out. And also some of the health stories I've done in the past have generated more interest and have been able to help people, either get an operation that they didn't know about or get a customized van to help families, different things.
Dr. Lutz: So you've covered a lot of stories over a lot of years. Do you have a favorite interview or a guest that you've actually covered?
Deanna: No, that's probably like a parent saying, do you have a favorite child? There are so many that I've been so fortunate that it's really hard for me to think of one story.
I mean, even just recently with the COVID 19 pandemic, I've interviewed numerous COVID 19 survivors. Some of these people were on ventilators for 30 days, 60 days. They had to relearn how too walk, how to do all sorts of things. Those stories stay with me. There's just every day, it seems like there's something interesting. So I don't really have one story that particularly stands out.
Dr. Lutz: You know, sometimes when you cover these topics, you ask a lot of questions that get very personal. People get very emotional. Have any of these that you can recall recently, or maybe in your past ever affected you personally, where it almost became difficult for you to complete the interview?
Deanna: I can tell you a story that I started to cry during the interview, which I had never done before. It was a story about shaken baby syndrome. And a woman was there. She was the guardian of these two little girls that were five years old. They were her granddaughters and one was a typical five year old.
And the other one was like an infant. That baby had been shaken by her father, this woman's son. And she was out talking, wanted to get the word out about shaken baby syndrome and how, if you're around an infant and they're crying or they need something and you feel very upset and you feel like you're gonna lose it to try to step out of the room, go outside, call someone.
Don't do what her son unfortunately did and ruined one of those twins' lives.
Dr. Lutz: Wow, that's gotta be hard.
You know, a lot of people ask me all the time, how did I get involved in men's health? And why did I choose this?
And I think a lot of it is when I was in my first year of medical school. I was 21 years old and I developed a sudden onset of gross hematuria, which is visible blood in the urine. And I was feeling sicker than a dog. I went to go see a urologist when I was living in Chicago at the time. And they couldn't make the diagnosis, but my kidney function declined pretty significantly to the point where I had only a third of my kidney function left.
I flew back to Detroit, which was my hometown. And saw a nephrologist in the emergency room at Sinai Hospital. And I remember at that moment, when he turned to me and said, you might need dialysis tonight. We're gonna be doing a kidney biopsy tomorrow. I thought that was it. That was the end of my life.
And so far, I've used that as my tool, my weapon to stay healthy, I vowed I'd never be that sick again. And I've been a runner ever since, and I've never stopped running. I don't know what I'm running away from, but I've never stopped running. And that's been my personal story. That's been my driver since I was 21.
Getting guys engaged in their own health is always a challenge. You need a hook, you don't wanna have the hook, your own personal health disaster, but you know, you wanna have a hook. Do you have any thoughts as to what would be a really good hook to try and get guys more engaged in their health, particularly when they lose the care of their mothers?
Deanna: Well, a lot of guys think they're a superhero and they don't pay attention to your health, like you said, and yet they're the head of the household in most instances and their health is real important. I don't know why they're not. I feel like in some ways though, maybe it's turning the tide a little bit.
You would know better than I do, but I feel like a lot of guys I talk to have more knowledge about nutrition, and do pay attention a little bit more to their health than maybe 10 years ago. I'm not sure if you see any improvement in that.
Dr. Lutz: We do. And one of the things that I try and talk about as often as possible that men's health, it's not just about men.
It's really about the health of the family. If the male in the family gets ill and the family suffers from that illness and the children have a much more difficult time surviving overall, economically educationally, and socially. And so it's really important to support men's health, even if you're just thinking from a selfish perspective where you're thinking of the health of everybody else, or the health of the family.
It's really important to put everything into perspective because everything has value. And it's not just men's health, just for the health of that one individual.
Deanna: And don't you think that your personal health issues that led you into urology also make you more empathetic and understanding because you have some firsthand experience?
Dr. Lutz: You know, I don't know if you can always teach empathy. I think all the times that I've run across other physicians, uh, those who've been through illnesses and whatnot. I think it helps you be more understanding of what people go through, but it doesn't always create the empathy that should be associated with caring for other individuals and understanding the attendant anxiety, pain, suffering that goes on with individuals when they're facing a diagnosis, a diagnostic treatment plan and treatment planning, and then the recovery thereafter. So I think it's really challenging to try and create an empathetic environment, but creating empathy for an individual, I think is a real challenge. You know, one of the things that we talked about just a few years ago was your personal health issue. Do you wanna tell me a little something about your heart issue and how it came about?
Deanna: Yeah. So I was asked to do a story for heart month, February. And one of the hospitals called and said, you know, sometimes hospitals offer like seven heart tests for, I don't know, maybe a hundred dollars or maybe it's a little bit more than that, but simple tests that can provide a lot of information about your heart.
And they asked me if I would do a story on it and not just do the story. They wanted me to go through the tests. And I told him ahead of time that I didn't have any problems. I wasn't complaining of any chest pain. I always had normal blood pressure. Didn't have any types of things that I thought would be wrong with me.
So I was certainly happy to go through the tests, but I just wanted him to know that I was gonna be a perfect patient. And so I did go through the tests and it turned out that the person that needed the most knowledge about the heart was me! Because one of the tests before I left that the cardiologist asked me to have done was a calcium scoring test.
And that's just a scan of your heart. It looks at the coronary arteries. And if you have any plaque on them, it only takes a couple minutes to do. And I did the test and I was ready to leave. I was actually putting my coat on and he ran to look at the scan and called me over and said, "I think you have heart disease and I think you should get a stress test."
Well, obviously I thought maybe he made a mistake or, you know, I was a little floored by that. I came back to work and my news director said, Hey, how was your story? And I said, the doctor told me that I might have heart disease and I should have a stress test. Anyhow, after a few days I did nothing. And I happened to tell my younger sister about it.
And my sister doesn't let go of things. And she started asking me every day, if I had called a doctor to get the stress test and I finally did. And so I went for the stress test and again, it was a stress echo and doing the running. I was doing fine. I wasn't out of breath. I didn't have any pain. I thought again, that it was great.
And when I finished, I even texted some of my friends and said, you know, I hit it out of the park. I was like, no problem. So I was expecting to then get a good report. And what happened was later that day or the next day, the cardiologist called me on the phone and said that my EKG was abnormal when I was exercising and I needed to have some further testing and long story short,
I needed to go in for a cardiac catheterization. And I now have four stents in me. One of my coronary arteries was 99% blocked and I had no clue at all.
Dr. Lutz: Wow. And you had no symptoms of any kind whatsoever?
Deanna: Nope. I think I was playing tennis like the day before I went and did those heart tests, and had no problems. And it just goes to show that sometimes you might have a problem and not even realize it. And so I shared my story on the air because I thought, if you look at me, I'm have the proper weight. I don't smoke. I don't drink very much alcohol. I try to eat healthy. Yet, I have this problem. So I did this story. And since then, if I look at it, I would say it was probably like four years ago, but thousands of people have gone to get tested and I get phone calls, letters, people run into me all the time.
And some people have found out that they have a great heart and that makes 'em feel good. But other people have found out that they need to be on cholesterol medicine, or they have had to have a stent that they didn't realize that they had a problem. And it's really interesting too. You don't realize like, just by sharing that story, I'll be at a party somewhere. Last summer, I was at a party outdoors and a girl was asking me to tell someone about my heart and I did.
And in the meantime, there were a few people that were helping serve at the party. And these women came up to me and said, we're sisters. And we heard your story. We weren't trying to eavesdrop, but can you tell us about the test? Because one of our sisters had a heart attack. So I wrote down all the information for them.
So you just don't even know. It kind of trickles around and yeah, so now I am a cardiac patient and I went to cardiac rehab after my stents, cuz I was a little nervous, you know, to start exercising again. Cause I thought, well, if I didn't realize I had a problem and I did, maybe I need to take things easier or whatever, but gradually I got my strength and my confidence back.
And I play singles and doubles in tennis and do all kinds of other activities. And everything's been good, knock on wood. I saw my cardiologist just a couple weeks ago and all my numbers are good. And everything's good.
Dr. Lutz: When you were diagnosed and being treated for it, did it give you any sense of inner sadness or depression that you had to deal with at that time?
Deanna: I was more, I think, just taken aback. Sort of shocked that this happened. I might have been, like, I was just a little sad because you feel like my body let me down. And I didn't know that. I didn't know what was happening, but on the other hand, I try to look at the good, and I'm very fortunate that I did those tests because if I didn't do those tests, we might not be having this conversation today.
Dr. Lutz: And we'd be all missing out. So I'm glad you did. It's amazing how much impact when you cover a story, it has within the community. I remember our first men's health event when Charlie Langton modeled how he could get his bone density tested at our men's health event. We had 400 men stand in line till the middle of the night to make sure they got their bone densities checked because they knew that if it was something Charlie did, they needed to do it.
Is just incredible how the notoriety or the expression of your information into the community can be so penetrating. And it's really important. What you say, people listen.
Deanna: Well, we try to get the information out and hope that someone that needs to know that, or know someone that needs to know that information will pass it along and get the help that they need.
I know that when I was in Miami, I did a story on a disease called epidermolysis bullosa, where the skin is real fragile and it peels. We just did it locally, but it got picked up and pretty soon they ended up doing the research. They did stories all over the country to try to help kids with that.
Dr. Lutz: Wow. Has your health issue that you just went through? Has that changed the way you cover any topics or the way you might interview somebody?
Deanna: No. I'm gonna tell you. What changed that for me, you know, I'm very appreciative and respectful that someone will share a lot of real personal information with me and let me put that broadcast out on the air to help others.
But I had a child that was born and he ended up being diagnosed with epilepsy and he eventually died when he was five from a seizure. Cuz as you know, epilepsy is a life threatening disease. And I did stories on that and I also realized that once you go through something like that, really you can talk to anyone about anything.
So when I've met many parents who have lost a child to cancer, or I've talked to cancer patients or talked to other people with life threatening diseases, and I feel very comfortable talking to them and asking questions. And I did before. But I think since that experience. It's um, made it even different for me because I have a different way to look at things.
Dr. Lutz: You know, I have a close friend of mine whose daughter's been dealing with epilepsy since she was a young child and it's totally consumed her life because there's never a time where she doesn't have to think, is this a potential seizure? Is this a seizure? Am I going to go into a seizure that's going to take over and I can't control myself?
It's just been a rough adulthood for her and a sense of comfort. I, that's kind of why I asked you the question after you had your stents placed for your coronary artery disease, because there's that fear factor. You kind of intimated that, you know, you had to go through rehab to get that comfort level again, to get that sense of reassurance, that your're okay.
That your heart's not gonna fail. You imagine as a child who becomes an adult with epilepsy, they never get that. They never really know if they're always okay.
Deanna: Yeah, I that's gotta be so frightening to have something like that always on you. I guess that's why they say, what is it? The best wealth is your health? That that's the main thing.
Dr. Lutz: Well, I hear it very typically from a lot of men, they say, if I'd known I was gonna live this long, I would've taken better care of myself. I think that truism is something that becomes more impactful as you get older. And you start thinking about it a little bit.
Deanna: I heard that a lot during the COVID pandemic from some people who, their spouse got the vaccine, but they didn't wanna get it.
And then they ended up going in the hospital and being on a ventilator. And they were saying that if I would've known, I would've gotten the shot.
Dr. Lutz: You know, you've covered so many stories that have been COVID related over the last two years. How do you think that's going to change the overall perception of health as we move into the next decade?
Deanna: Well, I think one thing is just talking about vaccination in general. I'm noticing now, and as you might be aware that for instance, polio. Some cases have been seen in New York. Sometimes we get measles outbreaks and I think one concern, and maybe it's just because I've been doing some stories on vaccination.
And I realized that they were saying that a lot of people don't take disease that seriously because we haven't seen it. And so we don't really think it's gonna affect us. We don't know what it can actually do. And so we've kind of become lax with vaccines, even with medications, with certain things. That's sort of frightening in a way, because as we can see a virus, as we saw really can do some damage for people, and that was a new virus.
And now we're seeing some diseases that we thought were eradicated, starting to come back. And so I think we do have to take our health seriously.
Dr. Lutz: And take advantages of the advances in science. And,I know it was about four years ago, the year before the COVID pandemic, we held a men's health event. And our focus at that event was that vaccines are not just for kids and who would've thought that vaccines would become part of the central focus of our healthcare community?
Our event, some of the things we talked about were the role of adult vaccines, the things like HPV vaccination, which has now become more available for the older adults, into their mid forties and the adult vaccine, such as the Pneumovax and for shingles. And you think, well, it's not gonna happen to me, so I don't have to worry about it, but shingles is pervasive and it's debilitating.
And it's really hard to convince people that some of these diseases are so important. I think with the recurrence of polio, That's gonna be a disease that is so devastating, that that might actually be to the advantage of convincing the communities at large, to get vaccinated, to protect themselves and the community.
Deanna: Yeah. And I think I understand sometimes people obviously are leery of things, but I feel like partly social media and all the knowledge that we have is good and bad because sometimes misinformation gets out there. And I guess you wanna try to steer people to reputable websites. I'm not sure how you handle patients that might come in and be on the fence about different vaccinations, whether it's COVID or shingles or pneumonia.
Dr. Lutz: That's always a very difficult topic because, vaccinations have now become so politicized and you don't wanna alienate people for the wrong reasons. You just want to give them the straight scientific facts of the value of being vaccinated.
But a lot of times, whatever you say can become some sometimes twisted into a conversation that doesn't take you to the place you need to go. And so it's really important to try and let people know the actual reason why a vaccine, a treatment, an option should not only be considered, but should be something that they should do not only for themselves, but in this case, the COVID vaccine, for others.
And so, I think this was a real challenge. For the first time. This is the first vaccine that I can remember that you would take the COVID vaccine, not just to protect yourself, but protect others around you. I do wanna move on. This is something that I thought was really kind of interesting. You said your favorite quote was rejection is God's protection.
Do you have a personal example of why you say that?
Deanna: I just think in so many instances where, for instance, you maybe didn't get a job that you really wanted and you thought was gonna be amazing and it didn't work out. And then, weeks later, months later, or year later, a better job comes along. Something better happens, whether it's that way, whether it's in a personal relationship.
I just find that a lot of times when something closes, it might be for the good. I always tell that to, um, I talk to a lot of younger people that are in high school or heading into college and that if you don't get into that college or you don't get that career path that you think you wanna go on, just wait.
Maybe it's not meant to be. Maybe you'll see something better or you'll find out down the line that that company closed. And you're better off that you didn't get in there. You'd be looking for a new job. There's just a lot. I just kind of try to take it. And I also think it makes my life easier to just sort of move on and not fight it.
Dr. Lutz: I remember for me, it was my first job as a urologist. I was in a group for only about two years and they said goodbye to me. And the reason they say goodbye is because they said, I think more about my family than I do about my work. And I thought, well, that's a reasonable statement. I do. I do love my family a lot. And they are very important to me.
Best thing that ever happened. I then went out on my own and I've had nothing but great times ever since. And now it's 36 years later. So, uh, that was, you know, the old expression, when one door closes another one opens and I think that's another, analogy to the rejection is God's protection.
So I do agree with you. I think that the problem with today's society is a lot of people live only in the moment. They can't think beyond the moment. And so it's important to be able to think deeper than just the moment that you're living within.
Deanna: Yeah, it's hard, you know, you get your hopes up for something and it doesn't work out.
And sometimes it's hard to take a breath and sit back and, uh, pivot, you know? Regroup and go another direction. But I think the majority of the time, it all turns out well in the end, we just can't see it at that moment, but we gotta just, you know, switch. I have found that with most things in my life.
Dr. Lutz: And with all the things that you've done in your life, in your career. And I know you're still just in the middle of it. What would you want have as your legacy to be remembered for the things that you've done in your contribution to being a health reporter in the community, within which you live?
Deanna: Um, that I always try to do my best, and that's what I do every day. When I go out on a story and I feel really blessed and fortunate to get to do this type of work, I enjoy it every day is fun. Every day is different, and I've been really fortunate to get to meet so many interesting people throughout the years.
Dr. Lutz: And you've been a gift to us at our men's health foundation and all the things that you do and the stories you helped us share with the community to get the men involved and be advocates for their own health.
So I just wanna say, thank you. Thanks to Dr. Deanna Lites for being here today and sharing her own personal thoughts and stories and commitment to our community. I wanna thank you for joining us. I'm Dr. Michael Lutz, urologist and founder of the MIU Men's Health Foundation. Through our events, resources, and this podcast, we are dedicated to men's health, advocacy, and awareness.
We're focused on education, research, and treatment of prostate cancer and men's health related issues. And for more information about the work we do and how you can get involved, visit us online at www.MIUmenshealthfoundation.org. And thank you so much.