NASHUA – Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health is presenting a new podcast series, “The Cure,” to offer folks answers to some of their most common questions about the pandemic and vaccines.

One of the hosts of the podcast, Dr. Marshall Ward, MD, said the concept for “The Cure” was discussed years ago but when COVID-19 struck, many doctors agreed that the show was a great idea.

“A couple of years ago I was talking with some of the residents I was working with,” he said, “about how it would be fun and educational to create a podcast that explored some of the more interesting and lesser known aspects of the modern healthcare system.”

Ward said there was a dearth of podcasts out there from which listeners could glean valuable information but not just about the coronavirus.

“With COVID, we got overworked and just didn’t have time,” he said. “But then in the midst of COVID, we said, ‘Hey, we’re constantly teaching ourselves new things about COVID as it comes to light. Why don’t we just start our podcast about COVID and make it much more narrow focused?'”

Ward said the goal was to create something “achievable then this broad, nebulous healthcare system idea.”

The podcasts are somewhat thematic, with a subject or area of sorts that is discussed on each show, featuring a specialist who is actively engaged in narrowly related COVID-19 matters.

Encouraging and informing people about COVID itself, Ward said, is what each show strives for and not necessarily persuading people to get the vaccine if they have uncertainty.

“At our core, what we’re hoping to accomplish is just education and knowledge sharing,” he said. “If the result of that is a broader trust in vaccines and healthcare as it currently is, that would be great. I don’t see our interest in doing this podcast in our free time, essentially, as one where we set out thinking that was our purpose and design.”

One of the problems with COVID, as doctors have experienced it, is that the more that is learned, the more the information has changed.

“Expanding everybody’s knowledge about COVID and educating ourselves and others is what we’re trying to do,” Ward said.

Early on, there was a podcast episode that did discuss the various vaccines that are on the market.

“Right when the Moderna and Pfizer were being approved for emergency use authorization, we had a podcast when we talked to one of our allergists because there was concern about allergic reaction initially,” he explained. “And so we had an interview talking about that.”

Ward said there have been other interviews, discussing how the vaccine has been distributed in New Hampshire, and how that is an ongoing process.

The podcasts, which are created in the doctors/hosts’ spare time, are aired once a week.

“We’ve been able to produce them weekly, but we don’t want to set our expectations too high,” Ward said. “We want to continue to enjoy this and have fun.”

Most of the hosts of the podcast are hospitalists, who are doing the recording.

“We’re internal medicine doctors, who are based in a hospital setting,” Ward said. “With our day-to-day work with patients, we’re constantly consulting specialists and asking the questions as we’re caring for these patients, so it almost seems so natural to speak between us on the podcast. It is fun.”