New Wellness 101 YouTube Channel for Family-Friendly Web Series

New Channel Features Accurate Medical Information for Kids and Parents; FREE for Schools

The four-time Emmy® Award winning “Wellness 101 Show” presented by St. Luke’s University Health Network is proud to announce the launch of their new YouTube Channel and children’s web series “Wellness 101 Junior.” The channel and web series were created to help families access factual and accurate health care information during a time when they need it most.

Last year, Jeff Hartney, owner of Production Pocketknife, LLC and St. Luke’s University Health Network partnered to produce the “Wellness 101 Show,” a web series of 3–5-minute episodes in which Hartney steps in front of the camera as “Mr. Wellness” and illustrates for viewers various tips and tricks to get and stay healthy and well. Over the past two years, the show has been nominated for 6 Emmy® Awards including Best Host, Best Health/Science Program, Best Health/Science Segment and Best Branded Content, and has won 3 out of the 6 Emmy® awards.

But when it was clear the pandemic wasn’t over for the 2021-2022 school year, St. Luke’s University Health Network and Hartney felt it was necessary to study up and raise the bar by creating a children’s edition of the program, “Wellness 101 Junior,” to help kids understand what is happening. The episode “What is COVID-19?” was nominated for and won an additional regional Emmy® Award this year, winning Best Branded Content.

Now in an effort to help our community get the information they need, a new free YouTube Channel was created, hosting all episodes of “Wellness 101” as well as the new, interactive children’s edition – “Wellness 101 Junior” to help our community and beyond stay informed with easy-to-understand videos ranging from “How to Stop a Panic Attack” to teaching children the ins and outs of navigating COVID-19. 

“Health care information, especially right now, can be very overwhelming. People need a resource they can trust, that explains topics in a way they can understand. Our goal is to help our community, especially our kids get that vital information they need,” said Hartney. “Wellness 101 Jr will be sponsored by St. Luke’s Pediatrics, which has dramatically expanded their depth of pediatric services over the past several years and continues to bring that much needed care to the kids of the Lehigh Valley.”

Investing in our children has always been a driving force for St. Luke’s but especially over the past several years during which time St. Luke’s opened a brand new pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) at St. Luke’s University Hospital – Bethlehem, broke ground on pediatric specialty center in Center Valley, opened two new labor and delivery units and neonatal intensive care units (NICU) along with welcoming new primary care pediatricians and numerous pediatric specialists. All of these investments in the future of our children make it possible for those who need advanced care to stay close to home at St. Luke’s

“No family wants to leave their local support system when their child is ill. Through the investments St. Luke’s has made in pediatric services and the commitment to continue expanding these services, children with complex needs can receive expert care at St. Luke’s,” says Jennifer Janco, MD, St. Luke’s Chair of Pediatrics. “Launching this You Tube channel is the perfect complement to what we are doing in our communities and the hospitals that serve them.”

To learn more about “Wellness 101” and “Wellness 101 Junior” visit https://youtube.com/wellness101show

The next episode of Wellness 101 Jr.  is scheduled to launch Wednesday February 2nd, 2022. New episodes can be found throughout each month. Viewers are invited to leave comments and suggestions for future show topics, as well as scheduled question and answer sessions with Hartney (Mr. Wellness) on how the episode was made.