It highlights practical prevention and control steps that persons can take themselves to avoid the disease and its costly and potentially disabling complications. The format of the program follows the stories of a gardener, a golfer, and a grade school boy, all of whom became infected with the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi from the bite of a deer tick. As well, the documentary demonstrates practical and successful methods for tick reduction and control, including management of vegetation, application of acaricides to vegetation and deer feeding stations, appropriate fencing to keep deer from property, and rodent control. Video footage is enhanced with digital video graphics, photographs, and field shots to bring the viewer a vivid sense of tick biology and the relationship to the viewer's environment. The film also reviews early symptoms of Lyme disease, with an emphasis on prompt diagnosis and treatment.
Television is an extremely competitive market.
You have to produce a very attractive product to get and retain the viewer's interest. If your product is amateurish, the viewers will know. Beyond the costs of development, CPTV assumed all costs and responsibility for promoting, publicizing, and broadcasting the educational documentary, PSAs, and commentary segments. Mr. Russell was confident that CPTV alone has a viewing audience of 278,000 per program aired. PBS affiliates in New England and Upper Midwest have requested copies of the documentary for local broadcast, thus ensuring a wide viewing audience in Lyme disease-endemic areas.