Picture

​Pediatrics

Phone Calls & Prescription Refills Information
Routine questions and medication refill requests should be phoned into the office between 8:ooa.m and 4:00p.m Monday through Friday.  NO controlled substances or routine prescriptions will be called in after hours.  Non-emergency calls will be returned within 24 hours.  When calling for a refill, please leave the name and birthday of your child, the medication, and the pharmacy you wish for it to be called in to.  Weekend and after hour phone calls are referred through our answering service and should be limited EMERGENCY QUESTIONS ONLY.  This service is provided to help guide you as to what steps should be taken to help your child.  Thank you for waiting until the next business day for all non-emergency calls.  Results on lab tests will usually be available 3 to 5 days after they were done.  Thank you for your cooperation. We look forward to serving you and your child.
 
Why Immunize Your Child?
Immunization is a true medical success story.  Without question, immunizations protect our children from dangerous infections that can cause long-term disease, disability and even death.  As a pediatrician who has been in practice for over 30 years, I’ve seen the devastating effects of polio in the 1940s and 1950s, the outbreaks of measles in the 1960s and 1970s, and the Haemophilus influenza type b (Hib) meningitis outbreaks of the 1980s and 1990s.  Even though immunization efforts in the United States have been largely successful, we all still need to keep in mind that many of theses diseases are only a plane ride away. 
The decision to immunize your child is a critical one, because vaccines are the single most effective protection against diseases that continue to threaten our children.  If you don’t immunize your child, it’s not only a risk for your child but for other children in the community as well.  We need to build what’s known as “community immunity.”  You see, as long as the great majority of children receive their vaccines, we will be able to maintain our current level of disease control.  Otherwise, viruses and bacteria travel freely from person to person, from school to school, and from community to community, and we will return to the era when deadly epidemics were an accepted part of life.  Thank you for being one of the millions of parents who rely on the most important preventive medicine there is:  Immunization.
 
Never Leave Your Child Alone
From 1996 – 2001, at least 150 children, most of them three and younger, died from heat stroke after being trapped in a vehicle’s passenger compartment. Research conducted by General Motors revealed that these children were left behind in a closed, parked car by parents or caregivers, or they gained access to the car on their own and could not get out.  This s a serious public health issue, and one that is entirely preventable.  Parents may mistakenly think they can safely leave a child in a vehicle for a “quick” errand.  Unfortunately, a delay of just a few minutes can lead to tragedy.  Heat is much more dangerous to children than it is to adults.  When left in a hot vehicle, a young child’s core body temperature may increase three to five times faster than an adult.  This could cause permanent injury or even death!  Here are some tips from the National Safe Kids Campaign/General Motors to help keep your kids safe:
  • Teach children not to play in, on or around cars.
  • Never leave a child unattended in a motor vehicle, even with a window slightly open.  This applies to pets as well.  On a typically sunny, summer day, the temperature inside a vehicle can reach potentially deadly levels within minutes. 
  • Always lock car doors and trucks – even at home and keep keys out of reach of children.
  • Watch children closely around cars, particularly when loading or unloading.  Check to ensure that all children leave the vehicle when you reach your destination. Don’t overlook sleeping infants.
  • Secure children correctly on every ride. Go to www.safekids.org for more information.
  • When restraining children in a car that has been parked in the heat, check to make sure seating surfaces and equipment (car seat and seat belt buckles) aren’t too hot.
 
Here are some helpful medical links:
·         Recalls and Unsafe Product Review
Review recalls or report unsafe products directly to the Consumer Products Safety Commission
http://www.cpsc.gov/
 
·         Vaccine Education Center
A resource for vaccine safety from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
http://vec.chop.edu/service/vaccine-education-center/home.html
 
·         American Academy of pediatrics
Provides parents and professionals with information on children’s health care and the organization.
https://www.aap.org/en-us/Pages/Default.aspx
 
·         Healthy Kids
Empowering parents to raise healthy, happy children.
https://www.healthykids.org/
 
·         SIDS Alliance
Information on SIDs, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
https://sids.org/
xxxx