BY: Mayra Alvarez, The Children’s Partnership Debbie Chang, Nemours Children’s Health System Deb Watson, Winter Park Health Foundation Pediatric providers, health centers, schools and school districts, school nurses, parents, child care centers, state government officials, national associations, non-profit advocacy organizations, health plans, and academic institutions filled the room at GuideWell Innovation Center in Orlando on January 26. The purpose? Convened by The Children’s Partnership, Nemours Children’s Health System, and the Winter Park Health Foundation, this diverse group of experts in children’s health traveled to Florida from thirteen different states to brainstorm on ways telehealth in school and child care settings can improve care and access for children, and to lay the groundwork for building a Roadmap for Action. As we prepared for the day, a key topic of conversation was the thriving school and child care telehealth programs in Delaware, Florida, New York, North Carolina, and Texas.  The telehealth programs […]

Why do we eat? While there are many answers to this question, one of the most important reasons for eating is to nourish our bodies. Think of your body as a car. Cars need gas to drive us to our destinations. Gas is the fuel that allows cars to function, and without it they cannot run. Like cars, our body will not run, or run well, without proper fuel in the form of food. What is Mindful Eating? Put simply, mindful eating is the act of paying attention to your food choices, how you are eating, and how your body feels when eating. Paying attention to your body begins with listening to the signals it displays before a meal. Hunger signals may include any of the following: growling stomach, low energy, irritability, maybe feeling lightheaded. Listening for these cues can help prevent us from eating out of emotions such as […]

Did you know that, besides sleeping, most American children spend more time watching television and looking at screens than doing almost anything else ? In fact, most kids spend nearly six hours per day in front of TV and other screens (excluding homework). That’s 42 hours per week of screen time – the equivalent of a full time job! When used wisely, high-quality and educational television and apps can help children learn. But the more time children spend playing video games, texting and watching TV, the less time they have for studying, reading and physical activity.  Media use also interferes with sleep. Many studies have even shown a link between the amount of TV kids watch and their being overweight. If you want to reduce screen time and make TV and other screens less tempting to your children, try these ten tips: Keep the TV, laptop, tablet, etc. in a central […]

Contributed by Darcy Galnor, whose daughter is a patient of Nemours Children’s Specialty Care, Jacksonville. The morning our daughter was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease started like any other. We woke up as just a regular young(ish) couple with two kids, jobs and life’s typical stressors. (I guess maybe not entirely typical, unless taking our 5-year-old daughter for a colonoscopy is considered an everyday event). We’d been chasing the cause of her diarrhea for months, maybe even years. Dairy? Nope. Gluten? Nope. Strawberries (her favorite food)? Nope. As we sat in the waiting room, anxiously watching for the doctor to tell us the results, we attempted to distract ourselves with work. Both of us had tablets rested on our thighs, cell phones on the arms of our chaisr. My husband downing coffee. Me biting my nails. Then, the doctor appeared. “She has inflammation throughout most of her GI tract. We’ll wait […]

Over the river and through the woods…we all have somewhere to be during the busy holiday season. But traveling by plane can always pose challenges, especially for the breastfeeding mom. Adequate preparation and a good understanding of one’s rights are the keys to a hassle-free trip. Here’s what you need to know. Can I take breast milk on the plane? You can carry on your breast milk in any reasonable quantity, whether it is thawed or frozen. It’s likely the breast milk will be screened, but calmly escalate the matter if a Transportation Security Administration begins to open your container or wants to dispose of the breast milk. You are within your rights to insist that your “liquid gold” be permitted on board the plane, uncorrupted. Other tests can be run that do not require opening the container. Do airports have accommodations for breastfeeding mothers? Airports must furnish accommodations, primarily […]

The American Academy of Pediatrics recently released new blood pressure assessment guidelines for children, endorsed by the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association. The guidelines were last issued in 2004 and restated in 2011. Similar to prior guidelines, children are placed into four groups with regard to blood pressure: normal elevated – to be managed by lifestyle changes including diet and exercise stage 1 hypertension – to be followed by the provider and which may or may not require treatment stage 2 hypertension – which requires further workup and medication What’s Different? A difference from previous guidelines is the development of new normal blood pressure tables. In the older tables, overweight children’s blood pressure measurements were included. Now the tables are based only on children who are not overweight or obese. As a result, the new blood pressure numbers are slightly lower, leading to slightly lower thresholds […]