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Phone Calls & Prescription
Refills Information
Routine questions and medication
refill requests should be phoned into the office between 8:00am and
4:00pm 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 birthdate 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 to 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?
"Why Should I Immunize My 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 40 years, I have seen the
devastating effects of polio in the 1940s and 1950s, the outbreaks
of measles in the 1960s and 1970s, and the Haemophilus influenzae
type b (Hib) meningitis outbreaks of the 1980s and 90s. Even though
immunization efforts in the United States have been largely
successful, we all still need to keep in mind that many of these
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.
FOR NEW INFORMATION ON VACCINE SAFETY
Click on: MEDICAL LINKS then
Click on: VACCINE EDUCATION CENTER
Dr. Abe
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Thomas the Train Toy Recall
Recently the U.S. Consumer Product
Safety Commission issued a recall on the Wooden Railway Toy train
series of Thomas the Train toys due to a lead poison hazzard. Some
of the trains in this series may have lead paint on them. Prolonged
exposure to lead can be very harmful to children.
IF YOU HAVE THESE TOYS IN YOUR HOME PLEASE REMOVE THEM IMMEDIATELY
AND CONTACT OUR OFFICE TO HAVE YOUR CHILD SCREENED FOR LEAD
POISONING.
For a complete list of toys being recalled visit
www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml07/07212.html or call 866-725-4407
for more information.
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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. Reasearch
conducted by General Motors revealed that these children were left
behind in a closed, parked car by parents or cargivers, or they
gained access to the car on their own and could not get out.
This is a serious public heath 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 trunks - 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.
And remember, Never Leave Your Child Alone!
Thank you.
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Book Bag Syndrome
Overloaded Backpacks Are Giving
Children Adult-Like Back Pain
THE MEDICAL COMMUNITY is weighing in on the debate about the amount
of homework students are asked to do. The diagnosis: The problem
isn't how much homework kids have, but how much they are carrying.
Doctors say they are seeing a growing number of children suffering
serious back pain as the result of carrying around overloaded
backpacks. Because children's spines are still growing, many fear
the heavy packs and tilted gait they cause could lead to long-term
back problems.
Injuries associated with backpacks have more than doubled during the
past five years. More than 6,000 children are treated in hospital
emergency rooms each year for injuries related to lugging heavy
backpacks -- and most are under 14 years of age.
The phenomenon even prompted the Congress of Chiropractic State
Associations to declare April national backpack safety month.
A study by Akron General Medical Center weighed the backpacks of
more than 400 fourth and fifth graders. The average pack weighed
about 14 pounds. More significantly, the fourth graders were
carrying about 15% of their body weight, while the fifth graders
were carrying, on average, 17%.
Many kids, however, carried far heavier bags. The study found that
nearly a quarter of the children carried a backpack weighing more
than 20% of their body weight. The equivalent would be a 180-pound
man carrying nearly 40 pounds on his back, several times a day, five
days a week.
"This is too much weight for kids to be carrying around," says Heidi
Frasure, hospital research coordinator and one of the study's
authors.
The trend is particularly troubling because children are now
complaining of aches and pains that historically haven't shown up
until people hit their 30s or 40s.
"Unfortunately children are carrying backpacks that are 25, 30 and
40% of their body weight," says New York City chiropractor John
Vilkelis. "As the backpack gets heavier, they alter their posture
more, they lean forward to support the weight, and it can cause all
kinds of different injuries to their back and neck."
Andrew B. Marsh, physical therapist at the University of Michigan
spine program, says he has seen kids as young as five or six
complaining of back pain.
The problem, he says, is one of repetitive strain. Overloaded
backpacks are carried by kids on their way to the bus stop, from the
bus to the school, between classes, and on the way home -- every
day, five days a week.
Mr. Marsh is conducting a study comparing regular backpacks and
those fitted with a device called the Kelty Back Balancer
(www.outdoormedicalresearch.com).
The study, sponsored by the device maker, asks 20 ninth and 10th
graders to carry backpacks weighting 10% and 20% of their body
weight. The kids walk on a treadmill for four, five-minute
intervals. The study includes regular checks of heart rate and blood
pressure, as well as photographs of the child's posture.
"Ninety percent of the kids who come through the study say the
weight they're carrying at the 20% mark isn't nearly as heavy as the
books they carry every day," Mr. Marsh says.
The Back Balancer, which costs about $30, is reminiscent of the wide
belts weight lifters use. It consists of a plate that fits on the
waist belt of a back pack. The plate pushes against the stomach,
causing the abdomen to contract and bear more of the burden, taking
the load off the spine and shoulders, says co-inventor Ed Kois, a
physician at the Southern New Hampshire Medical Center in Nashua,
N.H.
Doctors suggest a child's backpack shouldn't exceed 5% to 10% of the
child's body weight. The worst pain is caused by one-strap backpacks
that have become trendy among teenagers. Backpacks should always
have two padded straps and at the very least an abdominal belt.
Rolling backpacks are one solution, but some schools have banned the
packs because they cause tripping in the halls and block aisles in
classrooms.
H.B. Dumeer, principal of Cromwell Middle School in Cromwell, Conn.,
has started his own battle against the backpack. He has the school
nurse randomly stop children in the hall to weigh their backpacks.
If they weigh too much, the nurse helps the students figure out what
they don't really need to carry.
He also invited parents in to meet with a chiropractor to discuss
the damage heavy backpacks do to children's spines. He has forbidden
backpacks to be carried in halls and into classrooms -- not only
because kids were carrying too much weight all day, but because they
also were bumping into each other and falling in the halls.
He has finally come up with a partial solution to the problem. He is
spending $15,000 to buy math and science textbooks that will stay
permanently in classrooms, so kids can keep their own copy at home
for homework. It's expensive, but Mr. Dumeer thinks the school may
save money because it will mean less wear and tear on books.
"Just drive by any school as they're dismissing," Mr. Dumeer says.
"You'll just be amazed at how heavy these book bags are. You can
just see the weight they're carrying." |
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