The FAAN Walk for Food Allergy October 6th!

Guest POST :Michelle Fogg, Co-Chair
The FAAN Walk for Food Allergy in Salt Lake City is one week away!

                             Sugar House Park
                             Saturday October 6, 2012
                             Registration @ 11am
                             Walk @ Noon

Walk to Save a Life and play for a great cause. Lots of fun activities and vendors including: face painting, bounce houses, Munchkin Radio, Utah Society of Allergy & Asthma, Utah School Nurses Association, Utah Food Allergy Network, Mylan Pharma (EpiPen), SunButter, and more!


Everyone can help contribute to the Walk's success, even if you can't physically attend on Walk day. By working together, we can ensure the Walk comes back next year and that UFAN will be able to apply for a Community Grant from FAAN that is used to directly benefit our Utah community. Projects that have been funded by the FAAN Walk Community Grant in the past include special guest speakers for the Utah Food Allergy Conference and the FAAN School Food Allergy Program which was purchased for every school district in the state! The Walk is also a great way to raise community awareness and education not to mention an event where the kids get to play and we all see that we are truly not alone. Here are some suggestions of how you can get involved now:

• Register your Walk team today by visiting foodallergywalk.org and start gathering pledges & teamates
• Register as a Virtual Walker (you are unable to attend the day of Walk but still want to participate in the fundraising effort)
• Visit foodallergywalk.org and make a donation to any team or walker
• Help spread the word about the Walk in your community by delivering posters/brochures to your local businesses, libraries, physician offices, community centers, etc. Email "Walk Posters" to support@utahfoodallergy.org with your name, mailing address, and quantity needed and we will send them to you ASAP

Thank you for helping to make 2012 a successful Walk year and help to keep the Walk coming back. We are about $20k from our goal but if we work together, anything is possible!

...because you love someone with food allergies.

Reminder! Educational Class Tomorrow!

Reminder!!! Class tomorrow night! If you have a child in preschool through grade 1 this is a class you will NOT want to miss! We will have this amazing seminar on Tuesday Sept 25th at 7:00 PM.  Please contact our office right away to hold a spot:)....

Introducing an EDUCATIONAL SEMINAR
for the parents of children in preschool
 through Grade 1

Tuesday, September 25th 7:00 pm
Willowcreek Pediatrics Office
$20 per person. Register at the front office or
 call 801-942-1800 and ask to speak to Margie
Space is limited; reserve your seat NOW!

Featuring life-changing, research-based
information to implement simple & fun
practice lessons that include:
**Goals for learning
**interesting texts
**Fun, real-world experiences
**Expert Reading strategies

Presented by reading experts:
Emily Swan, Ph.D & Michelle Roderick, M.Ed.

For Free parenting tips prior to attending visit:
www.engagewiththepage.com/parentingtips/

Best Prevention: Hand Washing!

It is that time of the year again to remind you about the most effect tool we have--HAND WASHING! How many times have you and your child washed your hands today? You might not have given it much thought. It’s either part of your routine, done frequently without thinking, or maybe you don’t do it much at all. But as your pediatrician may have told you, hand washing may be the single most important act you and your child have for disease prevention.
As early as possible, get your child into the habit of washing her hands often and thoroughly. All day long, your child is exposed to bacteria and viruses—when touching a playmate, sharing toys, or petting the cat. Once her hands pick up these germs, she can quickly infect herself by rubbing her eyes, touching her nose, or placing her fingers in her mouth. The whole process can happen in seconds, and cause an infection that can last for days, weeks, or even longer.
Hand washing can stop the spread of infection. The key is to encourage your child to wash her hands throughout the day. For example, help her or remind her to wash her hands  

• Before eating (including snacks)  
• After a trip to the bathroom  
• Whenever she comes in from playing outdoors  
• After touching an animal like a family pet  
• After sneezing or coughing if she covers her mouth  
• When someone in the household is ill

Studies on hand washing in public restrooms show that most people don’t have very good hygiene habits. “Hand washing” may mean just a quick splash of water and perhaps a squirt of soap, but not nearly enough to get their hands clean.
So what does a thorough hand washing involve? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the following steps:  

• Wet your child’s hands.  
• Apply clean bar soap or liquid soap to the hands, and then place the bar on a rack where it can drain before the next hand washing.  
• Rub the hands vigorously together. Scrub every surface completely.  
• Keep rubbing and scrubbing for 10 to 15 seconds to effectively remove the germs.  
• Rinse the hands completely, then dry them.

Drugstore shelves are full of trendy antibacterial soaps, but studies have shown that these antibacterial products are no better at washing away dirt and germs than regular soap. Some infectious disease experts have even suggested that by using antibacterial soaps, you may actually kill off normal bacteria and increase the chances that resistant bacteria may grow. The best solution is to wash your child’s hands with warm water and ordinary soap that does not contain antibacterial substances (eg, triclosan). Regular use of soap and water is better than using waterless (and often alcohol-based) soaps, gels, rinses, and hand rubs when your child’s hands are visibly dirty (and with children, there usually is dirt on the hands!). However, when there is no sink available (eg, the car), hand rubs can be a useful alternative.
Keep in mind that although 10 to 15 seconds of hand washing sounds like an instant, it is much longer than you think. Time yourself the next time you wash your hands. Watch your child while she’s washing her hands to make sure she’s developing good hygiene behaviors. Pick a song that lasts for 15 seconds and sing it while you wash. Encourage your child to wash her hands not only at home, but also at school, at friends’ homes, and everywhere else. It’s an important habit for her to get into, and hopefully one that’s hard to break!

*info from healthychildren.org

AAP Recommendations for FLU Vaccine

 

Article Body

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends annual trivalent seasonal influenza immunization for all individuals 6 months of age and older, including all children, adolescents and young adults.

An updated policy statement, “Recommendations for Prevention and Control of Influenza in Children, 2012-2013” in the October 2012 Pediatrics (published online Sept. 10), includes guidance on vaccine formulations, dosing, and administration, as well as current treatment guidance for antiviral medications.

According to the AAP, special efforts should be made to vaccinate people in the following groups:

• children who have chronic medical conditions that increase their risk of influenza complications, like asthma, diabetes, immunosuppression, or neurologic disorders;
• family members and others who are in contact with children with high-risk conditions and children under age 5 (especially children under 6 months of age);
• all health care personnel;
• and women who are pregnant, are considering pregnancy, have just delivered or are breastfeeding during influenza season.

Please contact our office to schedule an appointment with a nurse. We have both the flu mist and flu vaccine (shot). Contact our office if you have any questions 801-942-1800.

Building Self-Esteem in Children

Our friends over at DDI Vantage wrote a great article on Self Esteem and we wanted to share it. If you do not know about DDI Vantage they offer many great classes along with services for our community. Check them out on Facebook and there website is www.ddivantage.org

Building Self Esteem in Children

Building a child's self esteem is an important part of helping your child be healthy and happy. Helping your child develop self-esteem starts with understanding what it is.

Self esteem is a combination of self-confidence and self-respect. Self-confidence is defined as proper respect for oneself and one's worth as a person. So it develop self-esteem a child must learn to believe in their abilities and respect themselves.

Developing self-esteem requires freedom and encouragement. A child who is free to experiment, to fail and to try again develops a sense of their own accomplishments. With too much help the child does not get to "own" the sense of accomplishment. Likewise, receiving encouragement lets the child know what they do is important and worth something.

In their guide for parents and teachers, Self-Esteem for Tots to Teens, educators Eugen Anderson, George Redman, and Charlotte Rogers offer these five principles for building self-esteem in children:

1. Listen to and acknowledge your child's thoughts and feelings. By giving your children your full attention when they talk and then paraphrasing their thoughts, you show that they count.
2. Create situations that help your children experience success, not failure. Set Clear and appropriate expectations, offer a reasonable amount of help, provide adequate incentives, and remove obstacles.
3. Give your children a feeling of reasonable control over their life. Having too little control over their environment can make them feel inadequate; having too much control can make them feel neglected and insecure.
4. Reinforce that your child is lovable and capable. Praise them for what they do, reward their successes and tell them tha you are proud of them.
5. Show your child that you have a positive view of yourself. Children can "catch" self-esteem from adults. Let your children hear you talk about yourself in positive terms. Let them see you react to circumstance in your life in a positive way.

While using these principles, remember to be careful to balance praise and criticism. A certain amount of praise will reinforce your children's sense of their own success, but too much praise can sound more like pressure than encouragement. Likewise, too much criticism can rob your children of their energy to solve problems.

**thanks DDI Vantage

CPR Class Announced!

It is time again for another CPR class! This is such a great class and we have so many people that want to take it so make sure you sign up fast!

CPR Courses for Parents!

Saturday, Oct 6, 2012 at 2:00 pm
The class will last approximately 1 hour

$15 per person

15-20 spots available

To sign up, please speak with our office coordinator, Margie. You can contact her by calling the office or email her at margiet@wasatchpeds.net.

Spots will be offered on a first come first serve basis!

This is only a CPR class, NOT certification. It will be taught by Christine Keddington, who is certified to teach CPR.

Labor Day Holiday Hours

YES! We are open today! We will have a doctor at our clinic starting at 9:30 AM to see sick patients. We will only book in consecutive order but are happy to see your sick child. Tuesday will be a normal business day with our phones turning on at 8:00 am to see your regular pediatrician. We hope you have a very nice and SAFE Labor day!