Archives for November 2009

More children turned out for the H1N1 flu clinic on Monday than for the two previous clinics combined.Last night we had 446 (children),” said Louis Tartaglia, the city’s executive health director, who was concerned when just 228 kids showed up last week for a clinic where 1,000 doses of the vaccine were available.This week’s clinic, held in conjunction with the schools, was for children through age 7. Another clinic is tentatively scheduled for Dec. 3, he said. At that time, children up to age 9 will be eligible for the shots.

So far, we’ve vaccinated 826 students,said Tartaglia.He has also distributed doses of the vaccine to private preschools and Trinity Catholic Academy.According to Tartaglia, the city has been getting more reportable cases of H1N1 virus, but only the most serious cases are being tested.Tartaglia said he had 550 doses of the vaccine on Monday and another 500 put away for the next clinic.He has been critical of the decision to hold clinics after school hours, saying transportation is a problem for many parents. But Superintendent of Schools Matthew Malone said it is important that parents be with the children when they are inoculated.

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A survey in Britain by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) found that 71% of parents think that their children are active enough.but that, in reality, only 11% of kids say that they do the recommended amount of exercise.The BHF has published a "Couch Kids" report which found that, despite initiatives from schools, communities and parents, kids are no more active today than they were a decade ago. And the number of overweight and obese kids continues to rise. So how much exercise should kids be getting? The UK government recommends sixty minutes of physical activity a day (for children aged 5 - 18).And how much exercise are they getting? The report founnd that just 11% of kids - around one in ten - managed the hour a day. And 15% of boys and 19% of girls weren't active for even half an hour each day.

Parents of children who had an initial H1N1 flu shot may be relieved to learn their kids won’t likely need a followup booster shot as previously recommended.Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health has learned from the Ontario Health Ministry and the Public Health Agency of Canada that the second shot won’t be required.They have indicated it’s not necessary for healthy children,” health board communications specialist Lucia Zdeb said Friday.

Healthy children are those aged three to nine who don’t have chronic illnesses.Zdeb said lots of kids got their first shot several weeks ago, back when they were informed they should return for a booster shot after at least 21 days. Those families are now starting to come in to vaccine clinics for those followup ones. But in the interval, health authorities have concluded that’s no longer needed.As for others, those within the ages of three and nine with chronic conditions still need two shots to maximize their immunity, she said.

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As the debate over healthcare reform rages on in the United States, children's advocates are busy analyzing on how two healthcare bills in the House and in the Senate Finance Committee will affect children of low-income families when a national insurance program expires in 2013.While no legislation has sought to extend the expiration date, the question is what will happen afterwards, said Rachel Klein, deputy director of Health for Families USA, a healthcare consumer policy and advocacy group.

The Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) targets the 6 million low-income uninsured children who do not qualify for Medicaid, a program that covers 28 million American children.But under the House bill, CHIP will be terminated on Oct. 1, 2013. At the bottom end, CHIP children below 150 percent of the federal poverty line (FPL) will be moved to Medicaid. Those above will be covered by employer-based insurance or through the market exchange, also known as the "public option.

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Along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most family doctors are recommending that children and pregnant women, in particular, vaccinate against the potentially dangerous H1N1 virus. But today's Internet-savvy parents are far more informed and skeptical thanks to the ease with which alternative medical information travels.

Add to that a growing mistrust of government and vaccines in general and you get the answer to why so many parents say they will not be vaccinating their family against this virus. So what are the fears? They're mainly about how and where the vaccine is made. Many parents believe that mercury and other preservatives found in vaccines are responsible for the growing incidence of autism in children today. Others are concerned that the vaccine or parts of the vaccine are being manufactured in China or other places where standards of practices are lower.

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The World Vision clinic, modeled after a typical African community clinic, will stand in sharp contrast to the now-common sight of parents and children receiving the care they need at Canadian H1N1 flu shot clinics. ozens of local parents and pre-school children will join Tom Cochrane at the clinic to launch World Vision's Five for 5 campaign. The campaign will address the unacceptable reality that 8.8 million children under five die each year of preventable causes. A national Ipsos-Reid poll on child health issues in Canada and globally will be released and event participants will explore interactive exhibits of the preventable causes of child deaths.

Besides daily screening of students to detect cases of swine flu, school authorities are now stressing upon educating parents to inform them immediately if their wards are suffering from any flu-like symptoms. HS Mamik, president of the Independent School Association, said schools had become extra vigilant and were asking parents to convey to them if their children are unwell.

Meanwhile, a meeting of principals of various private schools will be held on Monday where the health authorities will deliberate upon the future course of action. Jaskiran Kaur, principal DAV School sector-8 said, “We will hold a special meeting to discuss the strategy to deal with cases of swine flu before the school reopens on Tuesday. DS Bedi, principal of Shivalik Public School in sector-41, from where a positive case of H1N1 was reported, said,Our team of doctors along with health officials will screen all students who came in contact with the victim.

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Nov. 13, 2009 Your preschooler wakes up in the middle of the night, screaming there's a monster in the room. If you're like most parents trying to calm their children's fears, your first instinct is to say: "Monsters aren't real" and try to get your kid grounded in reality and back to sleep.

But if your child is 4 or younger, a better strategy may be to stay in your child's fantasy world, according to the results of a new study, and help him or her cope within it. Instead of injecting reality, you may, for instance, encourage your child to aim a spray bottle of water at the creature, explaining that it's anti-monster spray, or you may suggest the monster is actually a friendly monster.

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Parents of children aged three to nine won’t need to line-up a second time for their child to get a second H1N1 flu vaccination shot. The Public Health Agency of Canada is changing its recommendation for healthy children, saying kids aged three to nine probably don’t need a second shot of the vaccine to be protected against the H1N1 flu virus.

Head of the Public Health Agency of Canada Dr. David Butler-Jones says the decision is based on some promising data. Children aged three to nine with chronic diseases may need a second shot. Butler-Jones says infants and toddlers aged six to 35 months should get two shots of the vaccine. 

The research by think tank Demos tracked the lives of 9,000 families over eight years. The head of the research team, Sonia Sodha, says the tough love style of parenting combines warmth and discipline, and is far more important in a child's success than parents' income or social background.

"Parents are able to set rules, apply them consistently and fairly and that means that children know what the boundaries are to their behaviour," she said. Ms Sodha says tough love parenting helps children to develop key skills such as emotion control and empathy.

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