Summer camp tips

It’s sleep-away and day camp season. Parents may have questions about their child’s medications while at camp and also what to pack for camp and why. One of our Children’s Medical Center nurses just returned from duty as a camp nurse and has these helpful tips for parents and campers alike:

• Find out if there is a camp nurse and where children’s medications are stored.
• Ask who administers medications if not a camp nurse.
• When dropping off your child, stop by to visit the camp nurse or health officer with any health or other concerns and let the nurse know which medications or other healthcare products your child is using.
• Keep all medications in their original packaging, especially prescription drugs, but also over-the-counter medications, herbals, vitamins and homeopathic remedies, such as melatonin. Otherwise, the nurse will not be able to dispense the products to your child.
• Provide the nurse and camp counselor with a list of any known food or environmental allergies your child may have.
• Provide your camper with a reusable water bottle so it will be easier for them to stay hydrated.
• Pack lots of sunscreen and a hat to protect your child from the harsh summer sun.
• You might also want to pack insect spray that is appropriate for your child’s age and size.
• Pack extra socks so your child has dry ones to wear to prevent blisters.
• To help allay possible homesickness, send your child to camp with a memento from home, such as a favorite stuffed animal, toy or photo.

Family-centered rounds at Children’s

Family-centered rounds in the hospital. What exactly does that mean? It’s part of a movement in American hospitals to involve the patient and family in all aspects of the patient’s care, including the discussions among physicians and other medical personnel.

The essence of the idea is that by partnering with patients and families and involving them in decisions about their care, hospitals can deliver better quality of care for all patients and achieve better patient outcomes.

At Children’s Medical Center, family-centered rounds involve a dedicated team of physicians and other healthcare personnel who visit the child’s hospital room every day. The team ensures family participation in discussions on the child’s care. Reason for admission to the hospital, current condition of the child, plans for the day, and discharge expectations are clearly communicated on a daily basis on these rounds.

Raegan’s case
Stefanie Davis, mother of 2-½-year-old patient Raegan Davis from Ennis, Texas, has first-hand experience with family-centered rounds at Children’s. Raegan underwent treatment for osteomyelitis, an infection of the bone. Stefanie and her husband, William Davis, participated in the daily rounds with the medical team to develop plans to manage Raegan’s medical condition. They received daily updates from the team and had their questions answered by the medical team. “We were very well informed along the way,” Davis says.

Piloting the concept
Dr. Vineeta Mittal, a pediatrician and assistant professor of Pediatrics at UT Southwestern Medical Center, has been in the forefront of family-centered rounds at Children’s. Piloting the effort among the hospital’s general pediatric floors, she says, “Families feel involved and appreciate being a part of the medical team. They understand why their child is admitted and what the discharge goals are.” Additionally, she says, “We may be the experts in medicine but families are the experts on their child. We want to partner and work with them to manage their child’s condition.”

Dr. Mittal has authored a study on family-centered rounding this month in the journal Pediatrics.

Watch a video of Dr. Mittal and Davis explaining family-centered rounds:



The practice of family-centered rounds is just one part of our mission to make life better for children, in this case by involving the family in their child’s care at the most basic level of communication. It is also a great learning tool for medical students, interns, and residents on the medical rounding team as they learn to communicate directly with the family under the watchful eye of an attending physician.

Dr. Mittal acknowledges that the concept of involving families so intimately in their child’s care can be a little intimidating. “Large team size can be a little overwhelming for some families at first, but families appreciate being involved in medical decision-making and are more comfortable expressing their concerns on rounds,” she says.

Linda Hensel, RN, BSN, a bedside and charge nurse who often participates in family-centered rounds, says of the practice: “I think it puts everyone on the same page, reinforcing and supporting the care the child is receiving.”

Talking about the Gulf Coast disaster

I wonder what parents are telling their children about the oil spewing into the Gulf Coast waters. June 20 marked two months since the British Petroleum oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, sending untold gallons of raw oil into the sea and fouling beaches and marshes. President Barak Obama has called it the “greatest environmental disaster of its kind in history,” so it’s not enough just to tell your children the oil is bad for fish.

In fact, the news is everywhere, and your child has likely already heard a lot about the Gulf Coast oil disaster and/or seen pictures of oil-soaked wildlife, so be prepared to talk about it.

Pete Stavinoha, Ph.D., a child neuropsychologist at Children’s Medical Center, says the Gulf Coast disaster provides a starting point for discussions with your children about environmental responsibility and stewardship.

But it is also a subject that could raise anxieties in smaller children who see images of dead or dying wildlife, so it is important to monitor their time listening to and watching the news.

Stavinoha suggests parents:

• Listen to children and encourage them to ask questions at their own level of understanding. It’s OK to say you don’t know all the answers. It’s also OK not to overwhelm them with information that they may not understand.
  
  
• Pay attention to younger children’s play and drawings. They may give you a clue about what they are feeling or what they know about the disaster. This may provide the opportunity to talk about it and perhaps clarify their questions.
  


• Don’t downplay the seriousness of the situation. Especially for older children, it is important to acknowledge the significance of the event.
  

If your child is old enough, watch news reports or read the news together to encourage conversation about the topic. PBS has age-appropriate guidelines about how much news children should be watching and what they will understand about the news that are helpful.

Our visit to Capitol Hill was priceless

Sheila Elliott, Colby Elliott’s mom, describes her family’s visit to Capitol Hill to meet Texas state representatives, senators, and their aides during Family Advocacy Days in Washington, D.C.

Thanks to the Elliott family for helping us put a face on the important work done every day at Children's Medical Center.

We spent the day taking the boys to 10 different members of Congress. We met with Representatives Mike Conaway, Mike Burgess, Sam Johnson and Ralph Hall, Rep. Joe Barton's aide, Kay Granger's aide, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison's aide, Senator John Cornyn’s aide, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson's aide and Rep. Chet Edwards.... what an absolutely amazing day! PRICELESS! The boys will remember this day for a long time!

I'm proud to say that Colby felt comfortable on Capitol Hill. He even asked Ralph Hall if he had a bathroom, to which Hall replied, "Of course, I do! I'm 87 years old." Colby proceed to the back of his office and found the door that concealed Mr. Hall's private bathroom. I reminded Colby to lift the seat and wash his hands.

In all seriousness, our family has had the trip of a lifetime. It was absolutely perfect and was like a dream come true.

Our sweet Colby, who just seven years ago began his journey with his first open heart surgery at 4.8 pounds, is now a 40-pound ball of energy who has sat in the offices of the very important people who make decisions for our country.

My husband and I are so thankful that we made the decision to put Colby in the hands of the specialists of Children's Medical Center. They gave our child life, and it feels good to stand on Capitol Hill, speaking with members of Congress, representing all of the children and their families.

Today, we conclude our trip with a visit to the National Children's Museum, where we will continue to remember our son's journey and celebrate his life.

As we spend this last day in Washington, D.C., we are reminded of all the children who are still fighting for their lives, and for those who are the precious angels among us. Our thoughts and prayers are with you all, and our door is open to anyone who would like to contact our family for questions or support. Thank you for following our journey to D.C.!

Congressional visits day

Sheila Elliott, Colby Elliott’s mom, updates us on the June 16 congressional visits day so far.

We're on the Hill! It's so exciting. So far we've met with Rep. Mike Conaway, Rep. Mike Burgess (who's also a doctor), and Rep. Sam Johnson of Texas. It's a challenge to keep three boys all focused and calm at the same time, of course.

We think Colby is putting a "face" on the importance of health care for these lawmakers, and that's great. Behind all of these bills and decisions are kids like Colby, who are alive because of well-trained pediatric specialists.

Now we're off to our next appointments!

Family Advocacy Day celebration dinner

Sheila Elliott, the mother of Colby Elliott, says her family is enjoying their time in the nation's capital and had a great time at the family celebration dinner June 15. Read her update below.

Our family had an AMAZING time tonight at the Family Advocacy Day celebration dinner. There was a magician, a live band, great food, face painting, caricature drawings, and every child picked out their favorite toy from the "Toy Store." The boys were in heaven.

I'm pretty sure Colby met every family that attended the event, as he darted from table to table, handing out his trading card. He received many other families' cards and put them in his special folder. He has really enjoyed meeting the other families and learning about their stories.

Colby has always been a "kid magnet." People are drawn to his contagious smile and bubbly personality. At one point, Colby had half the children dancing with him on the dance floor. It was such a joy to see him and the children playing and celebrating the hospitals that gave them life.

Tomorrow morning, we're off to Capitol Hill. We can't wait to see our lawmakers!

Colby's mom updates us on their trip

Sheila Elliot, the mother of Colby Elliot, says her family is enjoying their time in the nation's capital. Read her update below.

WOW! What an amazing time we are having here in Washington, D.C., representing Children’s Medical Center! Colby has enjoyed seeing a lot of the monuments and museums. This trip has been a dream come true for our family. However, since we haven’t traveled a lot with Colby due to his heart condition, it has also reminded us how resilient, yet delicate he can be.

The heat of the blaring sun and the tremendous amount of walking has taken a toll on him. Fortunately, Children’s arranged a stroller to be delivered to the hotel, which has been a lifesaver! :)

Colby has had a blast exchanging trading cards with other “All Star” kids and listening to their hospital experiences. He tells everyone he meets how awesome “our” hospital is and that Children’s “room service” is the best!

We are looking forward to meeting with members of Congress tomorrow and sharing our story with them and thanking them for their support. It is so important for the leaders of our country to put a face to the decisions they make. We feel so privileged to represent Children’s Medical Center. Colby is so proud of his hospital and doctors. Children’s has given our son life, and by speaking with members of Congress, it is our hope that other children will have a stronger life as well.

So far, we've done a radio interview with a Texas news network, plus another radio interview. And we just finished making a video interview for the National Association of Children's Hospitals, too. Tonight, we have the dinner celebration for the families, and there's even a live band!

Colby goes to Washington

Colby Elliot is the prototypical picture of an American boy. He has blonde hair, blue eyes and dimples that frame his smile. Norman Rockwell would have loved to use him as a model for one of his Saturday Evening Post covers in the 1950s.

Now that summer has arrived, the 7-year-old from Frisco can be found participating in All-American hobbies like swimming, riding his scooter, playing with his brothers and... meeting with U.S. legislators in Washington, D.C.

You see, Colby is All-American, but he isn't ordinary. His whole life has been spent undergoing treatment for hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a rare congenital defect in which the left side of his heart is severely undeveloped. However, thanks to the dozens of specialists in The Heart Center at Children's, Colby has come a long way since birth.

This week, Colby is trying to repay the favor by advocating for those specialists and others like them on Capitol Hill during the National Association of Children's Hospitals' Family Advocacy Day. He will meet with members of Texas' congressional delegation on Tuesday and Wednesday to tell them about his condition and his lifesaving medical team.

Today, Colby is relaxing with his family and doing some sightseeing. He's seen the Washington Monument and visited the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Below is a picture of Colby lighting a candle at the Holocaust Museum.


You can follow the rest of Colby's big adventure this week right here on the blog and through Children's Facebook page and Twitter account.

Young pitchers need rest and variation

If you watched or read the news this week, you probably heard about Bryce Harper, the first overall pick in the Major League Baseball draft. Harper is by all accounts a "phenom." Sports Illustrated had him on its cover last year - when he was only 16 years old. He hits 600-feet home runs and can throw a baseball 97 miles per hour.

Another thing you might have heard about Harper is that he began playing competitive baseball when he was 3. By the time he was in his teens, he was playing 170 games a year while playing in both travel and school leagues. MLB players only play 162 games during their regular season.

While these statistics are impressive, another news story that came out this week suggests that Harper's path is not advisable for all young baseball players, particularly for young pitchers. A study presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons revealed that throwing-arm injuries are rising in youth baseball programs. The proposed reason is that young players are throwing too much with too little rest for their arms.

Children's own Dr. Philip Wilson, pediatric orthopedic surgeon in the Sports Medicine Center, has adressed the issue of overuse or repetitive-use injuries in stories and videos on childrens.com.

"We're not seeing the selective stress distributed about their body like we used to see in childhood athletes, where they played baseball for fun one month and the next month was basketball and next season was football," Dr. Wilson said. "Stress would be placed in different areas of the child's body, allowing time for recovery.

"There is widespread overtraining of children today."

If a young pitcher throws out his arm, he could be out for the season and possibly suffer permanent damage. So, if the goal for young baseballers is to become the best player possible, playing year-round baseball might prove counterproductive.

For parents interested in researching the issue further, the USA Baseball Medical and Safety Advisory Committee has guidelines for young pitchers.

According to Dr. Wilson, parents primarily need to be sensitive to their child's developing body.

"The bottom line is that if a child begins complaining of soreness or sensitivity, especially in areas of the body they frequently use in their sport, they need to rest," he said. "Some time away from that motion or sport will benefit them much more than continued, daily practice and play of the same sport."

Legos and Team Sasha

Kids have the most marvelous ways of remembering special things and special people. Sometimes, one toy captures a host of memories.

For instance, Legos were one of my favorite toys as a child. The idea that you could build anything you imagined made for hours of fun with those colorful little snap-together plastic pieces.

Legos became one of Sasha Okhotskiy’s favorite toys too while he was a patient here at Children’s Medical Center. Sasha spent many days making highly complex Lego creations in his hospital room and at home while being treated for a form of brain cancer. Ultimately, Sasha lost that battle in August 2009 after a recurrence of the disease.

A special gift to Children's
However, Sasha’s love of Legos lives on through a special gift to the hospital provided by a group of his friends. They call themselves Team Sasha in his honor and they are a group of 11- and 12-year-olds who grew up playing basketball and soccer with their friend at the Plano Sports Authority. On June 7, the team visited Children’s to give a huge boost to the number of Legos we have to offer patients.

In fact, Team Sasha collected some 400 Lego kits for the hospital in Sasha’s memory, comprising thousands of individual pieces and toted in by the armload. There were so many Lego kits that they took up the Okhotskiy’s entire living room and then grew beyond that, said Sasha’s father, Sergei. The team’s donation was part of the community project SLANT 45 (Service Learning Adventures in North Texas), a project of the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee designed to have impacts on the North Texas area long after the Super Bowl has concluded early next year.

Watch a video of Team Sasha’s visit to the hospital.



Sasha never stopped fighting
Sasha’s friends said Sasha never stopped fighting even to the last minute and Legos gave him something to occupy his time and his hands. Mr. Okhotskiy fondly recalled a Taj Mahal that Sasha had built and an Eiffel Tower that he and Sasha completed with more than 6,000 pieces to it. Sasha’s favorite Legos had a “Star Wars” theme.

It’s kids like Team Sasha’s members that give me hope for the future, knowing that they loved their friend so much and decided to honor him in such an original way, a way that reflects in part who Sasha was. A toy indeed can capture memories.

Vote for Children's!!!

We at Children's have a favor to ask.

Our Disease Management department is a top 10 finalist for a $25,000 grant from Post Cereals. By simply going to the Post "Grant for Good Health" Web page and casting your vote for the "Project Fit America" entry, you can help us receive the grant.

Children's will use the funds to collaborate with Project Fit America to improve the fitness and activity levels of students at one pilot school in North Texas by providing educational programs and state-of-the-art fitness equipment to the school. For more specifics on the initiative, click on the "more" link at the bottom of the entry description.

Whoever receives the most votes wins, and voters can vote once every day through July 22. So, please vote as frequently as you can and ask your friends to do the same. Your efforts will go a long way in helping Children's extend its mission "to make life better for children" outside our hospital walls.

Kids say no to physical activity

When I was a child, we played outside all day in the summer and all afternoon after school days. No one I knew went home and watched TV and, of course, there were no video games. It was a simpler time.

While this observation dates me, I had no idea of the extent that kids these days don’t do anything physical until I ran across some statistics that gave me cause for concern.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says 62 percent of kids ages 9 to 13 don’t participate in any organized physical activity and 23 percent don’t participate in any free-time physical activity. No wonder youth obesity rates, and along with it, type 2 diabetes in children, have risen. In Texas, for example, about 20 to 30 percent of children ages 10 to 17 are considered overweight or obese.

The CDC data, from 2007, also point out that as children get older, their level of physical activity goes down: Only 17 percent of high school students participated in at least 60 minutes of physical activity on any given day and only 30 percent attended Phys Ed class daily, the CDC said. When I was in high school, we had PE every day or else you played a sport.

Boosting physical activity
Dr. Jon Oden, a pediatric endocrinologist at Children’s Medical Center who works in the Center for Obesity and its Consequences in Health (COACH) Clinic, had this advice for increasing physical activity in your child’s daily life:

Model good behavior as a parent by leading an active lifestyle.

• Make family time physical activity time.



• Help to facilitate physical activity among your child’s friends.



• Limit TV, computer and video game time to no more than 2 hours a day.



• Work with your schools to increase physical activity opportunities.



• Work with your community to ensure there are places where children can be physically active.

If we all work together, maybe parents, schools and communities can help resolve this literally growing problem.