It's that time of year again! Yes it is Christmas, but it is also the cough, cold & flu season. If your family is anything like mine, it's a hard time of the year! In the past month alone, we had flu, ear infection & tummy bug!

Because I understand how hard this season can be, I also understand the importance of our ensuring that your families have good access to excellent health care. Our practice has implemented several strategies to make ourselves available to you when that fever happens in the middle of the night or that ear pain starts Sunday morning!

We know it can be easy to pop into different urgent cares around town. We also recognize that many urgent care clinics do a good job. However, we think it is extremely important for doctors to know the "whole picture" of your child—how she was premature, how he was hospitalized last year for RSV, or how she has had several recent asthma exacerbations. Knowing your child's complete medical history allows us to take their "whole clinical picture" into the context of our medical decision making. It is part of the relationship that we have fostered as your primary care providers and we firmly believe this helps us provide superior care!

So, how can you get a hold of us?

1) Normal clinic hours

2) After Hours—appointments can be made daily with the "on call doctor" who stays late

3) Nurse triage line—now FREE & available 24/7

4) Saturday clinic

5) Early morning urgent visits—made by the on-call doctor & triage nurse

Merry Christmas! We hope you stay well this holiday season. But, if you find your little one sick in the middle of the night or over the weekend, please call. We will be happy that you did!

As parents, we want our children to succeed in everything they do, especially school. Teachers play an important role in the development of our children. Get to know your child’s teacher and be actively involved with your child's education. Here are some tips to help your child with school:

• Establish a good bed time routine. Children need eight to ten hours of sleep each night.
• Plan enough time to get ready in the morning so your child doesn't feel stressed.
• Help your child develop good homework habits. Designate a regular time and location to work on assignments. It should be away from other children playing and without distractions from the television.
• Do not do their homework for them. When you child asks for help, provide guidance, not answers.
• Start projects early! The hardest part is getting started, so do at least one thing the day it is assigned.
• When doing homework, help your child figure out what is hard homework and what is easy. Do the easy part first, for a feeling of accomplishment.
• Limit electronic media time, this includes TV, DVDs, computer, iPad, iPhone, etc.

We hope you have had a great summer! If you child requires your help to get the homework done, talk with his teacher.

Below are several links with information that we thought helpful:

Making the first day of school easier:
http://www.healthychildren.org/English/News/pages/Back-to-School-Tips.aspx

Bullying:
http://www.healthychildren.org/English/safety-prevention/at-play/Pages/Bullying-Its-Not-Ok.aspx

When will my child ever sleep? What about this eat/play/sleep thing? Am I doing all the right things? The flood of thoughts and emotions is enough to consume any new mom!

The newborn period can be an overwhelming time for many of us. Sleepless nights along with post partum hormones challenge our ability to fully embrace our new little miracle.

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 The staff at POD looks forward to Spring Break every year. In years past, this generally marks the end to the cold and flu season! (We're not so sure this year.) But with half the doctors out of town, it was time for the staff to have some fun!

If you were here for a visit, you might have seen a super hero, a Disney character or two, and a hula hoop contest. With the relaxed atmosphere, it was a much needed break for the staff.

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