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  • Beyond our borders: A medical mission to Peru

    Written by Brandon C. Carr, MD, FAAP, FACEP, Pediatric Emergency Medicine Physician at Arnold Palmer Hospital 

  • Can bottled water harm my kid’s teeth?

    Americans are now consuming on average 8.4 billion gallons of bottled water each year, according to the Beverage Marketing Corp. 8.4 billion gallons?! If you ask any person why they choose to drink bottled water over tap water, the answer is almost always, “it’s convenient and just tastes better.” This is true for adults and kids alike- bottled water is easy to pack in lunch boxes, take on family picnics, or stash in the car.

  • Learning to let them fly

    Am I an overparent-er?

  • Should I be concerned about West Nile virus?

    This year’s outbreak of the West Nile virus could be the worst our nation has ever seen. With 1,118 cases of the disease in 38 states reported so far this year, the incidence is nearly three times that of previous years. Seventy-five percent of the reported cases have been concentrated in five states: Louisiana, Oklahoma, Mississippi, South Dakota, and Texas. According to the newest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 41 people in the United States have already died from the illness in 2012.

    What is West Nile virus?

    Although identified in Uganda in 1937, the first reported case of West Nile virus in the Western hemisphere occurred in the New York City area in 1999. Since that time, it has spread to nearly every state.

  • Debunking the flu shot myths

    You may have heard some of these concerns about the flu shot, but are they really true or merely common misperceptions?

    “I got the flu from my flu shot.”

    MYTH. The flu shot is an inactivated vaccine, which means that it is made of killed influenza virus. Sometimes people may have picked up another type of virus that produced mild symptoms shortly after they received their flu shot, and they may assume that because they are “sick,” then they have the flu.

  • Forever and a Day: Jesse's song

    A man is supposed to be strong, tough, and show no emotion. Showing emotion, such as fear or pain, would only leave a man weak and vulnerable. This is how Jesse, 22-years-old, feels as he is forced to face these feelings after battling cancer for several years. You see, emotions such as anger, hurt, pain, and fear, are something that Jesse feels every day, as a result of this disease. To cope with his emotions, he turns to music as a way to process what he is going through and help his loved ones understand. Music has become his “safe place”- a place where he can expose his thoughts and feelings, being free to share the turmoil of his heart, without feeling judged or any less of the courageous man that he is.

  • Touching other family’s hearts through Emma’s story

    Emma is a giggly 7-year-old with an infectious smile that can light up an entire room. She’s just a normal kid who loves to dance, run around with friends, and have fun with her younger brother. What you wouldn’t know is that Emma’s journey has been nothing short of extraordinary. She was born with multiple heart defects, leaving her parents to wonder if she would even make it to her first birthday.

  • School Days

    As the back to school ads began appearing a few weeks ago, I remembered the days when my son was in elementary school and how we greeted each new school year with hope, determination and some anxiety.  To say my son was an “active” child is putting it mildly.  Except for the growling, he resembled the Tasmanian Devil from Bugs Bunny cartoons in terms of his activity level and his attention span.

  • Put down the phone!

    Words with Friends. Angry Birds. Facebook. Texting. Online banking. Google. Our smart phones sure are hard to stop playing with. Anyone who’s got one can relate. Smart phones are just… fun. They truly give us the world at our fingertips. But, what happens when we can’t stop playing with that world and we start ignoring the one that we actually live in?

  • Potty-training woes? Sometimes we just need to laugh

    Have you heard about my potty-training woes?