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  • The 5-Second Rule

    How Much Germ Knowledge do YOU Have?

  • Preparing for Baby's Arrival

    Deciding to have a baby is probably one of the most exciting decisions that you will make in your life.  In addition to those feelings, it is perfectly normal to also feel a bit nervous.  Your body will experience changes during pregnancy that you have never felt before, and you might worry about what it will be like to take care of your new baby.  You may wander down the aisles of the baby store and wonder if you really do need all of this stuff to take care of the newest and smallest member of your family.  Pregnancy is a time of excitement and anticipation as well as uncertainty.

  • The Politics of Poop

    If you'd told me a few years ago that I would be talking publicly about poop, I would have said you’re crazy. No way. Not me. I’ll never be that mom.

  • 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.

  • Concussions and sports: It's a girl thing, too

    As summer winds down and a new school year gets underway, this also signals the start of the fall high school sports season in Central Florida.

  • My Healing Harmony

    As a kid, being hospitalized can be a scary thing. Being in an unfamiliar place without the comforts of home, undergoing surgery, or dealing with pain that is unimaginable to most people is tough. The days can become monotonous, as kids start to feel less and less themselves, and more defined by their illness. Sometimes, kids can’t express their pain or what they are feeling, making it difficult for those around them to understand. Amidst these daily struggles, My Healing Harmony, the music therapy program at Arnold Palmer Hospital, brings hope and healing to patients and families.

    What is My Healing Harmony?

    My Healing Harmony was started two years ago by the Fatone Family Foundation as a way to bring the healing powers of music to patients. After starting their own foundation, the Fatone family was looking for a way to share their love and knowledge of the music industry with kids in need. And what better place to bring hope and joy to kids than at Arnold Palmer Hospital? My Healing Harmony comes to life through music therapist Holly Solis, whose angelic voice brings smiles everywhere she goes. Whether it is comforting a child while going through a procedure or bringing relaxation to a patient’s bedside through peaceful melodies, Holly shares her gift of music to brighten a child’s day.

    The benefits of music therapy

    There are many ways that kids can benefit from music therapy. Music has been found to promote healing in patients recovering from surgical procedures or battling life-threatening diseases. Therapists are able to use music as way to relate to what kids are going through and help distract them from the pain they are feeling. Music is frequently used as a relaxation method to calm a patient’s anxiety and fear. When Holly makes her daily rounds to patient rooms, she says, “I always look at the vital signs when I walk in to the room and as I am playing a song, because I can see a difference from the time I start to when I finish. It’s a great way to know the patient is relaxed”.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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?

  • 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.