All Search Results
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On Mother's Day, what to say to parents who've lost a child
There are certain holidays that can feel like tiptoeing over landmines, and Mother’s and Father’s Day can be that way for some of us. For a perfectly intact family it may be nothing but joyful, but for those of us who have endured loss and heartache, that happiness is often tempered by a sense of sadness and grief. I lost my father as a teenager, and even now nearly twenty years later the day set aside to celebrate fathers is always bittersweet for me. I rejoice in the celebration of my husband with my children, but underneath I always feel the loss of my own father. My loss feels even heavier as I scroll through Facebook and see smiling photo after smiling photo posted of other people with their fathers. I’ll never have a picture of my Dad walking me down the aisle to get married; he wasn’t there. I’ll never have a photo of him with his grandchildren; he didn’t live to meet them. The knowledge of these things is a dull ache that has gotten better with time, but never really goes away.
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How post-traumatic stress disorder affects families in the NICU
Within our hospital system, we care for patients with all types of illnesses and health concerns. One of the things many people probably don’t recognize, though, is that along with the treatment of physical issues, our caregivers also provide for the mental and emotional needs of our patients and their families to ensure the health and wellbeing of the whole person. Since May is Mental Health Awareness Month, we have a great opportunity to learn a little more about what mental health professionals do in our hospital and learn important information about some of the mental health issues that patients or their families may face.
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How can you talk to your kids in the aftermath of tragedy?
Fred Rogers’s mother was right. Finding the helpers brings our children peace. Finding them reminds the kids that there are good people in this world, people that will risk their lives to save others, people who will give their time, their money, their wisdom, and their kindness to bring comfort and help to others.
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Get to Know Clinical Geneticist, Dr. Ingrid Cristian
Clinical genetics is an area of medicine you may not be very familiar with, but it’s a rapidly evolving discipline that offers us much-needed clues about the how and why of disease.
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Does My Child Need a Support Group?
At The Hewell Kids’ Kidney Center at Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, patients who have been diagnosed with End Stage Renal Disease often have difficulty coping and adjusting to a lifelong chronic illness.
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How we help children with eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) and allergic gastrointestinal problems
Eosinophilic esophageal disorder (EoE) is a long, tongue-twisting name that is perhaps fitting for this very complicated disorder. Sometimes referred to as a food allergy of the esophagus, it is a chronic problem that has to be carefully managed by a team of experts over a long period of time.
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Ways to keep your baby safe from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
As a physician, it is always hard to explain to new parents that their perfectly healthy newborn could potentially go to sleep and not wake up, and no one can explain why. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, also known as SIDS, is the sudden and unexplained death of a baby younger than 1 year old. It is sometimes referred to as “crib death” because it often occurs during sleep. SIDS is particularly scary because it has no symptoms or warning signs and typically, babies who die of SIDS are perfectly healthy before being put to bed. It is still unclear exactly what causes SIDS and although there is no way to 100% prevent it from happening, there are some things you can do as a parent to help keep your baby safe.
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5 easy things you can do to give your kids healthy teeth
So it’s happening. Your six-month-old baby is crying nonstop, and you finally found the reason: they have their first tooth! But what now? Everyone knows we’re supposed to brush our teeth. But when do you start teaching your child to brush? How often should your kids brush? What happens when they don’t take care of their teeth?
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One year later... how to help your children
As caregivers, we do our best to help and protect our children. When a tragedy like the pulse shooting happens, it is difficult for us as adults to make sense of it, much less to help our children do so. Usually, anniversaries of a tragedy bring back emotions and thoughts that may have already settled. Therefore, it is a good idea to have some tips handy in case you notice the following characteristics in your children that were not there before:
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Ringworm: a common skin condition you can treat at home
A few weeks ago, I noticed a round, reddened area on my son’s leg. When I asked him what caused it, he told me he got it from falling off his bed. I found it difficult to believe he had fallen on something so perfectly round that it made a complete circle on his leg, and he couldn’t pinpoint anything in his room that caused the mark. (Three-year-olds aren’t the best source of medical information, as you might imagine). I accepted his explanation for a day or two, but when I gave it second look I realized that it wasn’t an injury at all but a ringworm infection.
