Pediatricians & Healthy Child Development

Charles Bruner, Ph.D., director of the Child and Family Policy Center and HMG National partner, has written a blog post for BUILDing Strong Foundations. In the post, he describes the critical role primary health care practitioners play in the development of young children. “Health Equity, the Triple Aim, and the First Two Years” also discusses …

2 Oct · Lauren Till · No Comments

Social Needs are as Important as Medical

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation published a report that supports the idea behind last week’s post. We discussed that poor health outcomes are often not solely rooted in poor health inputs, but that there are frequently social influences which heavily impact wellness. In “Health Care’s Blind Side” it becomes clear that physicians frequently encounter health …

25 Sep · Lauren Till · No Comments

Adverse Childhood Experiences

Early childhood obesity has been and continues to be an important issue (see our recent posts). We’ve received feedback that while improving nutrition and activity in children and adults is part of the solution, it may not be all there is to it. No one would argue that it’s easy to change a person’s lifestyle, …

6 Aug · Lauren Till · No Comments

Improvement in Childhood Obesity – Alabama Unchanged

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “obesity rates among preschoolers are improving, but there is more work to be done to continue this downward trend. Among low-income preschoolers (ages 2-4 years) from 2008-2011:– Obesity rates decreased slightly in 19 of 43 states and territories (including Mississippi, Georgia, and Florida).– Obesity rates increased …

31 Jul · Lauren Till · No Comments

Care Coordination for ALL Children

As we know, the earliest identification of developmental delays and concerns can lead to improved outcomes for children. The longer a delay goes unnoticed or untreated, the more deeply embedded it becomes in a child’s makeup. This is true for ALL children. Unfortunately, this CNN article highlights a disturbing trend: Minority children with autism lack …

29 Oct · Lauren Till · No Comments

What’s Up, Doc?

We mentioned before that HMG Central AL participated in a joint training for pediatricians interested in developmental screening with Alabama Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AL-AAP) and Reach Out and Read in Birmingham back in September. The training covered information about the need for more pediatricians to do developmental screening, how to incorporate developmental screening into a busy practice, how …

12 Oct · Lauren Till · No Comments

ROR + HMG

Check out this newsletter that features Help Me Grow Alabama. Reach Out and Read-Alabama, a program of the Alabama Chapter AAP is a key partner in our success in Central Alabama. Reach Out and Read (ROR) is a national nonprofit organization that works with pediatricians and, like HMG, is expanding in pediatric practices and clinics. “Reach Out and …