Fredericksburg Parent

www.FredericksburgParent.NET 21 Now is an important time to catch up with your child's well visits and immunizations if they have lapsed during the pandemic. Schedule a consultation for your child, or a prenatal visit with KidsChoice Pediatrics at 540-710-6006, or visit kidschoicepeds.net for more information. A STRONG RELATIONSHIP SUPPORTS HOLISTIC HEALTH CARE Well-child visits are an important part of pediatric care. If a doctor has never seen your child until he or she is sick, it's a lot harder to gauge the level of discomfort the child is in. This is even more true with mental health. Pediatricians do screen for mental health at well visits, and the better they know your child, the more effectively they can do this. "Sometimes you have taken care of a child for years and you know this cheerful child, and suddenly you can see changes," Richman said. "If you don't know him or her, you might think this is just a quiet kiddo, but having that relationship gives you better perspective, along with the foundation of trust to be able to ask questions and find out what may be going on." In her practice, Richman sees children from birth—or even before, as her office offers prenatal consultations—to about the time a child graduates from college. While parents tend to do most of the talking in younger children's appointments, children are increasingly given the opportunity to advocate for themselves and speak in confidence with the doctor as they approach their teenage years. This transition is much more effective and comfortable when the child and parents have an established relationship with their pediatrician. "It's important for children to understand that this is their health care," Richman says. "We as parents always talk for our kids, but the child needs to feel that they are part of it, too. And sometimes they have questions they may not want to ask in front of mom or dad. These can be simple questions, like they are worried about some- thing about their body or their life. I have also had LGBTQ+ patients have questions and concerns, and they need to have a safe place to talk about those. It really helps show children the value of having an ongoing relationship with a healthcare provider, which sets them up for better adult health practices." A PEDIATRICIAN WHO KNOWS YOU CAN PAVE A SMOOTHER PATH TO SPECIALIZED CARE. When it's time to see a specialist, the health history your pediatrician has can help her make the case for that visit clear to your insurer. It can also help the doctor to identify the appropriate specialist, and help the specialist understand the urgency of seeing your child. "We really go out of our way to follow up on things and help facilitate our patients getting the care they need," Richman says. "We will call and talk with the specialist and really go the extra mile to get them what they need." Over the past 19 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, parents have been bombarded with a torrent of informa- tion coming from many sources. This has caused anxiety and worry for many parents and children. At KidsChoice, Richman and her team have fielded countless questions from families in their care about every aspect of pan- demic life with children. "Last year was really hard on people trying to decide how they were going to do school," she says. "I had par- ents really agonizing over balancing their children's aca- demic needs versus their fear of exposure." Having an established relationship with a pediatri- cian gives you a place to go with these struggles in a public health crisis. It gives you access to a caregiver who knows you and your family and can help you walk through risk assessment with information from trusted sources within the medical community. It's important for children to understand that this is their health care." GROWING SMART HEALTH CARE CONSUMERS IN DIFFICULT TIMES, A PEDIATRICIAN CAN STEER FAMILIES TOWARD SOLID INFORMATION

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