PEDIATRIC HEALTH ASSOCIATES

OCTOBER FLU VACCINE CLINICS ARE NOW SCHEDULED. TO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT PLEASE CALL THE OFFICE AT                                                               630.717.2300 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Know how we like to buy fruit scented soaps  so our kids will want to wash their hands?  It’s a great incentive especially if it gets them to do it without nagging! With these yummy smelling things comes the temptation for kids to eat it.  Poison control centers have seen a 400% increase to their call centers nationwide from children ingesting hand sanitizer, detergent or other chemical agents.   In 2010 poison control handled about 3,000 calls relating to these products.  By 2014, calls spiked to over 16,000!  Many products we have in the bathroom and kit...

Zeba Hasan, MD Dr. Hasan earned her medical degree at the University of Kansas City School of Medicine and completed her residency at Phoenix Children’s Hospital.  Bilingual in Spanish and  board certified, she has worked in private practice in Chicago for the past two years  and has been on staff at Lurie’s Children Hospital. H er clinical interests include infant care, nutrition, asthma and allergy care.   On a personal note, she enjoys the music, art, and culture that Chicago has to offer. Dr. Hasan begins seeing patients Monday, October 5 th and will be working at the Bolingbrook, Plainfield and West Chicago offices.

On Wednesday, September 16th Dr. Flais will be the featured speaker for the Parents of Multiples Club. The topic is:  "Survive and Thrive with Multiples"  WHEN:     Wednesday, September 16th from 6:00-7:30 pm. WHERE:   Northwestern Memorial Hospital                       200 East Superior                       Chicago, IL  The seminar is free but reservations are requested. To RSVP please call: (312) 926-8400

From the desk of Shelly Flais, MD Twenty or thirty years ago, it was rare to have a friend or classmate with a peanut allergy. Times have changed. The number of children in the U.S. with a peanut allergy has more than tripled between 1997 and 2008. These days anywhere from 6 to 9% of all kids have a food allergy of some kind, meaning in a typical classroom 2 or 3 kids can be affected. This is an issue near and dear to my heart, as 2 of my 4 kids have peanut allergies. Why has peanut allergy been on the rise? What can we do to prevent allergies? Food allergy research continues and has begun to shed new light on the issue. For several years, in an attempt to combat the rising epidemic, national medical organizations recommended that if an infant was at high risk for a peanut allergy (either because of family history or eczema), they should not eat peanut containing products until the 3rd birthday. Unfortunately, this advice to delay peanut introduction did not seem to impact the overall ...