PEDIATRIC HEALTH ASSOCIATES

From the desk of PHA staff member Lauren Pesola: The Summer Olympics are underway and the United States has taken the lead so far!  Swim phenomenon Michael Phelps has captured his 22nd gold medal (and counting!) since he started competing in the Olympics back in 2004.  Whether watching the Olympics in the stands in Rio or just from the television, we all feel a sense of pride for how amazing the athletes representing the United States are.  But every single athlete participating is an inspiration to kids everywhere.  Whether you child participates in volleyball, gymnastics, swimming, tennis or another sport, watching the best of the best from all over the world can give them the encouragement to do their very best and reach their goals. If your child expresses their lack of skill, talk to them about how even the very best athletes such as Serena and Venus Williams can be beaten. This is great dinner discussion when our kids express they can’t be as good as someone el...

Mosquitoes and Zika are much in the news-- until now it was an issue of 'should I travel to the Carribean'…however now the mosquito carrying the Zika virus is in a large neighborhood of Miami.                The illness can be a prolonged one in both kids & adults, however 80% of those infected do not experience any symptoms .  Usually it's a flu-like illness that resolves in a few days . Pregnant women are at the greatest risk.   Those infected have a fair chance of passing the virus to their unborn child.   Babies are born with microcephaly causing unusually small heads and poor brain development .  They can suffer a variety of health problems such as mental retardation, speech, growth and motor delays,  deafness, blindness and seizures.    The earliest that microcephaly has been detected in a fetus is mid to late into the second trimester of pregnancy but is more li...