Lake Shore Pediatrics is proud to announce its affiliation with PediaTrust
PediaTrust is a new business venture established between seven independent pediatric practices serving the north suburbs of Chicago. By joining forces, each individual practice will improve its efficiency and continue to provide high quality patient care.
“In today’s changing healthcare environment many primary care doctors are selling or leaving their private practices due to market consolidation pressures and the lack of resources necessary to navigate what is becoming a highly complex healthcare system, “says Susan Sirota, MD from Pediatric Partners and one of the founding members of PediaTrust.” This business model allows us to remain independent by pooling our medical expertise and financial resources into an organization run by pediatricians with personalized, high quality care as our primary mission.”
For our patients, there will be no change or interruption in the way service is provided. Patients will continue to see the doctors that they have come to know and trust in the same locations. PediaTrust plans on enhancing services to patients and their families by providing after hours availability, lactation services and a high quality Electronic Health Record with a comprehensive patient portal. Patients and their families may note that billing and some business services may come from PediaTrust instead of Lake Shore Pediatrics.
“We all went into private practice so we could practice old-fashioned patient care,“ says Susan Sheinkop, from Lake Shore Pediatrics. “Many private practices are being bought by large hospital systems and are losing their ability to make independent decisions based on what is best for the child. Instead, being part of PediaTrust gives us a stronger voice and puts doctors and parents back in charge.”
Read more at PediaTrust.net.
It’s Flu Shot time again!
Lake Shore Pediatrics has received our supply of flu shots and FluMist, the influenza nasal spray. We are actively administering these to our patients already, and we urge you to make an appointment to receive yours soon. All children starting at 6 months of age are encouraged to get a flu vaccine. FluMist is available to children older than 2 who do not have asthma or an immunocompromising condition.
The symptoms of the flu are cough, headache, muscle aches, sore throat and high fevers (usually 102-104 degrees). Some children have mild stomach upset with vomiting and/or diarrhea. Remember, it is the fever that distinguishes the flu from most other respiratory infections. Although anti-viral medicines are available for certain high-risk groups, we will not prescribe these medicines over the phone. Please make an appointment if you believe your child has influenza.
The 2012-2013 flu vaccine contains 2 different strains of influenza than last year’s shot, so don’t assume that last year’s vaccine will offer protection this season. As a reminder, children under 9 years old who have never received any kind of flu vaccine or have only had one dose of vaccine last year are required to get a booster dose 4 weeks after their primary inoculation.
Adolescent Depression Screening
At Lake Shore Pediatrics, it is our duty to care for your teenager’s physical and mental health. Although we are all aware of how mental health can impact physical well-being, as parents the symptoms of mental illness may not be obvious. As adolescents continue to function or even flourish in their daily lives, parents often believe that “they must be fine”. Yet 1 in 5 teenagers struggle with depression, anxiety, or similar problems. Furthermore, 70-80% of teenagers who have mental illness are never identified or treated.
To improve our efforts to address mental health concerns, Lake Shore Pediatrics has implemented formal depression screening. The specific tool used is a short survey with easy to understand questions that adolescents will be asked to fill out independently (and in private) at their yearly health maintenance visits. The test will take less than 5 minutes to complete and only minutes to score, yet it provides your physician or nurse practitioner with valuable information to better care for your adolescent.
While this screening tool is not meant to definitively diagnose depression, anxiety, or other mental illnesses, it will be a starting point in determining whether your teenager needs a more comprehensive evaluation with a mental health professional, psychologist, or psychiatrist. It also gives adolescents the knowledge and power to discuss these important topics with their parents and health care providers if concerns arise in the future.
If you have further questions about adolescent depression screening prior to your child’s health maintenance visit, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Our commitment to education.
You may have noticed that the doctors in our Lake Forest and Libertyville offices have been working with Physician Assistant students over the past year. In fact we have been clinical preceptors to medical students and Nurse Practitioner students in all of our offices for several years now. Due in part to your positive feedback, the physicians at Lake Shore Pediatrics are expanding our commitment to medical education and most have become Clinical Instructors of Pediatrics at the Feinberg School of Medicine of Northwestern University. This more “formal” appointment will allow us to help educate the next generation of health professionals. We appreciate your involvement during the hands-on training of medical students and physician assistant students from Northwestern University, as we feel that by becoming teachers we will be able to deliver even better care to you and your children. Thank you for helping us welcome these students to the best pediatric practice in the suburbs.
