President's Message
August President's Message
Summer Daze
Tude Haecker, MD, FAAP
Summer Daze
Tude Haecker, MD, FAAP
"Summer Daze"
It seems like the month of August has flown by, and while I hope you have been able to take some time off to refresh, there has been no break in issues demanding the attention of our Chapter. August is National Immunization Awareness Month, Civic Health Month (making the connection between civic engagement and health care), Children’s Eye Health Month, National Back to School Month and National Wellness Month among many others including more light-hearted celebrations such as National Crayon Collection Month and Happiness Happens Month. Our Chapter has been taking the opportunity to weigh in on the critical clinical topics for the month of August.
Last week PA AAP leadership “attended” the Annual Leadership Forum (ALF) virtually. This meeting brings together AAP chapters, committees, councils and section leaders from around the country to draw on their diverse perspectives and expertise to advise the AAP Board of Directors on future directions. During this meeting over 90 resolutions submitted by AAP members were voted on by AAP leadership. The top 10 resolutions listed below reflect the priority areas of child health and pediatric practice that the AAP will be working on in the coming year-a very sobering list!
Please note, resolution #5 was proposed by our own Sue Kressly, MD. Congratulations and thank you Sue for trying to push the national AAP to address value-based payment models ---to catch up with our internal/family medicine colleagues. To view the full text of the resolutions, visit https://collaborate.aap.org/alf/Pages/2020-Resolutions.aspx .
Additionally during the ALF, attendees voted unanimously to approve the development of a bylaws referendum that codifies that the AAP does not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or national origin .For more on this important referendum, visit https://bit.ly/2FxyMzb.
As many of us are navigating back to school controversies, AAP has also issued new guidance on school re-openings and policies around safe school transportation which can be read in more detail at the bottom of this newsletter.
As a Reach Out and Read advocate, I would be remiss if I did not share with you this piece from Healthychildren.org -10 Tips to Help Your Child Fall in Love with Reading. Now more than ever, reading can be a great way for children and caregivers (and even providers) to relax and escape to a different world. This article offers ways parents can help build and support a child's love of reading.
For the Chapter, the new Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee has met twice. We are revamping the Early Childhood Committee whose co-chairs will be Brittany Massare, MD from Penn State Hershey (AAP Early Childhood Champion for PA and ECELS lead), Alicia Haupt, MD from Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and Danielle Erkoboni, MD from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia . We are hoping to start a PA AAP School Health Committee to assist with managing the back to school concerns and COVID updates. Please be in touch if you are interested in joining!
Come September we will email COVID updates every other week and our Pediatric Community Forums webinars will be held on two Wednesday evenings per month at 8pm. We will continue to focus on COVID but would like to pursue such topics as DEI and others that would be helpful to you as you practice in this “new normal”.
Please email me at haecker@email.chop.edu or Annette at amyarick@paaap.org to share your concerns, thoughts or suggestions. THANK YOU as always for all you are doing for the children of Pennsylvania and particularly during the ramp-up and flurry of August activities.
Trude Haeker, MD, FAAP
President 2020-2022
It seems like the month of August has flown by, and while I hope you have been able to take some time off to refresh, there has been no break in issues demanding the attention of our Chapter. August is National Immunization Awareness Month, Civic Health Month (making the connection between civic engagement and health care), Children’s Eye Health Month, National Back to School Month and National Wellness Month among many others including more light-hearted celebrations such as National Crayon Collection Month and Happiness Happens Month. Our Chapter has been taking the opportunity to weigh in on the critical clinical topics for the month of August.
Last week PA AAP leadership “attended” the Annual Leadership Forum (ALF) virtually. This meeting brings together AAP chapters, committees, councils and section leaders from around the country to draw on their diverse perspectives and expertise to advise the AAP Board of Directors on future directions. During this meeting over 90 resolutions submitted by AAP members were voted on by AAP leadership. The top 10 resolutions listed below reflect the priority areas of child health and pediatric practice that the AAP will be working on in the coming year-a very sobering list!
- Addressing Structural Racism Within Healthcare
- Supporting Child and Youth Mental Resilience in Schools
- Creation of Task Force on Immunization Advocacy and Hesitancy
- Ask All Children, Adolescents and Their Families About Racism, Discrimination and Bias
- Developing a Pediatric Model for Value Based Payment
- Prohibit the Use of Race-Based Medicine
- Unmet Need of Inpatient and Outpatient Mental Health for Children
- Advocate for Paid Parental Leave and Mother Baby-Friendly Workplaces
- Physician Burnout Must be Prevented by Change in Healthcare Delivery Systems
- Expanding Training on Psychiatric Conditions for General Pediatricians
Please note, resolution #5 was proposed by our own Sue Kressly, MD. Congratulations and thank you Sue for trying to push the national AAP to address value-based payment models ---to catch up with our internal/family medicine colleagues. To view the full text of the resolutions, visit https://collaborate.aap.org/alf/Pages/2020-Resolutions.aspx .
Additionally during the ALF, attendees voted unanimously to approve the development of a bylaws referendum that codifies that the AAP does not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or national origin .For more on this important referendum, visit https://bit.ly/2FxyMzb.
As many of us are navigating back to school controversies, AAP has also issued new guidance on school re-openings and policies around safe school transportation which can be read in more detail at the bottom of this newsletter.
As a Reach Out and Read advocate, I would be remiss if I did not share with you this piece from Healthychildren.org -10 Tips to Help Your Child Fall in Love with Reading. Now more than ever, reading can be a great way for children and caregivers (and even providers) to relax and escape to a different world. This article offers ways parents can help build and support a child's love of reading.
For the Chapter, the new Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee has met twice. We are revamping the Early Childhood Committee whose co-chairs will be Brittany Massare, MD from Penn State Hershey (AAP Early Childhood Champion for PA and ECELS lead), Alicia Haupt, MD from Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and Danielle Erkoboni, MD from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia . We are hoping to start a PA AAP School Health Committee to assist with managing the back to school concerns and COVID updates. Please be in touch if you are interested in joining!
Come September we will email COVID updates every other week and our Pediatric Community Forums webinars will be held on two Wednesday evenings per month at 8pm. We will continue to focus on COVID but would like to pursue such topics as DEI and others that would be helpful to you as you practice in this “new normal”.
Please email me at haecker@email.chop.edu or Annette at amyarick@paaap.org to share your concerns, thoughts or suggestions. THANK YOU as always for all you are doing for the children of Pennsylvania and particularly during the ramp-up and flurry of August activities.
Trude Haeker, MD, FAAP
President 2020-2022