Los Angeles Sentinel: Planning for a Healthy School Year With Cedars-Sinai
The Los Angeles Sentinel podcast series “All About Black Health” recently interviewed Cedars-Sinai experts Arthur Cho, MD, director of the Pediatric Hospitalist Program at Cedars-Sinai Guerin Children's and medical director of COACH for Kids, and Jacquelyn Castillo, a licensed marriage and family therapist with the Share & Care program, about ways families can prepare for a healthy school year.
Cho told podcast host Brandi Bakewell that the COACH for Kids mobile medical unit recently offered free vaccinations at elementary schools across South Los Angeles. While Cho acknowledged that some parents have concerns about vaccine safety, he emphasized vaccines’ critical role in preventing infectious diseases.
“I think those are understandable questions, but I think as a whole, the benefit of being able to protect our children is really essential, so that's why we want to promote vaccinations for all our children,” Cho said.
Cho told Bakewell he also recommends scheduling annual physicals at the start of the school year, adding that it’s a critical time for physicians to address the stress of transitioning to school.
“We will promote the healthy habits of healthy eating, good sleep hygiene—the things that will make them more successful during school,” Cho said.
Mental health is equally important, Castillo told Bakewell. She said children often emulate their parents’ habits, so she urges parents to put away their phones, connect with their children and serve as a source of support.
“If we're lost in our phones, and that's what our children are seeing, it's really easy for them to do that and it creates this natural divide,” Castillo said.
Both experts recommend setting boundaries with social media use, too, because it’s linked to anxiety and depression.
Listen to the entire episode from the Los Angeles Sentinel.