Formula Recall
Updated 5/12/22
For more information about safely feeding your baby during the formula shortage please see this article from the American Academy of Pediatrics. To figure out which formula is the best substitute for your baby, please see this list from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
For parents who need formula or have extra formula to give away please check out Baby Formula Exchange a privately run formula trading site.
COVID-19 UPDATES:
Updated 8/19/2022:
VACCINES ARE HERE FOR CHILDREN 6 MONTH-4 YEARS OF AGE!
We will be vaccinating children ages 6 months through 4 years of age in our offices during weekend and evening clinics. Clinics will be announced on our social media pages (Facebook and Instagram). As of right now, we will be giving the Moderna vaccine.
If your child receives the vaccine outside of our office, please bring the card to their next appointment so we can record it into their health record.
For information about the vaccine, vaccine safety, and getting the vaccine after Covid-19 infection, please refer to the CDC FAQ page.
To book a vaccine outside of our office, please click HERE to schedule your vaccine or call 211 or 877-211-6277 for assistance. For more information on eligibility and how to schedule an appointment click HERE.
For information about the Covid-19 vaccine and how it works please see this presentation: covid-19 vaccine
COVID ISOLATION AND QUARANTINE PROTOCOLS
The CDC has a covid quarantine and isolation calculator that can help you determine your specific isolation and quarantine requirements.
Click HERE for the calculator.
In summary:
IF YOU TEST POSITIVE FOR COVID-19 (this applies to vaccinated or non-vaccinated individuals): You must isolate for 5 days (day 0 is the day of the positive test) and monitor your symptoms. If you have no symptoms or have been fever free for 24 hours and your symptoms are resolving after 5 days, you may leave your house but must be masked around others through day 10.
IF YOU ARE EXPOSED: You must wear a mask around others for 10 days. The CDC recommends testing on Day 5 after exposure (day 0 is the last day of exposure). You must continue to wear a mask through day 10 even if your test is negative.
If you develop symptoms, test immediately and isolate if even testing is negative.
If a person is continuously exposed to a person who tested positive and cannot be isolated from that person, the exposed person's quarantine does NOT start until the COVID-19 positive person completes their 10-day isolation period.
General COVID-19 info
Per the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, patients and family members over the age of 2 must wear masks in our office at all times. This applies to vaccinated patients and families.
Children’s Health Care’s Adolescent Privacy and Confidentiality Policy UPDATE
At Children’s Health Care, we enjoy helping to ease the transition of adolescents into adulthood and encourage our patients to develop skills necessary to take on responsibility for their own healthcare. Starting in the early teen years, our providers will often suggest that a portion of your child’s visit occur without their guardian present. We believe that time spent with the teen gives the opportunity to discuss sensitive topics that might be difficult to discuss in front of a guardian. While we encourage teens to be open and honest with their guardians, discussions and disclosures related to sensitive topics between the provider and the teen, or results of any sensitive labs or tests, are considered private and confidential. Be assured that information would always be shared at the adolescent’s request, or in the rare circumstance that the adolescent poses a significant risk to him or herself or others.
To be consistent with respecting the adolescent’s right to privacy, teens over 16 will be asked to share their email and phone number, which can be used for communication and for transitioning them to exclusive full access to their patient portal. Parents will continue to have limited access to areas on the portal such as appointments and immunization records.
Children’s Health Care’s Adolescent Privacy and Confidentiality Policy is consistent with Massachusetts and New Hampshire state laws, and is supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Please feel free to ask a provider if you have any questions about this or any CHC policies.
Urgent Care Referral Policy
At Childrens Health Care, we strive to provide the best care for our patients at both sick and well visits. This includes timely availability of our pediatric providers for urgent visits, with access to your child's medical records, in a friendly and familiar setting. With rare exceptions, such as extreme inclement weather or other emergencies, we are open 365 mornings a year for walk-in sick call and also have urgent appointments available each weekday until 8:00pm.
In most cases, we therefore will not issue referrals or provide approval to insurance companies for outside urgent care or walk-in clinic visits for services that could have been provided in one of our offices on days when we are open. if you have a question about the need for urgent care for your child, please call and speak to our triage nurses or the on-call provider, who can help guide you to the most appropriate care.
