Alerts

Join your community mental health specialists and pediatricians in a Zoom meeting for pediatric family support about Anxiety during COVID-19.   Monday, July 27, 2020 at 7 PM Pacific Time.

Presented by:
Sharon Pollock, MD, FAAP, Pediatrician
Lisa Weiner, MFT, PhD, Licensed Psychotherapist
Jennifer L. Podell, PhD, Licensed Clinical Psychologist

Open your web browser and navigate to:  https://zoom.us/join
Enter the meeting ID:   285 424 6029
Enter the passcode:  905241

The offices of La Peer Pediatrics will be closed Saturday, July 4, 2020 for Independence Day.

 

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The LPP Offices will close at noon on Monday, June 1, 2020 due to the Beverly Hills curfew.

La Peer Pediatrics will be closed on Memorial Day, Monday, May 25, 2020.

Dear Families,

This information is specific for the current global pandemic caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2 that causes a disease called COVID-19. School closings, containment zones and quarantines are ramping up anxiety amongst all of us, from the youngest, who respond to our stress, to the elderly, who are most affected, to those of us in the middle, who feel responsible for the whole family.

Your doctors at La Peer Pediatrics are here not only for medical care but as a source of reliable and sane information. We suggest you look at COVID-19 information from two perspectives.

A) Personal Safety: the vast majority of people infected by COVID-19 will have mild illness, especially children.

B) Community responsibility: the CDC and Health Department are trying to limit spread, or at least slow it down. Self-quarantine, containment areas and social distancing measures have been implemented for these purposes. No playdates, parties, sleepovers or families/friends visiting each other’s homes. Keep children away from the elderly as they may carry the infection without appearing ill. Everyone over the age of 2 years should wear a mask when in public to help prevent the spread of the disease. Even when you wear a mask, you still must maintain proper social distancing of at least 6 feet away from others.

The best way to stay healthy is by practicing good hand washing and remembering not to touch your face. Everyone should cough and sneeze into their elbows and stay away from others whenever possible. If you or anyone in your family is sick, stay home.

Our office has implemented procedures to keep you safe. No ill visits are being seen at the office at this time. We are following appropriate CDC recommendations. We are cleaning intensely and often. All doctors and staff are wearing masks, gloves and gowns when providing care to patients to protect you and to protect ourselves. 😷We are also taking everyone’s temperatures twice a day and taking temperatures of anyone who comes to the office. We will be limiting the number of people in the waiting room at any one time.

In order for us to do our part in best serving and caring for your children, the following measures were implemented:

1) We will thoroughly screen all ill visits by telephone. Based on those discussions, we will determine best course of action.

2) We will be using Telemedicine visits so that we may avoid in-office visits whenever possible. These are for visits such as pink eye, some rashes like diaper rash, eczema or viral rashes like hand, foot and mouth disease, ADHD medication rechecks and likely other visits that we deem appropriate. We will also schedule prenatal visits by phone or telemedicine visit.

3) We have begun to do physicals on children of all ages at the office provided they are well. We encourage you to schedule in-person physical examinations/well-child check-ups now so that children do not get behind on vaccines or behind on growth evaluations and developmental screenings.

4) We will not be testing for Coronavirus COVID-19 in the office. Testing availability is still limited. If you are ill, stay home and call us for advice. This is for the protection of other patients and our staff.

Los Angeles is offering testing here:

https://lacovidprod.service-now.com/rrs

or

https://corona-virus.la/

5) Only one WELL caregiver may accompany a patient and no siblings. All patients and parents will be screened by phone and in person for illness and rescheduled if any illness symptoms are present. We are asking that everyone who comes in wear a mask unless they are under age 2 years. Children from age 3-8 years should wear them but with adult supervision to ensure the child can breathe safely. We will be taking your temperature.

What else can you do? Shut off the TV and give yourself and your children a break from all the news and scary images. When possible, keep their schedules as consistent as possible. Don’t let screen time take over during all this down-time. Some social media and video chatting are fine to stay connected with others but endless video gaming and binging shows and movies is not the best for anyone’s health. Make a daily schedule that includes some form of exercise like taking a walk or family outdoor sports, reading, cooking and doing puzzles, games, & crafts. Everyone can pitch in to do chores.

Look for anxiety symptoms – such as moodiness, trouble sleeping and separation anxiety. Talk to your children about their fears. Reassure them. Please look at Healthychildren.org from the American Academy of Pediatrics for advice on how to speak to children about COVID19.

Check on your elderly neighbors as these people are most at risk for complications of this coronavirus. Ask if you can get them food, medicine or anything else they need. We are a community, we need to take care of each other.

If there are other things we can do to alleviate any fears you may have, please reach out to us. We want to hear from you.

La Peer Pediatrics

COVID-19 Antibody Testing:

We are getting many questions regarding antibody testing for COVID-19.

The use of antibody test results is not yet known. There are ongoing concerns about the quality of antibody tests, and how to interpret the results of this testing – for instance, what does it mean to have antibodies? Do they confirm immunity? How should physicians advise patients who are positive or negative? Are persons with antibodies still infectious and require isolation/quarantine? How often would it make sense to test antibodies? These questions have not yet been answered.

What you need to know:

• Antibody testing should not be used alone to diagnose COVID-19
• It is most useful in the following situations: Identification of convalescent plasma donors; epidemiologic studies of disease prevalence in the community, which are being conducted by government and research entities; verification of vaccine response once antibody correlate(s) of protection identified (future use). The use of this test for diagnosis of infection remains unclear.
• At this time, positive antibodies may indicate exposure (assuming, that the positive is a true positive) but does not necessarily indicate immunity. The value of repeat testing without any symptomatic illness is likely very low.
• Currently available serology tests results should NOT be used to guide return to work policies, use of PPE, or “safer at home”practices
• Quest and some other labs currently offer only an IgG antibody test, not IgM, and they also use multiple different assays that have been released for emergency use by the FDA but are not FDA-approved. We do not yet know the sensitivity or specificity of their tests.
• At home and finger prick antibody tests are not considered reliable so they are not recommended at this time.

CHLA is performing blood draw antibody samples for Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Antibody IgG at the CHLA drive through location in addition to the outreach satellite locations in Pasadena and Encino. This service is open to Health Network physicians like us, families, staff and patients. The test they use is considered a very good one.

What patients need to know:

• Antibody testing may indicate, if present, that a person has had the novel coronavirus though it be could be positive due to other coronaviruses like the common cold. It looks for signs of previous infection but does not guarantee that someone had COVID-19.
• Antibody testing cannot be used to predict individual immunity. In other words, we do not know with any certainty that you cannot get COVID-19 again. If there is any immunity, we also don’t know how long the potential immunity could last.
• With this in mind, patients should continue to practice social distancing, wear appropriate face covering, frequent washing of hands with soap and water, and monitoring your own and family’s health for COVID-19 symptoms.
• The antibody test may not be covered by your health insurance and could result in having to pay cash.

For more information, see the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health Antibody Testing FAQ.

Dear Families,

This information is specific for the current global pandemic caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2 that causes a disease called COVID-19.  School closings, containment zones and quarantines are ramping up anxiety amongst all of us, from the youngest, who respond to our stress, to the elderly, who are most affected, to those of us in the middle, who feel responsible for the whole family.  

Your doctors at La Peer Pediatrics are here not only for medical care but as a source of reliable and sane information. We suggest you look at COVID-19 information from two perspectives.

A) Personal Safety: the vast majority of people infected by COVID-19 will have mild illness, especially children.

B) Community responsibility: the CDC and Health Department are trying to limit spread, or at least slow it down.  Self-quarantine, containment areas and social distancing are being implemented for these purposes. No playdates, parties, sleepovers or families/friends visiting each other’s homes.  Keep children away from the elderly as they may carry the infection without appearing ill. Everyone over the age of 2 years should wear a mask when in public to help prevent the spread of the disease.  Even when you wear a mask, you still must maintain proper social distancing of at least 6 feet away from others.

The best way to stay healthy is by practicing good hand washing and remembering not to touch your face. Everyone should cough and sneeze into their elbows and stay away from others whenever possible. If you or anyone in your family is sick, stay home.

We will help you through this crisis, as we have so many times in the past.  Our doctors were on the front line of H1N1 infection – we made it through that, and together, we will make it through this.

Our office has implemented procedures to keep you safe. No ill visits are being seen at the office at this time.  We are following appropriate CDC recommendations. We are cleaning intensely and often.  All doctors and staff are wearing masks, gloves and gowns when providing care to patients to protect you and to protect ourselves. 

We are also taking everyone’s temperatures twice a day and taking temperatures of anyone who comes to the office.

In order for us to do our part in best serving and caring for your children, the following measures will be implemented immediately (and some have already been put in place):

1) We will thoroughly screen all ill visits by telephone.  Based on those discussions, we will determine best course of action.

2) We will be using Telemedicine visits so that we may avoid in-office visits whenever possible. These are for visits such as pink eye, some rashes like diaper rash, eczema or viral rashes like hand, foot and mouth disease, ADHD medication rechecks and likely other visits that we deem appropriate.  We will also schedule prenatal visits by phone or telemedicine visit.

We are encouraging telemedicine video check-ups for children over age 2 years who do not fall into our age categories for in-office check-ups. In-office check-ups are presently being scheduled for children age 2 years and under as well as 4 year olds, 5 year olds, 10 year old and 11 year olds.
Telemedicine visits for children not in these age groups will prove beneficial as we can discuss any concerns parents have and address many of the issues we would discuss in person such as development, behavior, sleep, toilet training and nutrition.  Those who participate in telemedicine check-ups should still book in-person physicals for a future date when the stay at home order has been lifted.  At that visit, we will check height, weight, blood pressure, hearing, vision, update vaccines and address any other concerns

3) We encourage those with children age 2 years and under, as well as 4 year olds, 5 year olds, ten year olds and eleven year olds to schedule their physical examinations/well-child check-ups in person now so that children do not get behind on vaccines or behind on growth evaluations and developmental screenings.  

4) We will not be testing for Coronavirus COVID-19 in the office.  Testing availability is still limited.  If you are ill, stay home and call us for advice. This is for the protection of other patients and our staff.

Los Angeles is offering testing here:

https://lacovidprod.service-now.com/rrs

or

https://corona-virus.la/

5) Only one WELL caregiver may accompany a patient and no siblings.
All patients and parents will be screened  by phone and in person for illness and rescheduled if any illness symptoms are present. We will be asking that everyone who comes in wear a mask unless they are age 2 years and under. We will be taking your temperature.

What else can you do? Shut off the TV and give yourself and your children a break from all the news and scary images.  When possible, keep their schedules as consistent as possible.  Don’t let screen time take over during all this down-time.  Some social media and video chatting are fine to stay connected with others but endless video gaming and binging shows and movies is not the best for anyone’s health.  Make a daily schedule that includes some form of exercise like taking a walk or family outdoor sports, reading, cooking and doing puzzles, games, & crafts. Everyone can pitch in to do chores.

Look for anxiety symptoms – such as moodiness, trouble sleeping and separation anxiety.  Talk to your children about their fears. Reassure them.  Please look at Healthychildren.org from the American Academy of Pediatrics for advice on how to speak to children about COVID19.  Also found in a post on this FB page.

Check on your elderly neighbors, family and friends.  These people are most at risk for complications of this coronavirus.  Ask if you can get them food, medicine or anything else they need.  We are a community, we need to take care of each other.

If there are other things we can do to alleviate any fears you may have, please reach out to us.  We want to hear from you.

La Peer Pediatrics

Here’s a craft you probably never thought you would do: How to make a homemade face mask for adult or child. 

Mayor Eric Garcetti announced this past week that the people of Los Angeles should wear masks when they are in public.** This may help those who are infected but do not have symptoms from transmitting the virus, and may also provide some degree of protection from catching the virus.

The masks need to cover the nose and mouth. Bandannas, scarves and fabric masks are acceptable. They should be washed and reused. 

Click Here to Read Community Mask Instructions

** Remember this is not a substitute for social distancing but is in addition to it. Masks may also serve as a reminder to not touch your face.

La Peer Pediatrics Holiday Hours. Closing at noon on December 24, closed all day on December 25. Closing at noon on December 31, closed all day on January 1.

La Peer Pediatrics will be closed on Thursday, November 28, 2019, for the Thanksgiving Holiday.