Employee of the Quarter: Victoria Billings
Employee of the Quarter ~ Carlos Tandron
Carlos is not only outstanding in customer service when dealing with our patients but he is a true team player. He has worked at all three locations, all possible shifts, including overnights and weekends, and is always willing to help anywhere the managers need him. He has a fun personality and motivates others to stay positive! We are lucky to have him on our team! How long have you worked with us? Exactly 18 months Where are you from? Jacksonville, FL Where did you go to high school? Bishop Kenny What did you study at school? Health Science What are your hobbies? Running, Working out, beach/pool time Do you have any children or pets? No What are your future goals? Continue to work in healthcare What is your favorite part of your job? The people that I work with are amazing! Best moments at work are? Holidays when we get to do Potlucks with the entire office
New Program Certifies Higher Quality of Care at
Patient Care Centers is currently working toward receiving certification from the NCQA, National Committee for Quality Assurance, as a Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH). NCQA, the leading organization for health care certifications in America, has established an extensive process that takes months to complete, ensuring that only the best practices qualify. “At we’re always learning, always striving for ways to improve the quality of care for our patients,” said Dr. Norberto Benitez. “Going through this nationally recognized certification process is one more way we have to test ourselves on how we’re doing and ways we can serve patients better every day. We’re grateful for this opportunity to assess ourselves against the highest possible standards of practice.” The Patient Centered Medical Home model is a way of organizing primary care that emphasizes care coordination and communications, leading to higher quality and lower costs. The goal is to improve patients’ and providers’ experience of care. Emphasis is on aligning patient preferences with payer and provider capabilities. The outcome ensures that families will receive the highest standards of pediatric support, information, coaching and connection to community resources as needed to address health issues. In short, the Patient Centered Medical Home model is a way to keep our practice in line with what you want it to be. “Our round-the-clock hours and various means to communicate via email, patient portal, phone or mobile devices have gone a long way toward helping us relate better to our patients’ families and save them time as we work together for the benefit of their children,” said Dr. Benitez.
When to call the pediatrician ~ Fever
The most important things you can do when your child has a fever are to improve your child’s comfort by making sure they drink enough fluids to stay hydrated and monitor for signs and symptoms of a serious illness. It is a good sign if your child plays and interacts with you after receiving medicine for discomfort. Call your child’s doctor right away if your child has a fever and Looks very ill, is unusually drowsy, or is very fussy Has been in a very hot place, such as an overheated car Has other symptoms, such as a stiff neck, severe headache, severe sore throat, severe ear pain, an unexplained rash, or repeated vomiting or diarrhea Has immune system problems, such as sickle cell disease or cancer, or is taking steroids Has had a seizure Is younger than 3 months (12 weeks) and has a temperature of 100.4°F (38.0°C) or higher Fever rises above 104°F (40°C) repeatedly for a child of any age Also call your child’s doctor if Your child still “acts sick” once his fever is brought down. Your child seems to be getting worse. The fever persists for more than 24 hours in a child younger than 2 years. The fever persists for more than 3 days (72 hours) in a child 2 years of age or older. Last Updated 11/4/2014 Source Fever and Your Child (Copyright © 2007 American Academy of Pediatrics, updated 5/2012)
Newborn Eye Color
New parents often ask what color I think the baby’s eyes are going to be. I never answer this question until the child is at least 1 year old; I mean, what if the parents believe me and use my answer to make major life decisions? When we talk about eye color, we’re really talking about the appearance of the iris, the muscular ring around the pupil that controls how much light enters the eye. After all, the pupil will always be black, except in flash photos, and the whites (sclera) should stay pretty much white, although jaundice may turn them yellow and inflammation may make them look pink or red. Gray or Blue Eyes at Birth Iris color, just like hair and skin color, depends on a protein called melanin. We have specialized cells in our bodies called melanocytes whose job it is to go around secreting melanin where it’s needed, including in the iris. When your baby is born his eyes will be gray or blue, as melanocytes respond to light, and he has spent his whole life in the dark. Eye Color Changes Over Time Over time, if melanocytes only secrete a little melanin, your baby will have blue eyes. If they secrete a bit more, his eyes will look green or hazel. When melanocytes get really busy, eyes look brown (the most common eye color), and in some cases they may appear very dark indeed. Because it takes about a year for melanocytes to finish their work it can be a dicey business calling eye color before the baby’s first birthday. The color change does slow down some after the first 6 months of life, but there can be plenty of change left at that point. Eye color is a genetic property, but it’s not quite as cut-and-dried as you might have learned in biology class. •Two blue-eyed parents are very likely to have a blue-eyed child, but it won’t happen every single time. •Two brown-eyed parents are likely (but not guaranteed) to have a child with brown eyes. •If you notice one of the grandparents has blue eyes, the chances of having a blue-eyed baby go up a bit. •If one parent has brown eyes and the other has blue eyes, odds are about even on eye color. •If your child has one brown eye and one blue eye, bring it to your doctor’s attention; he probably has a rare genetic condition called Waardenburg syndrome. Cross-Eyed? Parents also often note that their newborns’ eyes appear to cross from time to time. For the first 6 months of life this can be normal. To begin with, to look at something the brain has to know where to point the eyes. For the first 2 to 4 weeks of life vision is not accurate enough for the baby’s eyes to find a target a lot of the time. Parents often feel like their newborns are looking past them rather than at them, because they are. By the fourth week of life, however, your baby will focus on your face if you’re cradling him. Most visual development occurs in the brain, not in the eyes themselves. One of the greatest challenges for the developing brain is to coordinate visual signals from one side to the other. Nerve signals from the eyes travel through optic nerves and split off to both sides of the brain. To make sense of those signals, the 2 sides of the brain have to cooperate, comparing information and coordinating eye movement in the desired direction. Until age 2 months you may notice your infant will follow your face or a toy a little way, then lose it as it crosses from one side to the other. By 2 months, however, he should be able to track from right to left and back again. The next big visual milestone occurs at 6 months of age. By this time the 2 sides of the brain are on good terms with each other. Until this point the eyes track together as long as they both have something to look at, but if one is deprived of input (from being covered by a hat, for example), it might drift off in its own direction. By 6 months of age the eyes should continue looking the same direction even if one of them is covered temporarily. We test this in the clinic by covering 1 eye for 3 seconds, then suddenly uncovering it and looking to see if it’s still tracking with the opposite eye. We call this test the cover-uncover test. Sometimes the shape of a child’s face makes it look as though the eyes are crossed even when they are not. A child with a broad nasal bridge may appear to have an inward-looking eye, when in fact he’s just looking off to the side. You can check this by watching the light reflection in your child’s eyes from a window or lamp; if it falls in the same place on each eye, the eyes are working together. Even with office screening, however, we don’t always catch an eye that tends to deviate. Deviations occur more often when the child is tired. If you ever notice that your 6-month-old or older child has an eye that doesn’t always look the same way as its partner, alert his doctor. It’s critical that an eye specialist (ophthalmologist) examine the child. What some people call a lazy eye (amblyopia) may be a sign that one eye doesn’t see as clearly as the other. When the brain is forced to make 1 picture from 2 very different inputs, it starts to ignore the signals from the worse eye. Over time this process becomes irreversible, leading to partial blindness in the weaker eye. In most cases, you should address the problem before the child turns 3 to ensure he’ll grow up with normal depth perception. Treatments for amblyopia vary based on the cause and severity of the condition. Some children require
November Employee of the Month ~ Lallaine Villegas
How long have you worked for Pediatric Care Center? I started working for Dr. Benitez at his old practice in 1999. When he opened Pediatric Care Center I naturally went with him. So, a grand total of 15 years! Do you have any pets? No Where did you go to high school? I went to St. Augustine Catholic School in the Philippines, 9-11th grade. My senior year I attended Sandalwood High School. Tell me what degree you are getting? I’m currently taking classes at FSCJ and hoping to get a degree in nursing. Do you have any hobbies? How do you spend your time off? NO, I spend my day off cleaning my house, studying and taking care of my children. Side note ~ Lallaine has four school age children including a set of twins and is married to a wonderful, active duty sailor serving in the Navy! What is the favorite part of your job? I like everything about my job, especially my co-workers because they’re fun and easy to work with.
Employee of the Month – Tyeisha Ross
Congratulations to Tyeisha for being selected October Employee of the Month! How long have you worked for us? 1 year and 10 months Do you have any pets? No Where did you go to high school? William M. Raines What degree are your working toward? I plan to start a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) program in May 2015. Eventually, I will become a Registered Nurse. What is your favorite part of your job? Interacting with the kids brings me so much joy! I also love my co-workers. They are easy to work with and very entertaining! It feels good to work for a company that supports its employees and makes you want to strive for even more!
Differences in Organic, Natural and Health Foods
Differences in Organic, Natural, and Health Foods Although these terms are often used interchangeably, they have different meanings. Organic foods are grown without artificial pesticides, fertilizers, or herbicides. Organic meat, eggs, and dairy products are obtained from animals that are fed natural feed and not given hormones or antibiotics. Natural foods are free of synthetic or artificial ingredients or additives. “Health foods” is a general term that may be applied to natural or organic foods, or to regular foods that have undergone less processing than usual, such as stone-ground whole-grain flours. Although some have claimed that organic foods have a higher concentration of some nutrients, the evidence is mixed. The nutritional content of foods also varies greatly according to when the food was harvested and how it has been stored or processed. Unless they are fresher, there is also no evidence that organic, natural, or health foods taste better than regular foods. However, taste is determined by plant genetics, rather than by whether the crop is organically or conventionally grown. Harvesting and handling also affect taste. A peach or tomato that is picked when it is too green will never develop the full taste of fruit that is allowed to ripen on the tree or the vine. Although the type of fertilizer may not affect taste or nutrition, it does have an effect on the environment. Many people prefer to pay premium prices for organic foods because their production does not cause environmental damage from pesticides and herbicides, and composted fertilizers help restore soil and are not as damaging to the environment as artificial fertilizers. However, simply stating “organic” does not protect the food from being contaminated from field to market. Last Updated 7/9/2014 Source Nutrition: What Every Parent Needs to Know (Copyright © American Academy of Pediatrics 2011)
Sports Injury Prevention Tips
More American children are competing in sports than ever before. Sports help children and adolescents keep their bodies fit and feel good about themselves. However, there are some important injury prevention tips that can help parents promote a safe, optimal sports experience for their child. Please feel free to use them in any print or broadcast story, with appropriate attribution of source. Click here for the Spanish Version. Injury Risks All sports have a risk of injury. In general, the more contact in a sport, the greater the risk of a traumatic injury. However, most injuries in young athletes are due to overuse. Most injuries occur to ligaments (connect bones together), tendons (connect muscles to bones) and muscles. Stress fractures can also occur from overuse. However, the areas where bones grow in children are at more risk of injury during the rapid phases of growth. In a growing child, point tenderness over a bone should be evaluated further by a medical provider even if there is minimal swelling or limitation in motion. Most frequent sports injuries are sprains (injuries to ligaments) strains (injuries to muscles), and stress fractures (injury to bone) caused when an abnormal stress is placed on tendons, joints, bones and muscle. Contact your pediatrician if you have additional questions or concerns. To reduce the risk of injury: Time off. Plan to have at least 1 day off per week from a particular sport to allow the body to recover. Wear the right gear. Players should wear appropriate and properly fit protective equipment such as pads (neck, shoulder, elbow, chest, knee, shin), helmets, mouthpieces, face guards, protective cups, and/or eyewear. Young athletes should not assume that protective gear will protect them from performing more dangerous or risky activities. Strengthen muscles. Conditioning exercises during practice strengthens muscles used in play. Increase flexibility. Stretching exercises before and after games or practice can increase flexibility. Stretching should also be incorporated into a daily fitness plan. Use the proper technique. This should be reinforced during the playing season. Take breaks. Rest periods during practice and games can reduce injuries and prevent heat illness. Play safe. Strict rules against headfirst sliding (baseball and softball), spearing (football), and body checking (ice hockey) should be enforced. Stop the activity if there is pain. Avoid heat injury by drinking plenty of fluids before, during and after exercise or play; decrease or stop practices or competitions during high heat/humidity periods; wear light clothing. Sports-Related Emotional Stress The pressure to win can cause significant emotional stress for a child. Sadly, many coaches and parents consider winning the most important aspect of sports. Young athletes should be judged on effort, sportsmanship and hard work. They should be rewarded for trying hard and for improving their skills rather than punished or criticized for losing a game or competition. The main goal should be to have fun and learn lifelong physical activity skills. Copyright © 2014 American Academy of Pediatrics – See more at: http://www.aap.org/en-us/about-the-aap/aap-press-room/news-features-and-safety-tips/Pages/Sports-Injury-Prevention-Tip-Sheet.aspx#sthash.ZhqXakkz.dpuf
August Employee of the Month – Norma Carrangian
Our Employee of the Month for August is Norma Carrangian! Norma was the first employee Dr. Benitez hired when he opened his very first practice in Neptune Beach in 1987! She was his nurse, receptionist and billing department! Dr. Benitez likes to say she looked after his money better than he did. In the early years, when he would try to give her a raise she would tell him, “no, he couldn’t afford it”! She now works in billing and is an encyclopedia of knowledge when it comes to coding, claims and insurance. Thank you for all you do! How long have you worked here? 27 years Tell us about your family? My husband Rey is retired from the Navy. I have two daughters and one son and three grandchildren. What is your education? I went to Calauag Central College in the Phillipines and I received my Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education. What do you like to do when you are not working? My husband and I socialize with our friends, go to parties, play mahjong and baby sit our grandkids. What do you like best about your job? I love all aspects of my job and I will miss those when I retire.