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D. Rajasekhar, MD, FAAP
AAP-CA2 President 2020 - 2022
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Dear fellow pediatricians,
I hope that you are all taking adequate precautions, and staying safe during this COVID-19 pandemic. I want to emphasize that providing vaccines for children is of vital importance during these uncertain times.
The safety of our children, their teachers, and others working at schools is our top priority. As we prepare to reopen schools amid this pandemic, we must focus on precautions to prevent the spread of infection and tailor reopening guidelines to local conditions and available resources. We are committed to helping the transition to a safe educational environment for children to thrive and learn.
At our chapter, there is a proposal to create a "schools reopening committee" to address these issues and come up with recommendations to help our ongoing advocacy efforts. Thank you to all of you who have participated in the Chapter 2 Listserv conversations, and to those who signed up to be on this important committee.
Children in foster care who are asymptomatic but are covid-19 positive
are having difficulty with placement, because families are scared to provide care for them. A video conference was held at the request of Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS), to address the status of children in foster care during this COVID-19 pandemic. DCFS requested COVID-19 related education to their staff and consultation with pediatricians for certain foster families who are concerned about providing care for children during this pandemic. Dr. Alice Kuo led this meeting with the participation of pediatricians Dr Steve Feig, and Dr. Melissa Ruiz. To address this and future concerns, we are setting up a Foster Care Committee in our chapter. Please see the Committees section below and sign up if you are interested.
Most of you may be aware that Governor Newsom signed the state budget in June 2020, and Prop 56 funds were protected. Attestation is needed by Medi-Cal providers to get paid for screening for ACEs, effective July 1st, 2020. HHS approved $15 billion towards Provider relief fund, for distribution to physicians providing care for Medicaid patients. Physicians need to sign up on line before July 20th 2020 to get these payments (not a grant or a loan).
I would like to bring to your attention two items on this newsletter. LA county immigrant youth resource tool kit, and Stanford's HIV prevention program. I hope that you will find them useful.
Our 31st Annual Pediatric Symposium will be virtual this year on 8/22/2020 with 5.25 CME credits. Registration fee reduced significantly to $60 for chapter members. I encourage you to register, enjoy the presentations, give your feedback, and kindly suggest topics for future symposiums.
Please send an email to
chapter2@aap-ca.org
, if you can help us with our advocacy efforts by being the point person from your area of residence to communicate with your county supervisor, assemblyperson, or the state senator when the need arises.
Best wishes,
D. Rajasekhar, MD, FAAP.
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Los Angeles County Immigrant Youth Resource Toolkit
and the American Academy of Pediatrics California Chapter 2 (AAP-CA2) invite you to visit our newly published toolkit: The Los Angeles County Immigrant Youth Resource Toolkit, a website consolidating community resources in the greater LA area for immigrant youth and families. Our goal is to help professionals from all disciplines address the needs of their immigrant youth patients/clients with regards to health care, legal services, education, social services, and more. As our toolkit continues to evolve, we encourage you to explore and use it in your practice going forward.
In order to best meet your needs and improve our toolkit, we request your participation in a voluntary, 10-15 minute quality improvement survey for this toolkit.
The survey will help us understand your baseline access to community resources as well as your current experience interacting with the toolkit. At the end of the survey you will have the opportunity to enter a raffle for one of two $25 Amazon gift cards. We request that you complete the survey by July 17, 2020.
This toolkit was prepared by a dedicated group of volunteers made up of students, faculty, and staff in partnership with the American Academy of Pediatrics California Chapter 2 (
AAP-CA2) Immigrant Health Committee. It was made possible by generous funding from the
Pritzker Center for Strengthening Children and Families.
Please share this survey within your networks of professionals from any field who work with immigrant youth in the LA area.
Any questions can be directed to iytf@g.ucla.edu or IYTFwebmaster@gmail.com
Thank you for your participation!
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Mia Yanez & Naseem Rangwala
MD Candidates, Class of 2023
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
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Lisa Gantz, MD
UCLA Pritzker Center Pediatric Health and Wellbeing Fellow
Clinical Instructor - UCLA Pediatric Residency Program
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Hijab Zubairi, MD
Assistant Clinical Professor II
Co-Director Resident and Fellow Education Global Health Program -
David Geffen School of Medicine
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Sural Shah, MD, MPH
Chief, Division of Primary Care, Department of Medicine, Olive-View UCLA Medical Center; Assistant Professor, UCLA Division of Medicine-Pediatrics, Los Angeles, CA
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We are asking for your help in protecting our communities
The COVID-19 pandemic is not the only health threat in our midst. During these unprecedented times, we are asking for your help in protecting our communities through vaccination. Maintaining coverage levels for vaccine-preventable diseases, preparing for the upcoming flu season, and working to protect at-risk and vulnerable populations are crucial activities. The vital roles you play in protecting communities are more critical than ever. Please see our requests in the
attached letter, which highlights several CDC resources. We appreciate your partnership and continued support and know that working together, we can overcome the challenges we face amid COVID-19 and help reduce the burden on the healthcare system.
Sincerely,
Dr. Nancy Messonnier, MD
Director, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease (NCIRD)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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Spinal Muscular Atrophy:
Expansion of the California Newborn Screening Panel
Richard S. Olney,
1
MD, MPH, FAAP
Myles B. Abbott,
2
MD, FAAP
In July 2020, the
California Newborn Screening Program
of the California Department of Public Health (
CDPH
) added spinal muscular atrophy (
SMA
) to California's state-wide newborn screening (NBS) panel. The NBS program assays blood collected at 12-48 hours of age from nearly all infants born in the state for more than 80 serious but treatable diseases.
SMA is an autosomal recessive neuromuscular disorder caused by deletions of the Survival Motor Neuron 1 (SMN1) gene. SMA is a leading genetic cause of death in children and occurs in approximately 1 in 10,000 infants at birth. With California's birth rate of some half million per year, it is estimated that 50 infants will be diagnosed each year.
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Regional Centers and Early Start programs
Continue to be open!
Regional Centers and Early Start programs are operating and serving families during the COVID crisis. Although the Regional Center offices may be physically closed to visitors because of current stay at home orders, Regional Centers continue to operate and to provide services including Early Intervention services during this time, typically through remote service delivery or telehealth. Furthermore, Regional Centers continue to accept referrals and applications for Early Start and Lanterman (over age 3) programs as well as conduct assessments for program eligibility using telehealth. Please visit the website of your local Regional Center or the California Department of Developmental Services (
www.dds.ca.gov
) for more information. Please continue to refer children with suspected developmental delays or developmental disabilities to the Regional Center provides service in your area.
Carlo DeAntonio, MD, FAAP
Director, Clinical Services | North Los Angeles County Regional Center
cdeantonio@nlacrc.org
Phone: 1-818-756-6379
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Stanford's HIV Prevention Program
Virtual Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Program
About 1 in 5 new HIV infections are in youth (<25 yrs). PrEP reduces HIV risk by about 99%, and the FDA recently expanded its approval for PrEP to include adolescents. However, California youth have the greatest PrEP unmet need. There are also significant racial and ethnic disparities in both new HIV infections and PrEP access. The goal is to make it easier for adolescents and young adults in California to access pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to prevent HIV.
Now accepting any patients 25 and younger within California.
Stanford pediatricians and adolescent providers connect with patients through a secure, confidential and free initial virtual visit. Continuity is built by having all follow up visits with the same PrEP Doc. A team of students work with doctors to provide robust adherence and PrEP navigation support. Learn more about PrEP by visiting PrEP101 and direct your questions to PrEPadmin@stanfordchildrens.org
Referring Providers*
Call (800) 995-5724, or fax (650) 721-2844
*Please be sure to include a patient's confidential phone and e-mail
Patients
Call (650) 497-2701
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Pursuing 80% HPV Vaccination in California
Announcing release of report: "Assessment of HPV Attributable Cancers and Vaccination Rates in California"
Brief statement:
Every year in the United States, HPV infection causes 34,800 cases of cancer in men and women. Approximately 10% of these cancers occur among California residents. Despite the HPV vaccine being safe and effective at preventing HPV infections that can cause cancer, it is severely underutilized.
Report summary: Recognizing a lack of community-level data to inform stakeholder interventions, the California HPV Vaccination Roundtable collected, analyzed, and aggregated HPV vaccination data from a variety of sources, including the statewide California Immunization Registry (CAIR). The data sources suggest that in 2018 only 28-50% of California's adolescents were fully immunized against HPV by their 13th birthday.
Read more > >
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Welcome New Chapter Members
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We would like to welcome the following
NEW members who joined the Chapter in June:
- Brian Chen, MD, FAAP (Redlands)
- Albert Chow, MD, FAAP (Redlands)
- Kacey Cox, MD, FAAP (Long Beach)
- Chaddy Elhawary, MD, FAAP (Westlake Village)
- Robert Jacobs, MD, MPH, FAAP (Los Angeles)
- Jessica Jaddaoui, MD (Glendale)
- Jade Jeng, MD (Monterey Park)
- Mary Anne Laxa, MD, FAAP (Redlands)
- Natalia Lotz, MD, FAAP (Los Angeles)
- Jeffrey Mar, MD, FAAP (Rancho Cucamonga)
- Anthony Moretti, MD, MBA, FAAP (Palos Verdes)
- Brandon Palmer, MD, FAAP (Huntington Beach)
- Angela Ramos, MD, FAAP (Toluca Lake)
- Shannon Thyne, MD, FAAP (Pasadena)
- Evan Wiley, MD (New York)
Thank you for your support!
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Educational Opportunities
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Webinar - July 16
Clinical Management of Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) Associated with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
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During this COCA Call, clinicians will learn about clinical management of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) associated with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Clinicians will share their experiences treating patients with MIS-C, present treatment details from published literature on patients with MIS-C, and provide an overview of the treatment guidelines published by the American College of Rheumatology.
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You may participate in this COCA Call via Zoom
Date: Thursday, July 16, 2020
Time: 2:00pm-3:00pm (ET)
Please click the link below to join
Webinar ID: 161 220 4810
+1 669 254 5252 or +1 646 828 7666
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Webinar - July 23
Please join AAP-CA2 San Bernardino/High Desert Area Representative Akhil Sharma, MD, FAAP and Dr. Wendy De la Pena for a webinar and discussion on Pediatric Arthralgias. Participants will be able to submit questions via the chat box.
Wendy De La Pena, MD
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Pediatric Arthralgias
Date: July 23, 2020
Time: 6PM - 7 PM
Speaker:
Wendy De la Pena, MD
Loma Linda University School of Medicine
Loma Linda University Children's Hospital
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Akhil Sharma, MD, FAAP
AAP-CA2 Area Rep.
San Bernardino/High Desert
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Webinar - August 22
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic,
we are excited to announce that our symposium will be delivered in a Webinar format from the UCLA media department. The robust virtual conference will include all lectures as planned, including plenary sessions, breakouts and virtual poster sessions.
Childhood Trauma and Resilience - Coronavirus Updates - Pain Management and Opioids - Vaping/Nicotine Addiction Treatment
Fever Management, and more!
Saturday, August 22, 2020
9 Speakers - 3 Tracks
5.25 CME and MOC Part 2
Webinar Special
$60 for Chapter members
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Pediatrician needed: Medical chart review for Expert Witness practice
Send your contact information, summary of your pediatric interests, training, and experience along with your questions to Michael Weinraub, MD.
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Webinar Recording Available
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Fundamentals of ACE Screening & Response in Pediatrics
Dr. Burke Harris and three other health care providers walked through two case studies to show how ACE screening can impact their clinical decision-making.
The webinar covered:
- Clinical workflow for ACE screening;
- How to use ACE screening results to inform patient assessment and treatment plan;
- Ways to provide care and educate children and caregivers on ACEs and toxic stress; and
- How behavioral health providers support patients who have experienced ACEs.
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Quick Links to Local and Regional Health Departments.
AAP-CA2 Recommendations.
ACEs/Trauma Informed Care resources
Testing Guidelines.
Isolation Guidelines.
Guidance for Health Care Provides.
AAP Guidelines, Webinars, and Telehealth.
Resources for Parents.
CDC; WHO, Johns Hopkins Dashboard.
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LAC DPH Health Advisories
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| AAP Recommendations to Prevent Drowning in Children |
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While Staying at Home During COVID-19, Children's Drowning Risk May Increase
The American Academy of Pediatrics urged parents and other adults to plan multiple layers of protection to keep children and teens safe around water this spring and summer. This is especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic, as children spend more time at home with caregivers who may be distracted by work and other responsibilities.
Drowning is the single leading cause of death for children ages 1 to 4, and it's one of the top causes of death for teens. As children are at home more due to social isolation recommendations, they may have more access to pools, bathtubs, and other sources of water - all of which pose a drowning risk
Access all resources (Videos)
Here
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Services Discounted to AAP-CA2 Members
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Stay up to date with Peds RAP!
This engaging monthly podcast covers case-based, clinically relevant pediatric topics and pearls that you can use on your very next shift. Hosted by world-class peds educators, each episode is broken down into short, digestible segments and includes 3.5 hours of AMA PRA Category 1 CME credit. AAP members get 3 months free! (Promo code: AAP3FREE)
http://hippoed.com/peds/rap/promotion/AAP3FREE
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is an easy-to-use, secure, and 100% HIPAA-compliant way to deliver quality care virtually. A comprehensive telemedicine solution discounted for AAP-CA2 members.
- HIPAA-compliant 2-way HD video
- Digital patient registration
- In-video chat & photo sharing
- In-video eCharting
- In-video ePrescribe medications
- Payment Collection
Click to view details and contact information
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Please visit
aapca2.org/jobs
for the latest employment opportunities in our Chapter
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Get Involved -
Chapter Committees
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Chapter committees are great opportunities to get involved in areas that interest you the most. Furthermore, if you are a Fellow member (FAAP), local involvement could position you for leadership opportunities at National AAP. To learn more about our various Committees and Sections, and to sign up for any of the Committees/Sections listed below, please visit
aapca2.org/committees.
We are now forming the Schools Reopening and Foster Care & Adoption committees.
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New - Schools Reopening
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New Committees
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New - Foster Care and Adoption
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Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
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Anti-Smoking/Vaping |
Immigrant Health |
| Immunizations Committee |
Membership Committee |
Physician Wellness |
| Practice Management |
Section on Early Career Physicians |
Section on Pediatric Trainees |
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Do you follow us on Twitter?
Thank you to the 933 who follow us on Twitter.
If you haven't yet, follow @AAPCA2 and tag us when posting on matters related to child health.
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Previous Issues -
Peds@CA2 e-News
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CDC Updates & LAHAN Alerts
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Join the CDC Listserv
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is happy to offer a free email subscription service, which allows CDC.gov users to receive alerts by e-mail when new information is available. With a subscription profile, you get the updated information on the items of interest to you automatically without having to return to the Web site and check for changes.
Click to Subscribe
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Join the LAHAN Listserv
To receive communications from the Health Alert Network, Sign-up here.
It takes less than two minutes to sign up.
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Submitting Articles for Publication in Our Newsletter
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Have you written original clinical work you would like to share? Do you have any news that you would like to publish in our newsletter?
AAP-CA2 invites you to submit your ideas, accomplishments, news, pictures...
For article submission guidelines, please click here.
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Advertise in Our Newsletter
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AAP-CA2 invites you to advertise in our newsletter
AAP-CA2 publishes its electronic newsletter, Peds@CA2, which is emailed to its 1,700+ members on the first weekend every month. Chapter members and non-profit organizations receive a 50% discount. Please follow the link below for more information.
For advertisement rates and guidelines, please
click here.
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AAP-CA2 is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Please consider a tax-deductible charitable donation to one of our many programs.
- The Medicine-Biological Sciences Scholarship Program, which awards scholarships to exceptional high school students each year.
- The Committee on Service, Education, and Mentoring, which awards scholarships to pediatric residents for outstanding research projects.
- The S. Michael Marcy Memorial Lecture, which helps sponsor a portion of our annual Advances in Pediatrics Conference in his honor.
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Please contact Tomás Torices, MD (Chapter executive director) for all Chapter 2 related matters.
Mailing Address:
AAP-CA2
PO Box 94127
Pasadena, CA 91109
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