D. Rajasekhar, MD, FAAP
AAP-CA2 President
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President's Message
Dear fellow pediatricians and chapter members,
We are still in the middle of this deadly pandemic and now dealing with wild fires around us. I am hopeful that these difficult days will soon be over and normalcy will return.
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I would like to welcome our new chapter members and encourage them to make use of the resources available on our website, aapca2.org.
Our 31st Annual Advances in Pediatrics Symposium, broadcast live from Tamkin Auditorium at UCLA, was held on August 22, 2020. I hope that you found the symposium to be informative and well presented. Please claim your CME and MOC credits, if you have not already done so.
Wild fires are of annual occurrence in California, and the damages are enormous. In this newsletter you will find some useful information on how to address this issue.
AB 890 (unsupervised practice by nurse practitioners) is a major setback for providing quality health care in California. The public elects the legislators, and it is their responsibility to protect the public with the power of their vote. We need to continue our advocacy efforts to improve health care in California.
School reopening conversation is likely start again in Los Angeles County, because the COVID-19 case positivity rate is near the state required numbers for reopening with precautions. Find updates on the Blueprint for a Safer Economy here, as well as the current status for your County here.
Member spotlight is a recently introduced item on our newsletter, and Kimberly Petko, MD, MPH, FAAP from CHLA is featured this month. I hope to see more of you participate and make this part of the newsletter interesting, by submitting your personal narratives to be published. Please read the submission guidelines below and contact chapter2@aap-ca2.org for more information.
Best wishes,
D. Rajasekhar, MD, FAAP
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Children and COVID-19: State-Level Data Report |
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State-level reports are the best publicly available data on child COVID-19 cases in the United States. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association are collaborating to collect and share all publicly available data from states on child COVID-19 cases (definition of “child” case is based on varying age ranges reported across states.
Cumulative Number of Child COVID-19 Cases
- 513,415 total child COVID-19 cases reported, and children represented 9.8% (513,415/5,265,157) of all cases.
- Overall rate: 680 cases per 100,000 children in the population
View/Download the 9/3/2020 report on the AAP site, here. |
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The Importance of Early Dental Visits
By Catherine Pham, DDS, MPH
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Early childhood caries (ECC), previously known as baby bottle tooth decay, remains a significant public health problem. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that dental caries is the most prevalent chronic disease in children. Studies from the National Institutes of Health reveal that more than 28% of children have dental caries by the time they reach kindergarten. The cause of ECC is multi-factorial ... Read More > >
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Climate Change and Environmental Health |
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Healthy Planet, Healthy Kids: The Smoke after the Fires
By Aditi Mhaskar, MD, FAAP and Priyanka Fernandes, MBBS, MPH
Case: You are called to the emergency room to admit a 7-year-old girl for an asthma exacerbation. When you step into the room, you see that she requires oxygen and is having intercostal retractions. Her mom tells you that this is her first ER visit, and her asthma had been well-controlled with a low-dose of inhaled corticosteroids. However, the child had been enjoying the end of the summer by playing outdoors. Both you and her mom know the problem – Read more >>
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Local Fires and Resources |
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Major incidents as reported by CalFire. Click on the buttons below to view the status of fires in our region.
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San Bernardino County
[Oak Glen/Cherry Valley]
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Los Angeles County
[Azusa]
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San Bernardino and Riverside
[Yucaipa and Oak Glen]
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Los Angeles County
[Lake Hughes]
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Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit (PEHSU)
Factsheets and resources on on Protecting Children from Wildfire Smoke
AAP Wildfires Information
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Provider Relief Fund - Extended to September 13 |
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Phase 2 application deadline: September 13, 2020.
Eligible Practices:
- Take Medicaid/CHIP and did not get a Medicare payment
- Got a small automatic Medicare payment and did not apply for a 2nd payment
Practices still not eligible:
- Those who do not take Medicare, Medicaid, or CHIP
- New in 2020
This portal allows providers to apply for and attest to relief fund payments made for healthcare-related expenses or lost revenue attributable to COVID-19. https://cares.linkhealth.com/#/
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Member Spotlight Articles |
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The Member Spotlight is written to highlight our chapter membership. Chapter members can submit personal narratives about themselves with a focus on how they maintain their physician wellness in the face of everyday struggles and challenges. Authors may also choose to highlight a practice, volunteer activities, QI projects, etc. The purpose of the spotlight series is to encourage and foster unity and support within the chapter. |
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Kimberly Petko, MD, MPH, FAAP is a pediatric hospitalist at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) and an Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. She serves as Director of CHLA’s Pediatric Advocacy Collaborative and as a Member-At-Large for the AAP-CA2 chapter board.
Practice location: Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
Number of years in practice: 3
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The Residency Corner is dedicated to highlighting resident voices and providing an opportunity to find peer connections across the residency programs in the chapter. It is a space for residents to publish articles on their topics of interest. Submissions from all areas are welcome, including sharing ideas to stay socially connected during residency, describing personal hobbies or passions, highlighting resident research or QI projects, describing advocacy efforts, or providing advice and perspective on transitions during residency. The Residency Corner will rotate monthly to showcase a representative from each of the residency programs in the chapter. |
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CHLA Pediatric Residents Build an Anti-Racism Culture
By Alyssa Morse, MD and Alexa Manrriquez, MD
Over the past two months, the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) residents have been very active in building a stronger culture of anti-racism, both within our program and the hospital as a whole. The residency Diversity & Inclusion committee took the lead on hosting the hospital’s first listening session in early June, in response to the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, among many others. It was well attended by both trainees and faculty. From this session, a new institution-wide entity called the Racial Equity Task Force was formed. Read more >>
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We would like to welcome new ROR providers: |
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Dr. Pallavi Kamra and Dr. Peter Soliman
at Clinicas del Camino Real
Thank you for supporting family literacy!
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#RORPodcast
Latest Podcast Episode
Children’s books can bring much comfort and insight for children and adults alike. With all that is happening in our world, we figured that now is a good time to ask: What Meaning do Children’s Books Have in a Time of Crisis? Books represent a familiar, calming activity, almost like an anchor in rough seas. We're joined by Robie Harris, author of award winning and internationally acclaimed books including When Lions Roar, Who? and Crash! Boom!, and Leonard Marcus, historian and leading writer about children's books and the people who create them.
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Free Books for Reach Out and Read in San Bernardino County!
Are you a pediatrician in San Bernardino County? Through a generous grant from First 5 San Bernardino, the AAP Chapter 2 can provide free books and support to start a Reach Out and Read program at your clinic.
Reach Out and Read works directly with pediatric providers to share the lifelong benefits that result from families reading aloud to their children every day. Through Reach Out and Read, pediatric teams can provide new, age- and language-appropriate books and share literacy advice with children and parents at each well-child visit.
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Support your Chapter and Reach Out and Read
on Amazon
Use this link to select us as your charitable organization at AmazonSmile. Then for every eligible purchase you make at AmazonSmile, the AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the purchase price to us.
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31st Annual Symposium/Webinar - August 22 |
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AAP-CA2 immediate past president, Alice Kuo, MD, PhD, MBA, FAAP stood at the podium to kick off the meeting to an unprecedented empty room, with all attendees joining virtually via Zoom. See highlights and Conference Pearls.
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Welcome New Chapter Members |
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Welcome the following NEW members who joined the Chapter in August:
- Frederic Bakhchi, MD, FAAP - (Beverly Hills)
- Phillip Brown, MD, FAAP - (Apple Valley )
- Jimmy Kakkanad, MD, FAAP - (Los Angeles)
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Roberta Kato, MD, FAAP - (Los Angeles)
- Jessica Khankhanian, DO, MPH, FAAP - (La Cañada)
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Krystal Neely, MD, FAAP - (Windsor Hills )
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Andrei Radulescu, MD, FAAP - (Redlands)
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Mayra Rosado, MD, FAAP - (Pasadena)
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Tamara S Simon, MD, FAAP - (Los Angeles)
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Juan Torres, MD - (Chula Vista)
Thank you for your support!
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Chapter Committees and Sections |
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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, please visit aapca2.org/committees.
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Equity - Diversity - Inclusion
The Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee is meeting on September 21st at 6:30 PM. Will you join us? Sign Up for the committee here
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Article submissions will be reviewed on a rolling basis. The newsletter is published the second Sunday of each month.
New sections in the chapter newsletter starting August 2020 are (1) the Spotlight on a Chapter Member, and (2) the Residency Corner. Please direct questions and article submissions to the "American Academy of Pediatrics - CA Chapter 2" <chapter2@aap-ca.org>.
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