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Buckeye Health Plan Offers Health Guidelines for Back to School

Date: 07/25/18

Immunizations, Well-Child Physicals, Eye Exams Critical to Each Child’s Success

With back to school right around the corner, now is the time to make plans for a safe and healthy start to the new school year. Experts from Buckeye Health Plan offer tips on immunizations, well-child physicals and eye health.

Here are important recommendations:

Immunizations
The state of Ohio requires kindergarteners to receive the Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis (Whooping Cough), Polio, MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella), Hepatitis B and Varicella (Chickenpox) vaccines. With August slated as National Immunization Awareness Month, it’s a good time for parents to make sure their children are vaccinated.

“You can’t turn back time. Getting your child the right vaccinations proactively protects your family, friends and community,” said Dr. Brad Lucas, Medical Director for Buckeye Health Plan.

Your family doctor or pediatrician can give you the list of immunizations required at every stage of your child’s development. Immunizations help limit the spread of diseases that needlessly kill children every year. Even if your child has missed immunizations early on, they can be caught up.

“We all need to be part of the vaccination push in Ohio,” Dr. Lucas said. “Ohio ranks 48th out of 50 states, just two spots from the bottom, when it comes to the percentage of children ages 19 to 35 months who received all recommended vaccines. This absolutely needs to change.”

Recent Updates to Immunization Recommendations for 2018:

  • Since 2015, the U.S. has seen a rise in the rate of mumps. For the general population, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommends that children get two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR) – the first dose between 12 and 15 months and the second between ages 4 to 6 years.
    o For those associated with a larger at-risk population, a third dose is now being recommended. This additional dose has been shown to lower the risk of contracting mumps by 78 percent.
  • The CDC recommends adolescents receive their first dose of the HPV vaccine between 11 and 12 years of age, followed by a second dose 6-12 months later.
  • To combat the deadly spread of meningitis, the CDC recommends routine meningococcal conjugate vaccination for preteens ages11 to 12, with a booster at age 16. In recent years, several college campuses have seen a rise in cases of Meningococcal B disease (MenB). For those at increased risk, the serogroup B meningococcal vaccine is recommended.

Updated children’s immunization schedules for 2018 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) can be found below:

Well-child Physicals
A well-child physical should be on your back-to-school to-do list along with getting new school clothes, backpacks and supplies. A visit to your child’s doctor is a critical opportunity to detect a possible illness, developmental delay or disability and to ask questions about sleep patterns, nutrition and other concerns. And, if your child plays a sport in school, he or she must have a completed physical exam prior to tryouts.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that babies visit their pediatrician for a well-child check-up as a newborn the first month; then again at 2, 4, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18 and 24 months; and then once a year from ages 3 to 6.

“It’s important to remember that school-aged children need a well-child physical too. Your pediatrician is there to partner with you and to help track your child's physical, behavioral, developmental and emotional status as they grow,” Dr. Lucas said.

Eye Health
August is also Children’s Eye Health & Safety Month. Making sure your children have good vision will help them perform at their best in the new school year. “Good vision doesn't just happen,” Dr. Lucas said. “A child's brain learns how to use eyes to see, just like it learns how to use legs to walk or a mouth to form words.”

Children with uncorrected vision conditions or eye health problems face many barriers in life - academically, socially and on the athletic field. The longer a vision problem goes undiagnosed and untreated, the more a child's brain learns to accommodate the vision problem.

“That's why a comprehensive eye examination is so important for children,” said Dr. Lucas. “Early detection and treatment provide the very best opportunity to correct vision problems, so your child can learn to see clearly.”  

Health Tips for a Good School Year
Starting the new school year can be a time of excitement and anxiety for many kids. “Switching from a summer schedule to a school schedule can be stressful for some children,” Dr. Lucas said.

He recommends practicing the new school routine a few days in advance, including everything from setting the alarm clock, going through the morning rituals and planning healthy meals and snacks.

“Routines are essential to helping kids adapt to the new school year,” Dr. Lucas said. “We can all play a part in making this new year the best ever.”

Sources:
2017 Health Value Dashboard : Health Policy Institute of Ohio: http://www.healthpolicyohio.org/2017-health-value-dashboard/

https://www.healthychildren.org/English/family-life/health-management/Pages/Well-Child-Care-A-Check-Up-for-Success.aspx

Vaccination guidelines from:
http://www.procon.org/sourcefiles/Ohio-vax-req.pdf
https://www.cdc.gov/mumps/vaccination.html
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/67/wr/mm6701a7.htm
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/vis/vis-statements/hpv.html
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/mening/index.html