- Health Department of Northwest Michigan provides free vision and hearing screening. For hearing, it can screen children 6 months to 18 years of age. For vision, it can screen children ages 3-18. To make an appointment, call 547-0295 or (800) 432-4121.
Children's Health
our child's health includes physical, mental and social well-being. Most parents know the basics of keeping children healthy, like offering them healthy foods, making sure they get enough sleep and exercise and insuring their safety.
It is also important for children to get regular checkups with their health care provider. These visits are a chance to check your child's development. They are also a good time to catch or prevent problems.
Other than checkups, school-age children should be seen for
- Significant weight gain or loss
- Sleep problems or change in behavior
- Fever higher than 102
- Rashes or skin infections
- Frequent sore throats
- Breathing problems
- Disruptive behavior by autistic kids stirs furor 11.17.08 Motor vehicle injuries are the leading cause of death among children in the U.S.1 But many of these deaths can be prevented. Placing children in age- and size-appropriate car seats and booster seats reduces serious and fatal injuries by more than half.
- Bedwetting: More common than you think 10.22.08 When children are wetting their bed well into the adolescent and even early “tween” years, it can mean added stress on a family and a great deal of embarrassment for the child.
- Got milk? Breast-feeding best — unless you can’t 10.22.08 Bente White was willing to try almost anything to breast-feed her infant son.
- CDC Study Finds 3 Million U.S. Children have Food or Digestive Allergies 10.22.08 The number of young people who had a food or digestive allergy increased 18 percent between 1997 and 2007, according to a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- CDC Releases New Infant Mortality Data 10.17.08 The United States ranked 29th in the world in infant mortality in 2004, compared to 27th in 2000, 23rd in 1990 and 12th in 1960, according to a new report from CDC's National Center for Health Statistics.
- Child Passenger Safety: Fact Sheet 10.15.08 Motor vehicle injuries are the leading cause of death among children in the U.S.1 But many of these deaths can be prevented. Placing children in age- and size-appropriate car seats and booster seats reduces serious and fatal injuries by more than half.
- Pediatricians double vitamin D recommendations 10.13.08 The nation’s leading pediatricians group says children from newborns to teens should get double the usually recommended amount of vitamin D because of evidence that it may help prevent serious diseases.
- FDA issues safety and risk assessment of melamine in infant formula 10.06.08 FDA is currently unable to establish any level of melamine and melamine-related compounds in infant formula that does not raise public health concerns.
- Avoid foodborne illness when baby arrives home 10.06.08 Foodborne illness is a serious health issue, especially for your new baby and any other children in your home. Each year in the U.S., 800,000 illnesses affect children under the age of 10.
- Hearing and vision screening underway for school children 09.16.08 Local health department’s Hearing and Vision Screening Program are working with local school districts and preschools to provide screening to more than 15,000 children, identifying problems early before they can interfere with children’s academic succ
- Childhood obesity is an ever increasing issue for today’s families 08.29.08 Researchers have come to understand that social groups can influence health in people of all ages.
- Instances of Autism on the Rise 08.22.08 In 2007, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report that raised many an eyebrow across the country.
- Physical Activity Drops From Age 9 to 15 08.15.08 The activity level of a large group of American children dropped sharply between age 9 and age 15, when most failed to reach the daily recommended activity level according to the NIH.
- Fat Cell Numbers in Teen Years Linger for a Lifetime 08.15.08 Researchers have found that the number of fat cells in your body is set during adolescence and remains constant through adulthood, regardless of whether you gain or lose weight.
- SIDS: A heart-breaking killer 08.07.08 The latest for parents about the still-unexplained mystery of crib death.
- Sex education: Safeguarding teens from becoming parents 07.24.08 Health officials claim the keys to keeping teens from becoming moms are education and persistent parents.
- Noise Pollution: A Different Environmental Problem 07.24.08 Too much noise not only pollutes the environment; it can permanently damage your hearing.
- How Social Networks Affect Your Health 07.24.08 Researchers have come to understand that social groups can influence health in people of all ages.
- Appalling Failures Of Uk Government In Health Care Of Children In Detention Centres The appalling failures in the health care of children in detention centres, which are the ultimate responsibility of the UK Home Office, are discussed in the lead Editorial in this week's Lancet. About 2000 children up to the age of 18 years are held in UK detention centres every year. Many are children of families who have been refused asylum or have overstayed their visas; some are asylum seekers or are detained on arrival because they have no identification papers.
- Fall Babies Born To Wheeze? New Evidence Links Birth Season To Asthma Development It is said that timing is everything, and that certainly appears to be true for autumn infants. Children who are born four months before the height of cold and flu season have a greater risk of developing childhood asthma than children born at any other time of year, according to new research.
- Surgeons Perform World's First Pediatric Robotic Bladder Reconstruction A 10-year-old Chicago girl born with an abnormally small bladder that made her incontinent has become the first patient to benefit from a new robotic-assisted bladder-reconstruction method developed by surgeons at the University of Chicago Medical Center. The surgeons describe their innovative technique in the December 2008 issue of the journal Urology.
- Self Weighing Could Help Teens Achieve Healthy Weight Control Overweight teens who weigh themselves at least once a week are more likely to engage in other healthy weight control measures than teens who step on the scale less frequently, according to a new small study. Self-weighing can be a successful tool for adults, but some concern exists that recommending the behavior could backfire with teens who struggle with obesity.
- Panel Of Experts Warns FDA Of Frequent Use Of Antipsychotics In Children Certain antipsychotic medicines are being prescribed too frequently to children, and FDA should take action to discourage the drugs' growing use, a panel of federal drug experts told agency officials Tuesday, the New York Times reports.
- items total
- American Academy of Pediatrics 08.04.08 AAP.org website devoted to children's health.
- WebMD Children's Health Center 08.04.08 Children's health information at WebMD
- Medline Plus: Children's Health 08.04.08 Children's Health links provided by the NIH.
- KidsHealth 08.04.08 KidsHealth website from the Nemours Foundation.