Kids Back-To-School Wellness Visits

There is one important and essential item missing in your back-to-school supply lists, and that is good health.

The beginning of the school year is the perfect time to make sure both you and your family are healthy. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that healthy students are better learners at all levels of academic achievement.

Norman Regional Health System offers a network of primary care clinics including Primary Care—Moore, located at 700 S. Telephone Rd., Suite 201. The clinic offers everything your child could need in time for back to school, including wellness exams, sports physicals, and immunizations. It is home to Drs. Rosemary Ayitey, Dean Hinz, Casey Peters, and Amanda Wright, as well as nurse practitioner Emilie Fallwell.

As quoted by Christopher P. Howson, “Care is an Absolute. Prevention is the Ideal.” Therefore, in caring for our children, it is very important that we take them to their primary care providers for regular well-child checks, and not just visit the doctor when they are sick.

Dr. Rosemary Ayitey said there are several benefits of well-child visits, including making sure children are hitting their expected milestones, staying up to date on screenings and immunizations, educating parents and children, providing anticipatory guidance, and establishing a relationship with a primary care provider. That established relationship builds trust and stability for both the children and their parents or guardians.

The medical provider is able to examine a calm toddler better and is better able to identify any behavioral, physical, mental, emotional, or physical changes as they grow up. Teenagers and adolescents are able to express their challenges better in a stable and trusted environment. It is also an opportunity to address and discuss sexual health issues, tobacco, drugs, and alcohol exposure, peer pressure, self-esteem, nutrition, depression, and anxiety.

“As children are growing older, parents tend to forget or become too busy to schedule preventive health visits for their children because they are healthy with no acute problems,” Dr. Ayitey said. “However, it is important and beneficial to bring them in for their well-child visits to make sure they are healthy and remain that way.”

The well-child visits also give parents an opportunity to bring up any concerns they may have. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends parents bring their top three to five questions to talk to their medical provider about. If the concern cannot be fully managed at that visit, there is the opportunity to schedule a follow-up appointment to address the concern in detail.

Well-child visits are for all ages of children, from newborn to 18 years old.

If you’d like to schedule a well-child visit at Primary Care—Moore, call 405-912-3120 or call 405-515-5000 to find a doctor near you. Click here for a full list of our primary care locations.