Tag Archives: Hospitals

Special Parents Confidential Episode 58 Children’s Healing Center

Children’s Healing Center

Every so often you run across an idea that is so perfect, you find yourself wondering why it hadn’t been done before. Such is the case with The Children’s Healing Center, a new play facility in Grand Rapids, MI.

All Kids Want To Play

We all know the importance that play time and activities has for social development. We can talk about statistics and studies on the subject, but as parents we just know kids like to play with each other. But when a child has a disease or a disorder that compromises their immune systems, social activities usually wind up being left out.

Safe Play Areas For Kids With Immune Deficiencies

Now a new concept has come about here in Grand Rapids, Michigan where I live that is making a major difference. The Children’s Healing Center is a special play and social activity center that is completely germ free. It allows kids with cancers, blood diseases, or any other disorders that cause immune deficiencies to still get out and have a chance to play and socialize with other kids who have similar problems.

They offer fun programs and activities in technology, art and learning, fitness, and exploratory play in a seven thousand square foot facility that is as germ free as possible. 

Joining me on this episode of Special Parents Confidential is Amanda Winn, who is the Founder and the Executive Chair of the Children’s Healing Center. We talk about her background and her very personal reason for starting the Children’s Healing Center, as well as what the center offers for kids and families.

Connect With Special Parents Confidential!

Did you know the best way you can keep in touch with me and comment about episodes and other issues you’re interested in is on the Special Parents Confidential Facebook page?  Use the Facebook button below this post to connect with us and share Special Parents Confidential with everyone you know on social media.

Links Mentioned In This Episode:

Children’s Healing Center Home Page 

Amanda Winn Biography  

Children’s Healing Center Facebook Page  

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Colds and the Flu – Revisiting SPC Episode 48

Colds and the Flu – Revisiting SPC Episode 48

It seems like every year the season for colds and the flu gets longer. Whether you’re a parent of a special needs child or not, our kids are coming down with colds and the flu all year round – for that matter, so are we parents. But what exactly are colds and the flu? Did you know that they share some of the same symptoms? How do you tell them apart? What’s the difference between the flu and a 24 hour stomach bug? How do you treat these illnesses and what can you do if you have a special needs child that has sensitivities to medicines or has challenges with standard treatments?

Why Do Colds And The Flu Affect Kids Differently Than Adults?

For this episode of Special Parents Confidential we are joined again by our friend Dr. Patricia Schultz, who has some answers. Including ways that you can help treat kids who have aversions to medicines. She also talks about the warning signs for when your child might have something else going on instead of the cold or the flu, why dehydration is a huge concern for sick kids, and – most importantly – when it’s time to take your child to the hospital.

Always Call Your Doctor First.

You’ll hear great advice about how colds and the flu, as well as Noroviruses and other illnesses can affect babies and infants, toddlers, younger children, teenagers and adults.  As always, though, Dr. Schultz’s advice is merely for informational purposes only. If you have any concerns about your child’s health, be sure to contact your family health provider or pediatrician.

Links Mentioned In This Podcast.

The Oral Rehydration Solution from The World Health Organization

The Common Cold – What Parents Need To Know. From the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The Flu – Healthy Children from The American Academy of Pediatrics. 

Surviving The Stomach Bug – American Academy of Pediatrics. 

Kids Health – Vomiting 

Kids Health – Diarrhea

Support Special Parents Confidential

If you have found this episode, or any episode of Special Parents Confidential to be helpful, please consider contributing to help support this podcast. Just click on the Support Special Parents Confidential link at the top right of the page to get to our special Pay Pal account so you can make your contribution easily and safely. Any amount you can contribute will help. Thanks for your support!

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Special Parents Confidential 48 Colds And The Flu

Colds And The Flu.

It seems like every year the season for colds and the flu gets longer. Whether you’re a parent of a special needs child or not, our kids are coming down with colds and the flu all year round – for that matter, so are we parents. But what exactly are colds and the flu? Did you know that they share some of the same symptoms? How do you tell them apart? What’s the difference between the flu and a 24 hour stomach bug? How do you treat these illnesses and what can you do if you have a special needs child that has sensitivities to medicines or has challenges with standard treatments?

Why Do Colds And The Flu Affect Kids Differently Than Adults?

For this episode of Special Parents Confidential we are joined again by our friend Dr. Patricia Schultz, who has some answers. Including ways that you can help treat kids who have aversions to medicines. She also talks about the warning signs for when your child might have something else going on instead of the cold or the flu, why dehydration is a huge concern for sick kids, and – most importantly – when it’s time to take your child to the hospital.

Always Call Your Doctor First.

You’ll hear great advice about how colds and the flu, as well as Noroviruses and other illnesses can affect babies and infants, toddlers, younger children, teenagers and adults.  As always, though, Dr. Schultz’s advice is merely for informational purposes only. If you have any concerns about your child’s health, be sure to contact your family health provider or pediatrician.

Links Mentioned In This Podcast.

The Oral Rehydration Solution from The World Health Organization

The Common Cold – What Parents Need To Know. From the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The Flu – Healthy Children from The American Academy of Pediatrics. 

Surviving The Stomach Bug – American Academy of Pediatrics. 

Kids Health – Vomiting 

Kids Health – Diarrhea

Support Special Parents Confidential

If you have found this episode, or any episode of Special Parents Confidential to be helpful, please consider contributing to help support this podcast. Just click on the Support Special Parents Confidential link at the top right of the page to get to our special Pay Pal account so you can make your contribution easily and safely. Any amount you can contribute will help. Thanks for your support!

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Special Parents Confidential Episode Transcriptions Are Now Available

Special Parents Confidential Episode Transcriptions Are Now Available.

To all of our listeners:

When I first launched Special Parents Confidential in January of 2013, my goal was (and remains) to provide accurate and credible information for parents of special needs children. My other goal was that these episodes would be free of charge. 

I’m fortunate to say I have achieved both those goals. However, despite that there is no charge to listen to these episodes, there are expenses to creating the podcast. Hosting the website, time spent recording and producing the episodes, and promoting the podcast on social media, are some examples. During all this time, Special Parents Confidential has been entirely funded by myself. The result is, because of the costs, and the commitments I have with a full time job, I can only produce these episodes in my spare time, which isn’t very often.

How You Can Help

To help lower these costs, I would like to ask for your help. Special Parents Confidential episode transcriptions are now available on Amazon Kindle Books. The transcriptions sell for only $5.00 USD for the one time download, and is available to listeners in other countries as well.  Each transcription is in the Kindle eBook format, and contains active links to every website mentioned in the podcast. The Kindle Book Reader is a free app, available for multiple operating systems. You can download it on the Kindle Website here.

The first episode transcription that we are offering for purchase is one of our most recent podcasts. Medical Advocacy Episode 35 with Teri Dreher, RN, of North Shore Patient Advocates. You can find this transcription by clicking here. 

In the coming weeks I’ll be posting other episode transcriptions. If there is a particular episode that you would like to see transcribed, please Like our Facebook Page. Then you can let me know your preference in our status space.

If you have found any information in our episodes useful, purchasing a Special Parents Confidential Transcription eBook is a great way to help support us. This way we can continue producing more episodes in the future. My next goal for Special Parents Confidential is to be able to provide a new episode at least once a week. Your support, through purchasing these transcriptions, can help make that new goal a reality.

Want to help even more? Please be sure to post a review of the episode transcription on the Kindle page. You can also share this post, and your review, with all of your social media sites.

To purchase your eBook Transcription of Special Parents Confidential Episode 35 on Amazon Kindle Publishing, click here.

Thanks for your support!

John Pellegrini

Special Parents Confidential Episode 35 Medical Advocacy

Medical Advocacy.

One of the continuous aspects of having a child with special needs is medical care and medical issues. Parents of special needs children often find themselves visiting medical facilities as often as they visit family or friends. Sometimes more often.

Understanding the medical issues our children have, however, isn’t easy. Too often the medical experts we see are not always able to give us the answers we need when we need them. Or in some cases the answers we get create even more questions. Sometimes parents turn to the internet to understand more about the issues and challenges our kids face. But the internet is not always a reliable source of information, and that can lead to poor choices, and bad outcomes that could have been prevented if the parents had access to the right help when they needed it.

With the increasing ‘corporatizing’ of the American medical industry, and insurance companies regulating how medical care can be done, with the emphasis being placed on cost-efficiency, parents can be left confused and uncertain about the care their children are being given. Medical groups and insurance companies are trying to address this situation by offering in-house medical advocacy services, but there are doubts as to whether those services are being made for the good of the patient or the good of the industry.

In the past few years a new kind of service business has taken root: private professional medical advocacy. These companies are usually medical professionals, such as Registered Nurses, who work exclusively for the patients or their caregivers and guardians. Their role is to advocate for the families to make sure that the medical companies and the insurance companies are offering the care and services that the patient really needs.

One such business is North Shore Patient Advocates, based in Chicago. John recently spoke to their President and Chief Advocate, Teri Dreher, RN, to find out about some of the problems that families can encounter when dealing with medical groups and the health insurance industry, and how private medical advocates can help families.

Links Mentioned In this Podcast

North Shore Patient Advocates – Family medical advocacy services based in Chicago, IL.

Alliance of Professional Health Advocates – International database of health care advocates for the United States, Canada, and Worldwide.

National Association of Healthcare Advocacy Consultants – National database of health care advocates.

Or, google search Private Professional Healthcare Advocates for your area.

 

 

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Special Parents Confidential Episode 23 Finding Matthew

Finding Matthew

For parents of special needs children perhaps the most stressful and anxious time is when you are first told that your child has problems. That first diagnosis is such a shock. You don’t know what to do, you don’t know what to think, and you feel completely overwhelmed with it all. One of the most helpful things for parents of special needs children is when they hear stories of other families who have already gone through similar experiences and have shared their story. The challenges and struggles are universal, no matter what the disability or the severity. Just knowing that someone else is out there facing the same worries and fears, and has taken the time to tell that story, can be very reassuring.

In this episode of Special Parents Confidential I’d like to introduce you to just such a parent. In 1970, Donna Kirk, who, with her husband Ed, is from a town near Toronto, Canada, had gone to the hospital for the birth of her first son, Matthew. But problems occurred and their baby had oxygen loss during birth and suffered severe brain damage. The next day their son was transferred to Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto where the doctor there told them that their son was basically, in his words, “a vegetable with a heartbeat”. This doctor advised them to institutionalize their son and have another baby as soon as possible… implying that they should just forget Matthew.

Donna and Ed ignored what the doctor told them and took him home as soon as they could. They fought for him and cared for him throughout his entire life and, in the process, proved that first doctor and many other people wrong about Matthew’s abilities. Ed and Donna had two other children after Matthew, a brother an sister.  Matthew died at the age of 40 in 2010, and Donna has written a book called, Finding Matthew, about his life, his challenges, and the struggles that she and her husband went through from his devastating diagnosis to his ultimately successful life and becoming a contributing member to society. The book shows how even the most severely disabled people have incredible gifts and how the family can work together to get through any adversity. It’s definitely a must-read for all parents of special needs children and their families.

Donna’s extraordinary book, Finding Matthew is available on Amazon Books, and you an click either of those links to take you  to the page. Donna Kirk also has a blog site where she posts resource information and updates. Just click on her name and you’ll be re-directed to her site.

As always, a reminder that if you like this episode of Special Parents Confidential or any episode we’ve done, please share our site with your friends, family, and all your connections on social media. You can do this easily with the social media buttons on our website. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, add us on Google Plus, Tumbler, Linked In, Pintrest, Stumble Upon, Reddit, or other social media sites you use. You can also sign up for our email service and have new posts and podcast episodes delivered right to your inbox the moment they’re available online. We’re also on iTunes and Stitcher as a free subscription, and if you have a moment, feel free to write a review about our podcast. Anything you can do to help spread the word about Special Parents Confidential will help us be able to continue these podcasts.

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