Well Beyond Medicine: The Nemours Children's Health Podcast

In 2021, the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, or EDF, released a study indicating that roughly 2.3 million children across the U.S. serve as primary or secondary caregivers to family members wounded, injured, or ill due to their service in the U.S. Military. They are our nation’s hidden helpers. 

To better support these children, EDF partnered with the Wounded Warrior Project and the White House Joining Forces Initiative, led by First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, to create the Hidden Helpers Coalition. The coalition comprises over 100 partner organizations, including government agencies, non-profits like Nemours Children’s Health, and private sector entities. 
 
To highlight coalition efforts over the last three years and announce new commitments, Nemours, the Office of United States Senator Tom Carper (D-DE), and EDF held a forum at Nemours Children’s Hospital, Delaware, entitled “Supporting Our Military Families and Hidden Helpers.”  This podcast is the first of a two-part episode featuring event highlights.

GUESTS:
R. Lawrence Moss, MD, President and CEO, Nemours Children’s Health
Steve Schwab, CEO, Elizabeth Dole Foundation
Tom Carper, U.S. Senator, D-Delaware
Silvia Lopez, Elizabeth Dole Foundation Fellow and military wife
Major General Michael R. Berry, Adjutant General, Delaware National Guard
Josette Manning, Cabinet Secretary, Delaware Department of Health and Social Services and Veteran wife
Steve E. Yeatman, Cabinet Secretary, Delaware Department of Services for Children, Youth and Their Families and Veteran
Amanda Brady, BSN, RN, MBA, CPN, CRCR, ACM-RN, Nemours Children’s Health and Military Family
Thomas Brady, Hidden Helper

Carol Vassar, producer/host

Views expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views of the host or management. 

Subscribe, review or let your voice be heard at NemoursWellBeyond.org.

George Gershwin says summer is when "the livin’ is easy." But there is something to be said for summer as an opportunity to maintain the learning, safety, and health of our nation’s children when they’re out of school. We dig into the importance of high-quality summer learning to our nation’s children in all its aspects: health, nutrition, safety, equity, workforce impact, and education.

Guests:
Aaron Dworkin, CEO, National Summer Learning Association
Rachel Thornton, MD, PhD, FAAP, Vice President, Chief Health Equity Officer, Nemours Children's Health
Nancy Molello, Executive Director, Ginsburg Institute for Health Equity at Nemours Children's Health
Ashley Bernal, Patient Care Technician, Nemours Children's Health

Learn more about NSLA here.
Learn more about quality summer learning programs here.

Host/Producer: Carol Vassar

Views expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views of the host or management. 

Subscribe, review or let your voice be heard at NemoursWellBeyond.org.

For decades, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has partnered with state health departments to conduct the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS). Aimed at new mothers, the PRAMS survey asks women to provide information about their health, attitudes, and experiences before, during, and shortly after pregnancy.

By the mid-twenty-teens, however, it was realized that surveying new fathers could also provide valuable insights and information about the health of both their newborn children and their partners. This led to the launch of a pilot PRAMS for Dads survey in Georgia. PRAMS for Dads is now in five states and growing, providing valuable public health data that informs public education, programming, outreach and policy development. We talked with two leaders of the PRAMS for Dads movement about its origins, growth and integration with PRAMS, which provides a clearer picture of the health of families across the U.S.

Guests:
Craig Garfield, MD, Professor of Pediatrics at Northwestern University and Attending Pediatrician, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago

Clarissa Simon, MD, PhD, Research Scientist, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago

Carol Vassar, producer/host

Views expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views of the host or management. 

Subscribe, review or let your voice be heard at NemoursWellBeyond.org.

The Healthy Kids, Healthy Future Technical Assistance Program (TAP), started in 2018 and is led by the Rodel Foundation and the Nemours Children’s National Office of Policy & Prevention. It uses Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funding to provide support and resources to early care education providers to make positive changes in their childcare centers and family childcare homes.

Guests:
Georgia Thompson, Senior Program and Policy Analyst, National Office of Policy & Prevention, Nemours Children’s Health
Diane Frentzel, Program Manager, Delaware Readiness Teams, Rodel and Healthy Kids, Healthy Future Technical Assistance Program Lead
Rhondalin Cannon-Tingle, Founder, Rhonda’s Little Angels Daycare & Preschool, Delaware

Host/Producer: Carol Vassar

Views expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views of the host or management. 

Subscribe, review or let your voice be heard at NemoursWellBeyond.org.

The Roadmap Project started in 2017 as a simple request from three parents of children with chronic conditions to the American Board of Pediatrics: Create for us a roadmap to improve the emotional health of our children. 

Since that time, The Roadmap Project has become a national effort that seeks to do this by: 

• Raising awareness among patients, families, and clinical teams to validate, assess, and address emotional stress during routine care;
• Building confidence and capability among clinical teams to assess and address emotional health needs; 
• Helping patients and families feel safe sharing emotional health concerns; and 
• Providing resources, connections, and strategies to patients, families, and clinical teams.

In this encore presentation of the Well Beyond Medicine podcast, we hear from the team implementing the Roadmap Project and get an update on its current status.

Guests:
Erica Sood, PhD, Pediatric Psychologist, Director of Nemours Children's Cardiac Learning & Early Development Program, Nemours Children's Health, Delaware
Jill Plevinsky, PhD, Pediatric Psychologist, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Carole Lannon, MD, MPH, Pediatrician, Senior Faculty Lead, Learning Networks Core, Anderson Center for Health Systems Excellence, Cincinnati Children's Hospital

Host/Producer: Carol Vassar

Views expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views of the host or management. 

Subscribe, review or let your voice be heard at NemoursWellBeyond.org.

There is a growing body of literature that has implicated the role of several environmental hazards in childhood cancer, such as exposure to pesticides, vehicle exhaust, gasoline, and tobacco smoke, all of which can increase the risk of a childhood cancer diagnosis. A new training program developed by the Western States Pediatric Environmental Health Speciality Unit at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) aims to support and educate physicians so they, in turn, can offer practical guidance to parents and caregivers on how to prevent exposure to toxic chemicals associated with childhood cancer risk. The program is funded and supported by the Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Registry, part of the CDC  and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

GUESTS:
Dr. Mark Miller, Director Emeritus of the Western States Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)

Dr. Catherine Metayer, Director of the Center for Integrative Research on Childhood Leukemia and the Environment at the University of California Berkeley School of Public Health

Dr. Joe Wiemels, PhD,  Professor of Population and Public Health Sciences and director of the PhD Epidemiology program, University of Southern California

This project is sponsored by the Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Units. For more information, go to PEHSU.net.

Carol Vassar, producer

Views expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views of the host or management. 

Subscribe, review or let your voice be heard at NemoursWellBeyond.org.

In part 2 of The KIDS Health Act series, U.S. Senators Tom Carper and Dan Sullivan discuss ways in which the bill aims to integrate mental and physical health services for children eligible for Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Senator Carper (D-DE) highlights his focus on early childhood development and access to healthcare in Delaware, while Senator Sullivan (R-AK) addresses Alaska's unique healthcare challenges and emphasizes the need for innovative, localized solutions.

Both senators stress the importance of breaking down bureaucratic barriers and increasing funding to improve children's health outcomes. Part 2 of the series underscores the bipartisan effort to address youth mental health and the holistic approach proposed by the KIDS Health Act.

Listen to Part 1 and learn more about the KIDS Health Act.

Guests:
Tom Carper, U.S. Senator, D-Delaware, co-sponsor of the KIDS Health Act
Dan Sullivan, U.S. Senator, R-Alaska, co-sponsor of the KIDS Health Act

Host/Producer: Carol Vassar

Views expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views of the host or management. 

Subscribe, review or let your voice be heard at NemoursWellBeyond.org.

The Kickstarting Innovative Demonstrations Supporting (KIDS) Health Act is a bipartisan and bicameral effort now before the U.S. Congress that would establish a holistic approach to children’s healthcare by integrating mental and physical health services for children and youth who are eligible for both Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). This legislation would allow the states to design financially sustainable models to enhance training for their healthcare workforce and improve health information technology systems to better facilitate data sharing, early intervention, and care coordination across sectors that serve children.  

Learn more about the KIDS Health Act and listen to Part 2.

Guests:
Lisa Blunt Rochester, U.S. Congresswoman, D-Delaware, co-sponsor of the KIDS Health Act
Michael C. Burgess, MD, U.S. Congressman, R-Texas, co-sponsor of the KIDS Health Act
Cristian Lemus Zavala, MSW, Care Coordinator, Nemours Children's Health, Saint Francis, Delaware

Host/Producer: Carol Vassar

Views expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views of the host or management. 

Subscribe, review or let your voice be heard at NemoursWellBeyond.org.

Social determinants of health (SDoH) are non-medical factors that affect health outcomes and quality of life. Much attention and work is focused on examining SDoH and creating pathways to improve them, with the ultimate goal of optimizing wellness for everyone. In this episode, we’ll take a look at two such pathways. 

SEGMENT 1: A paper published in the Journal of Pediatrics examined disparities in vision screening in primary care for young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Drs. Kimberly Hoover, Brittany Perry and Matthew DiGuglielmo from Nemours Children’s Health co-wrote the paper, and Drs. Hoover and Perry are here to discuss their findings — and what comes next.

Guests:
Brittany Perry, DO, Clinical Assistant Professor, Primary Care Pediatrician, Nemours Children's Health, Delaware
Kimberly Hoover, MD, General Medicine Resident, Nemours Children's Health, Delaware

SEGMENT 2: Advocacy Rounding is a new concept being piloted in the pediatric residency program at Nemours Children’s Health, Delaware. It’s being done in response to a goal set by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (or ACGME) that encourages residents and fellows to become better acquainted with patient advocacy and SDoH during their training — and it's proving fruitful so far.

Guests:
Kanika Gupta, MD, Inpatient Pediatrics, Associate Program Director, Pediatric Hospital Medicine Fellowship, Nemours Children’s Health, Delaware
Sarah J. Calardo, DO, M.Ed, Hospital Medicine Resident, Nemours Children's Health, Delaware

Host/Producer: Carol Vassar

Views expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views of the host or management. 

Subscribe, review or let your voice be heard at NemoursWellBeyond.org.

The Well Beyond Medicine Podcast celebrates a milestone: its first "podiversary." It’s been a year complete with influential guests, great conversations, and loyal listeners whose interest in whole child health is piqued by discussions on the podcast. Join us as we look back at some of our achievements from this year, hear from some of those guests, and learn what the future holds for the coming year — and beyond!

Guests:
Drew Landmeier, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Nemours Children's Health
Cheryl Munn, Director of Enterprise Communications, Nemours Children's Health
Che Parker, Public Relations Manager, Nemours Children's Health

Producer/Host: Carol Vassar

Views expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views of the host or management. 

Subscribe, review or let your voice be heard at NemoursWellBeyond.org.