Local pediatricians soon will screen for ‘toxic stress’
Like most pediatricians, Dr. Kathryn Cambi routinely asks parents about non-medical problems that can affect their childs mental and physical health, like job losses, divorce, drug and alcohol abuse and safety at home.
You need to be able to approach these delicate topics with parents, Cambi, who practices at Flanders Pediatrics in East Lyme, said Thursday. You have to have a good relationship with patients, and make these questions part of your regular screenings, just like questions about eating and drinking.
Since 2002, when she and other pediatricians in Connecticut encounter families in need of help, theyve been able to tap the Help Me Grow program of the state Office of Early Childhood to connect parents and their children with services to help with developmental and behavioral problems and fill basic needs.
Created in 1997 at the Connecticut Childrens Medical Center in Hartford and then expanded statewide, Help Me Grow is now being replicated in 25 states and territories.
http://www.theday.com/local/20160107/local-pediatricians-soon-will-screen-for-toxic-stress