Health and Safety

At 3 years old, Yori Tsunoda was a bright and energetic boy who was always on the go.

“Yori had a huge personality,” his mother, Chezik Tsunoda, said. “As the third of four boys, he knew how to stand out. He was really silly, always made everyone laugh and loved playing with his brothers.”

The toddler had a knack for puzzles and a vast knowledge of airplanes. One of Yori’s favorite books was an airplane encyclopedia and he could name any plane by the picture.

Less than a year ago, Yori was at a friend’s house playing in the pool when he quietly slipped below the surface. When Yori was pulled from the water, it was clear that he was not breathing and did not have a pulse. After a few minutes of CPR, first responders arrived. They were able to revive his heart and transfer him to Seattle Children’s.

While Yori’s body eventually recovered, his brain never regained function due to a severe lack of oxygen, which is unfortunately the case with many drowning victims. Two weeks later, he was pronounced brain dead and passed away on Sept. 1, 2018.

“I had no idea when we walked into the hospital that we would not be walking out with him,” Tsunoda said. “As a parent, you assume it’s going to be okay, but it wasn’t. We were completely devastated.” Read full post »

Today, nearly one in five children has a mental, emotional, or behavioral disorder. While some seek relief from their distress using positive coping methods, others may choose methods that are harmful and potentially life-threatening.

Dr. Yolanda Evans, an adolescent medicine specialist at Seattle Children’s, has been seeing a recent increase in teens coming into the clinic with self-injuries done through cutting, burning, pinching and scratching, among others.

“It’s possible that the increase may be partly due to the impact that social media and technology has on the current generation,” Evans said. “Kids might see their peers online engaging in self-harming behavior as a way to cope with their emotions, influencing them to replicate that type of behavior.”

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It’s the stuff of nightmares: a young child slips away unnoticed, wanders into a backyard pool and drowns. A teen swimming to a floating dock begins struggling and disappears. News reports of these tragedies and other drowning stories are too common. Drowning is a leading cause of injury death in children. In 2017, almost 1,000 U.S. children and teens died from drowning and 8,700 visited a hospital emergency room because of a drowning event.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is taking further action to educate about water safety. They recently revised their policy statement, Prevention of Drowning, to help pediatricians teach families about drowning risk and provide prevention strategies that are tailored to each family.

“We know from data that pediatricians don’t spend much time talking about drowning prevention. They have so much to cover in very limited time with families — development, mental health, school readiness or progress, the list goes on. Drowning kind of falls to the bottom,” said Dr. Linda Quan, co-author of the policy statement, and an emergency physician at Seattle Children’s. “What we wanted to do with this policy is highlight that some families are at higher risk for drowning and we can tailor education to their specific risk.” Read full post »

As a naturally-talented quarterback and cornerback for the Northwest Junior Football League’s North Creek Jaguars, Andrew Ronneberg, 14, participated in the study led by researchers from Seattle Children’s Research Institute exploring concussion in football players ages 5-14.

New research from Seattle Children’s Research Institute and UW Medicine’s Sports Health and Safety Institute found concussion rates among football players ages 5-14 were higher than previously reported, with five out of every 100 youth, or 5%, sustaining a football-related concussion each season.

Published in The Journal of Pediatrics, the study summarizes the research team’s key findings from data collected during two, 10-week fall seasons in partnership with the Northwest Junior Football League (NJFL). Licensed athletic trainers from Seattle Children’s treated and recorded concussion from the sidelines at NJFL games to allow researchers to characterize concussions in this age group – from how often players sustained a head injury to factors that influenced their risk of injury.

“Measuring the incidence of concussion in grade-school and middle-school football players is essential to improving the safety of the game,” said Dr. Sara Chrisman, an investigator in the research institute’s Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development and lead author on the study. “It’s hard to determine the impact of prevention efforts if we don’t know how often these injuries occur at baseline.” Read full post »

Flu season is coming so it’s time to add scheduling flu vaccines to your to-do list. On The Pulse sat down with Dr. Wendy Sue Swanson, also known as Seattle Mama Doc, to get the latest flu news as the 2018-2019 flu season approaches. Spoiler alert: avoid promising a “no-poke” visit.

Q: What have we learned about last year’s flu season?

A: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) classified the 2017-2018 flu season as a “high severity season.” Flu activity was widespread across the country, and the season was long. There were large numbers of doctor office visits, emergency department visits, and hospitalizations related to flu. The flu season came earlier than expected and was severe, by the numbers.

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It’s not uncommon for kids to complain of abdominal pain around the start of the school year, before a big test, sports game or performance — when their stress and anxiety levels can be at an all-time high.

While this may not be a cause for immediate concern for some parents, others may feel uncertain on how to address their child’s pain, or may not know that there could be more to it than just a few ‘butterflies’ fluttering in their child’s stomach.

Dr. Nicole Sawangpont Pattamanuch, a gastroenterologist at Seattle Children’s, breaks down the symptoms of abdominal pain related to stress and anxiety, recommends coping techniques for kids to alleviate their discomfort, explains how parents must check out Neuropathy Relief Guide for more information for tested and approved medications and shares red flags to help families determine if there is something more concerning to their child’s symptoms.

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Dr. Douglas Diekema is passionate about the outdoors and wilderness safety. Here he is photographed with his son Nathan on top of Glacier Peak in the Cascade Range.

Like many Pacific Northwest residents, Dr. Douglas Diekema is an avid hiker, camper, climber and skier. His favorite trails near Seattle include Snow Lake, Mount Dickerman, Lake Serene, Perry Creek and Goat Lake.

But Diekema, an emergency medicine physician and director of education in the Treuman Katz Center for Pediatric Bioethics at Seattle Children’s, not only enjoys the great outdoors – he helps people learn how to stay safe while in the wilderness. His emergency medicine expertise, appreciation for the outdoors and interest in environmental exposure-related conditions intersect in his passion for wilderness safety. Read full post »

Exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun early in childhood increases the risk of developing skin cancer later in life. Fortunately, childhood is also when many good habits form, like behaviors to increase sun protection. Dr. Robert Sidbury, division chief of Dermatology at Seattle Children’s, sees early childhood as the best time to begin teaching families about sun safety practices that will serve them well throughout life. Read full post »

For many children and teens, biking in the driveway, around the neighborhood, or to a nearby school or park provides a sense of freedom and adventure.

Not only can biking be fun, it can also be beneficial to a child’s physical health — strengthening their heart, lungs, muscles and bones — as well as mental health, supporting learning and development.

With activities like biking, it’s always important to practice safety. However, with so many different resources available for families, it can be difficult to decide what bike safety practices are reliable and effective to teach their children.

Dr. Cora Breuner, a pediatrician and adolescent medicine specialist at Seattle Children’s, separates facts from fiction when it comes to bike safety, and shares tips from the dynamic perspective of a provider, educator and parent.

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Active kids enjoy improved mental wellness and reduce their risk of heart disease. While the days are short and the weather is often cold or dreary, kids still need to be getting physical activity each and every day.

February is American Heart Month and On The Pulse asked Emily Carter, athletic trainer, and Dr. Monique Burton, director of the Sports Medicine Program, to share ideas for indoor activities that put a smile on a child’s face and get their heart pumping. Read full post »