Pediatricians must confront community-based threats...( n at URMC and Panorama Pediatric Group ...),Health

n at URMC and Panorama Pediatric Group and co-director of the PLC/CARE programs. "By integrating community pediatrics into advanced medical training, pediatricians will go forward in their careers with an appreciation and commitment to pursuing community-based solutions to children's health problems."

Ultimately, says Kaczorowski, pediatricians must cross over the line of being solely practitioners and also become advocates on the behalf of all the children in their community and press for policies and resources that improve the health conditions in their communities.

Writing in the supplement, Kaczorowski, David Satcher, M.D. the former U.S. Surgeon General and senior advisor to URMC on community health, and David Topa, M.D., a former pediatric resident at URMC who practices at Pittsford Pediatrics, called for such a transformation in the role of pediatricians:

"Although a pediatrician can write a prescription for an antibiotic, the pediatrician cannot write a prescription for 1 of the 9.2 million children who are uninsured. Although a pediatrician can refer a patient to a nutritionist, the health foods that are recommended often cost more than junk food and may not be geographically or financially available A surgeon may be able to extract a bullet from a wound, but is unable to remove the victim from the environment of failing schools, gangs, drugs, violence, and struggling families that constitute the culture of poverty. Such obstacles to health require pediatricians to expand their roles to include that of advocate, not just for the individual but for the population of children as a whole."

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Contact: Mark Michaud
mark_michaud@urmc.rochester.edu
585-273-4790
University of Rochester Medical Center
4-Apr-2005

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