The University of Kansas Health System reports slightly higher numbers of COVID patients today. 16 with the active virus are being treated, up from 15 yesterday. Three patients are in the ICU, down from four yesterday. One is on a ventilator, the same as yesterday. 21 other patients are still hospitalized because of COVID but are out of the acute infection phase, up from 18 yesterday. That’s a total of 37 patients, up from 33 yesterday.
On today’s Open Mics With Dr. Stites, thousands of children and young adults die each year from unintentional injuries. One group is trying to reduce that number. Dr. Kristyn Jeffries, a pediatrician at Children’s Mercy, and Dr. Steve Lauer, a pediatrician at The University of Kansas Health System, joined the panel.
Injuries are a major source of childhood emergency visits and hospital admissions. According to the CDC, falls are the leading cause of injuries for children ages 19 and under, and account for about 8,000 fall-related visits to hospital emergency rooms every day. 20 children die every day from preventable injuries. Those are sobering numbers, and Dr. Jeffries is trying to do something about it. She’s part of a national effort, The Injury Free Coalition For Kids, that’s helping make communities safer for children. Tomorrow is National Injury Prevention Day, and you’ll be seeing a lot of the color green around, since green is the color of safety. In our area, Children’s Mercy, Saint Luke’s hospital, Sporting KC Stadium and the Longfellow neighborhood will all be lit up green. So will a facility named Charlie’s House, a safety demonstration house located at 2425 Campbell in Kansas City. It’s the only one of its kind in the country and is dedicated to two-year-old Charlie Horn, who died when trying to climb a dresser that tipped over on him. The organization, and the house, all provide resources to help parents avoid heartbreaking preventable childhood injuries and deaths. Many of those deaths are from firearms, which have passed motor vehicle crashes as the leading cause of deaths in children. She says it’s only worsened in the pandemic. Parents can do things like childproofing their house, keeping poison hazards like medicines out of reach, making sure their kids wear bike helmets and providing them with swim lessons. How do you know if you should have your child’s injury looked at by a doctor? She says if they lose consciousness or have obvious injuries like gashes or broken bones, get them to the doctor right away.
Dr. Lauer echoed that and said doctors will ask how your child is behaving. Do they seem normal? He says step back and ask, “Who’s bothered the most? If it’s the parents, you can probably take a little time at home and make sure they’re OK. If the child really seems to be the one most bothered, we’ll be glad to take a look.” He noted that while infectious diseases and cancer deaths have declined dramatically over the years, accidents have not. He also welcomes the COVID vaccine now available for kids 5 to 11 and says the health system is offering expanded clinic hours to meet the demand. One of the common questions he gets, even coming up yesterday from a mom, is about the risk of myocarditis from the vaccine. He tells parents the risk is extremely low and the few times it’s happened in trials it clears up quickly with no harmful effects. However, he stresses to parents, the vaccine provides a 90 percent reduction in the chance of getting myocarditis from COVID itself, which is far more serious and causes long-term problems.
Dana Hawkinson, MD, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control at The University of Kansas Health System, is frustrated by people who believe Facebook posts saying, “Kids don’t die from COVID, so why bother vaccinating them?” He says when the pandemic began, kids did not seem to be as affected as adults. But he stresses that was 2020 data. The 2021 data, which takes into account the Delta variant, tells a whole different story. Children are dying, going to the hospital every day, and suffering long haul effects from COVID just like adults, and we owe it to them to keep them safe through vaccination. He also pointed out a second article this year on the so-called benefits of ivermectin has been retracted for false or inaccurate information.
Steve Stites, MD, chief medical officer at The University of Kansas Health System, Showed the latest COVID heat map of the country. A couple of months ago, the whole Midwest was at the epicenter of COVID in the nation. Now it’s shifted west to Colorado, Montana and Idaho. But he noted the mostly unvaccinated population in western Kansas is beginning to light up the map, which could be bad news for us. He wants everyone to remember, “In the court of reality, COVID is guilty. Guilty of doing bad things to children. Vaccines are not guilty. They are safe and they keep us all safe.”
Thursday, November 11 at 8:00 a.m. is the next Morning Medical Update. Tomorrow, how dogs are helping some of the most vulnerable in our community.We learn more about the Veteran Community Project and how therapy dogs help our veterans cope with PTSD and stress from the pandemic.
NOTE: Journalists should rejoin the Morning Medical Update at 8am as doctors are growing too busy again for individual interview requests. Please bring questions or send to medicalnewsnetwork@kumc.edu until further notice. Thanks for all you do and helping to keep the community safe with your reporting.
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