Ep. 6 | Charlene Blache, MD, Pediatrician

Transcript

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- Welcome to another episode of What Brings You in Today.

- I'm Erika Bennett.

- And I'm Taylor Fisher.

- And today we're here with Charlene Bloch, MD and pediatrician and owner of Southern Pediatric Clinic. And Dr. Blush, what brings you in today?

- So in the world of pediatrics, the pediatric patient would say my car brought me in today, but I'm just here to share some information and just some light on pediatrics in today's world. So,

- Okay. Thank you for being here today. So we're gonna start off talking a little bit about your background. I know you've been in Valdosta for a number of years, so can you tell us a little bit about your background, how you became pediatrician and what brought you here?

- So I am originally from Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean. And I came from Jamaica where I did my medical school training and I got into a pediatric program in New York that was for three years. And then I had the fortune of coming to Brooks County to become a pediatrician. So I've been here since 1999, almost 25 years as a pediatrician.

- And you've had your clinic that whole time?

- Well, at first I worked for Archibald System, of course now I'm with South Georgia Medical Center. Yay. Yes. But I think within three years or so I decided to do my own thing, so.

- Okay. Well thank you for being here today. And we're also, we're gonna talk about safe sleep because that is a, a big thing for us right now, the Safe Sleep Initiative. So can you tell us kind of some tips that you would recommend for your patients in regards to safe sleep for their infants?

- So we talk about this at all infant visits and we recommend that parents put their babies in their own bed, not in the bed. So co-sleeping is not something that we recommend. The bed should be firm and you should avoid, they should avoid putting soft, fluffy items that can possibly block the nostrils and cause problems. And it's also recommended for the baby to stay in the room with the parents for at least the first six months of life. So

- I did not know that. I didn't

- Either. Is that a must, must recommendation for the in the room?

- Yes, for the, from the American Academy of Pediatrics and of course back to sleep is the thing that we have been seeing for years. Yeah. Not side, not on the tummy. Even though the baby might be more comfortable on the tummy, it's not safe. So, and unfortunately in my 25 years I've lost five babies to crib death or sudden infant death syndrome. So

- Yeah. And the Safe Sleep Initiative is something that our pediatrics, our nursery women and children's labor and delivery, something, everyone's kind of partnered around to help educate mothers and fathers when they go home to make sure that they have that safe sleep environment because that is a tragic thing that can happen. And we wanna make sure we keep our littlest babies safe and healthy. So very good. On that pediatrics, what drove you to be interested in pediatrics as a career?

- This is interesting. So when I was three years old in Trinidad, my parents told me that, so I didn't know at that point, but they said that I said a three, I wanted to be a doctor, but I said a doctor because I guess I couldn't say doctor D-A-C-T-A-R, I'm not sure where that came from. But subsequently I noticed that I had a definite interest in toys related to science. Like I would pick doctor set microscope chemistry set when I was given the option to pick a toy. So I didn't pick dolls and so forth, which is fine. I had dolls, but they were given to me. But I picked those, those sorts of toys. And then when I went to high school, I excelled in zoology, chemistry, physics, mathematics. So again, the science, the science fields. Also, this is important, when I was old enough to appreciate my physician, I was always impressed by him because he, he just made me feel seen. He would call me by my name and he magically would get me better and my family would feel happy. And that inspired me to wanna be like him. And interestingly, again, he was one of my teachers when I went to medical school in Jamaica, so. Wow,

- That's

- Very cool. Yeah. Amazing. So,

- And so you get to take care of, I mean, when parents come to you and you are taking care of their most precious, you know, loved one. Yes ma'am. Like starting at such a young age, what would you say are some of the best parts of being a pediatrician and then maybe even some of the challenges that you see.

- So I like all of it. My, my favorite, my absolute favorites are the, the little babies. So the first year of life. And I also really like the teenagers, the, especially when they're about to leave the practice. 'cause then I get to see the full range from birth if they started with us until they leave, and the impact that hopefully we've made in their lives. So the difficult parts are, I think obesity is a problem now that is difficult to get on top of because there's so many factors that affect it. But you know, we try to encourage healthy living, healthy lifestyles. We are like partners with the parents to help the kids do what they're supposed to do, which means eat well and be very active, physically active exercise a lot. And it's, it's a challenge but we trying to get there and you know, our vision is to deliver these kids to their adult doctors in the best shape possible. So working on preventing obesity and handling it when it happens is a, is a big deal. We also have mental health challenges a lot more now than previously. I think you all know anxiety and depression are like super prevalent right now, especially amongst the tweens and teens. And that's like an ongoing thing that we have to deal with. We screen for it, but we also have to diagnose it. Sometimes it's, it's a little bit quiet, it's silent. The parent may not come in and say, Hey, I think my child is anxious or depressed. But just, you know, looking at the child child's blood pressure is high and they're not overweight or anything and they just seem very fidgety and just things about them and teenagers in particular, they have a lot of what we call, let me see what, what's the best word to use. They have a lot of physiologic complaints and that stem from mental issues like anxiety and depression. So they'll come in for tummy ache or they'll come in for that chronic headache. And what's actually happening is the struggling with anxiety or depression. So it's important for us to screen on a regular basis, which we do at every health check visit,

- So Right, which reinforces that annual visit. Yes. And the importance of doing those checkups and monitoring their progress. And I mean my favorite part right now is just I, I'm always just interested in like how tall they're gonna be. You know, what's their, and how accurate are those growth charts anyways, the ones that predict like their height,

- I think it's reasonably accurate. I don't

- Know how they figured that out, but that's pretty cool.

- There's a best age to to use them. I think it's age two. Yeah. But you know, we can generally look at the parents and tell what the kid is gonna look like and we try not to focus too much on, on that. Even now, the American Academy of Pediatrics is asking us not to focus so much on body mass index and weight because one it, you know, it makes the kids feel terrible, they don't wanna come see us. Sometimes they scared the blood pressure is sky high because they think Dr. Blo is gonna say something, but just to encourage them to do the right thing. And for the older ones there's something called motivational interviewing, which is different than telling them what to do. Like saying, Hey, this is, you need to do, you need to eat this, you need to do this much exercise. But it's kind of asking them, so how do you feel about how you're doing? How you feel about your weight, how you feel about eating, exercise, is there anything that you would like to see done better? Is there any way I can help you? So that's a different approach than pointing fingers. Pointing fingers doesn't help anybody all know

- That they might need to teach that motivational interview skills to parents for our advantage too. I was gonna say

- That my work with physicians who see adults too. Absolutely. I feel like that could help. I was gonna ask, what are some healthy tips that you give parents or tips to help them with their child's healthy lifestyle? Is there anything that you say, hey, maybe try to do this as far as like the weight but also the mental health?

- So I would say overall we wanna nurture our children and all children. Each one is different. God made everyone different. And so comparing, you know, my child, he's, he's on the spectrum and he has some other issues and so it's been, it's, it's been a journey with him and I learn every day. But the point is, this is your child. This is a unique individual who is growing up nurturing means getting to know that child and understanding them and not trying to make them into what you would like them to be and to be able to do that, you have to spend time with them, give them your attention, give them your air, love, security and so forth. So I think overall that's, that's the approach. And of course make sure they have a good pediatrician or family practice doctor to be on that team taking the best care of them. So

- Yeah. And unfortunately parenting doesn't come with a manual. Right. And I think it does not, and every age is different. Every, you know, like you said, every child's different. Every age is different. And then, I mean, I don't have a teenager yet, but I'm assuming that hormones and the different changes that they go through, you know, once they get that can probably be challenging for, do you get a lot of parents that come in there just like, I don't know what, I don't know what to do. Absolutely. And, and

- I, I actually embrace it and I tell them, Hey, you're not expected. Especially the first time moms, you're not expected to know anything. Okay. So we are gonna learn this together. I know you may have read some books and everything, but you're supposed to feel like a fish outta water. Right, right. And it's like a new family because there's a dad, there's a mom, mom had a baby, now they have three of them, the baby has its own thing going on, then the parents have to deal with that. So it's like a whole new situation. So I give them a lot of grace and encouragement and you know, I to help first time parents, I really do. Yeah.

- Well I can't wait for you to help me one day.

- Come on over.

- Come on the first

- Time. That'd be great.

- So technology, we're in 2024. I know this is something that you like to talk about screen time and kids having their phones on them all the time. So as a pediatrician, what are your thoughts about

- This? So I can speak as a pediatrician and that's what I'll do. I can speak as a parent and say that I'm embarrassed to say that my own child is a victim of, you know, I know too. Media addiction and he's a teenager now and I thought that we delayed giving him access to all of that. But we've come to a point where it's, it's quite a challenge. But we try to give parents advice during the first 18 months of life if they could avoid screens altogether. And except for FaceTime, because babies respond to faces and FaceTiming grandparents and so forth is exciting and, and great for them, but certainly don't put them in front of television. One because it's not good. Two because it's not good. It just, they don't get much from it. It's like overstimulation of their brain and it's not in an organized way that they can learn very much. You spending time with your child is way more beneficial to them than any Miss Rachel program that they can look at. I know Miss Rachel is popular and she's awesome and she came of age during Covid, but she is not better than you spending time with your child. Whether it's just, just spending time talking, singing, saying anything, talk to them. So the American Academy of Pediatrics says no, not until age 18 months. Between 18 months and two years we can do maybe an hour, no more than an hour. Right. Well I would say actually 18 months and five years an hour day of screen time. And then between five and five and older, I think you really wanna make sure that their sleep isn't being affected by things, their family activities and their eating and you know, they, they just need to have a, a life which will kind of take the place of, of that time that the extra time that they might be wanting to spend on the screen. And then when you come to the tweens and teens, you know, we have to talk to them about being a good digital citizen. You have to find out what are you seeing, what, what did you read? You know, you have to probably play games with them as well, which is something that I'm not good at because I, I'm not interested in any of those games. It makes my head feel like heavy. And so, but if you a parent and you are able to play with your child, I think that's a great way to kind of bond and gives you an opportunity to discuss with them things that they might be seeing and hearing and so forth so they understand boundaries and safety on the internet or whatever.

- Yeah, it's so hard because we didn't grow up with that kind absolute access. Absolutely. And so it's just so different. I mean even if you think about video games Yes. Are completely different. They now have the ability to play with their friends that are across, that's what

- The son does, - United States or, or you know, yes ma'am. Different classroom that's just at their house and they're able to talk to them real time. It's amazing. And while all of that is is can be good, it's also very addicting I think to them very, that connectivity and, and then it makes it harder to, like you said, if you're noticing that they don't wanna, 'cause I feel like I've experienced this with my older one before where they don't even care they eat or if they go do anything. Yes. You know, they get to where they would write, prioritize that game over other things and And it's built and designed just like Facebook, Instagram, any of the stuff is for adults to keep them wanting more and to, yes. So it's very kind of scary but I think I appreciate that. Yeah. You know, you're helping. So coming this best with Canda,

- There's a website, healthy children.org. If you go to the American Academy of Pediatrics, you'll find it. And if you go to media, if you type in media, it can take you to something called a media plan that you can develop for your family. So it just covers all aspects of media use. So you come up with some rules which the child can be involved in. For example, if you say, hey, everything cuts off, there's no use of media at dinnertime or whatever. Everything is cut at whatever time, whatever limits that the family would like to introduce. And that's something that can be printed and you can have the child to sign it. So it's a healthy, it's a good tool. It's a good tool. Yeah.

- Wow. Yeah, I think my generation is maybe one of the last that didn't have that from birth because I didn't experience that right away when I got in high school, so. Wow. So I know you're very passionate about mental health and we touched on that and you are a part of a nonprofit called United to Prevent as am mi Yes. That focuses on suicide prevention. So I know you mentioned the screening. So you do those screenings with your patients when they come in of a certain

- Age. You do from age 11, yes. For

- Suicidality,

- For suicide and depression, bullying and then if we see signs of anxiety we can throw in the anxiety screen or also OCD, obsessive compulsive disorder, we have a screen for that as well.

- So. - So if any of those screens come up with something that may be concerning, what would the next step be for the parent?

- So of course we talk to the child 'cause we are big on explaining what's happening to the child, talk to the parent, refer for counseling. That's a big part. We don't believe in just giving medication without counseling. And many studies show that doing counseling and taking medications, many of which I can prescribe will help the most more than each individual one. So put together the best deal would be counseling and medication and of course the pediatrician and the office encouraging that particular patient whenever they come in, treating them extra special and so forth. Yeah.

- And are you seeing any rise in this, like mental health concerns or is that something that is rising? It is.

- It is real. It is real. And I think, you know, that suicide is the second leading cause of death in that age group, 14 to 26 right after accidents. And this is, this is very concerning and so we just have to identify it and try to prevent it as well by getting the kids social media control and, and management of that is super important. And I'm a Christian, I believe that church plays an important part in their nurturing and development. So encouraging them to interact with their church youth groups and so forth. I think that's useful. So

- Yeah. I was gonna ask if you had any tips for parents, you know, before they go to the visit, before they get the screening, if they're noticing that their child is acting different Yes. You know, what, what should they do if they're concerned about that?

- So if they are, they should call us and let us know that they'd like to talk about it. I do telemedicine appointments, so that's usually a good place to start. If I need to see somebody right away and there isn't a right away in-office appointment, I can talk to them via the telemedicine visit and get a sense of what's going on and, and start helping the family Right then. So I think once parents are concerned about their child, that's to me like urgent and we need to address

- It. I'm sure it they don't notice it right away. Right. Absolutely. It's probably absolutely one of that's very small. Daily day absolutely changes. And then one day it's like, wow, this is an issue. And,

- And a lot of parents tend to, you know, hope for the best. Meaning you might see something but then you say, oh, it's nothing. You know, maybe. So by the time they come and say, Hey, I am worried about this, it's been probably going on for a while and we need to address it right away. So yeah. You

- Ooh, as a mom, that's like the scariest thing, you know, and not, I know the best like the funnest to talk about, but I do think it's so important,

- Communication, communication with them not losing that ability to communicate and let them know that no matter what you love them. Right? Yeah. And you're not judging them based on their performance and athletics. Right. I mean that's a class,

- We talked about electronics, but in, in our particular area, athletics and competitiveness is huge sports. And so, you know, I, I definitely see that sometimes even in my world as try not to put too much pressure on them and then you, you hit the nail on the head earlier, not living through them and trying to make you know that there aren't just a replication of you, you know? Right. They are their own people, but trying to support them best you can and

- It's, it's a

- Balance. It's a balance.

- Yeah. You know, because you wanna expose them, you wanna give them the opportunity to learn different things because that might be their thing. And if you didn't give them an opportunity, so like my son, you know, we, we put him through everything and he ended up doing tennis and cross country. But I remember when we put him on the football field, man, that was a, that was amazing. So, so he, he's wearing this big outfit, it looks very awkward. He took forever to get dressed. Everybody's out the changing room and he's still in there. When he comes out he looks totally lost and then he's like trying to high five people. Meanwhile the boys are like, what? No, no, no, no. This is, we are like aggressive here, you know? Yeah. So then the coach says to me, at the end of the first time, you think he's gonna be all right. And I was like, you know what? I don't think we are gonna go with this one. I think, I think he got his, I got a picture of him wearing his little outfit and everything. It looked cool, but we probably set this one out so we didn't do football, but I mean, I love football but just wasn't for my child.

- Well, and and outside of that too, like in the career space, I always love asking physicians what, you know, ignited that field to be a physician. I was never really exposed to phys medical careers as a child. I never really thought about that. But then now that I, you know, hindsight's 2020, I'm like, that would've been cool. Like I wish I would've been exposed to that to potentially. So I always like to try to encourage, I'm always like all what was, what is your advice? Just in case I can put a little bug in their ear maybe they'll absolutely, you know, be, be a doctor one day too. So

- Yeah. But I think, you know, God makes everybody with something special. Yeah. And I think I was meant to be a pediatrician and I thank God for that, that I ended up becoming one. So we just have to really observe our kids and see what it is, what they are moving towards or where they may have passion, interest and so forth. So.

- Well, we're certainly glad that we have you in our community. We are blessed. I'm

- Happy to be here. It's been a blessing being here.

- Yes. Are there any special initiatives or projects that you've been able to be a part of? Yes, yes. That you're very passionate about?

- So I'll talk about what we are doing at our office. We are sponsoring and we have been doing it for several years now, a reach out and read program. So every patient between six months of age and five years of age, when they come in for their health check, we put an age appropriate book in their hand. And the books now are all in English and Spanish. So they're learning to speak English and Spanish. Both the parents and the, and the, the little patients. So it's, it's really good. Cool. I'm proud of that. That's cool. Yeah.

- That

- Is so cool.

- Yeah, I think reading is like super important. My father was a reader, so we lived in a very humble abode. We had a one bedroom house with one living room, one little kitchen outside bathroom and toilet. But he had a bookcase with a, with a lock key and everything and he had all the different type books sectioned off. And that's how I knew the word maus because that was at the bottom. He had a tape that said Ma maus, what's that? But at an early age we had a section with health, health science books and I would pull those, those books and look at the pictures and I was fascinated. So you would see all the muscles and the blood vessels and so forth. So just to put a plug in for books. Yes. And the importance of exposing kids to, well

- And I remember when they used to come around and try to sell you like encyclopedias and stuff. Exactly. Like door to door. Yes. Yes. I mean you were something, if you had a full set of Yes. Encyclopedia, yes. But nowadays, I mean people have so much more access to information D it's different. I mean you really can learn. Yeah. So much. But I definitely to limit the screen time, you, you can get some big paper books are good. So

- 20 minutes a day for those who can read,

- Let's cool that. Just make them

- Do it. That's one of those things I had to make my son do. He is not a natural reader, but I would say no, you have to do 20 minutes, otherwise nothing else comes. So yeah.

- I like it.

- Do you have any advice to leave us with for parents? Parents that are about to actually become parents, new

- Parents?

- Do you have any nuggets of wisdom?

- So I would say take care of your health. Several studies support that maternal and paternal health really important in the baby that's created and has impact for the health of that baby through the life of the child. So that's interesting that you asked it. So take care of yourself. Right. And that, so that means physically, right, mentally, emotionally, and make sure you Yeah, just relax, know how to what? What is it called when we take care of ourself? Self

- Care.

- Care. Self care. There you go. Self care. That's the word I was looking for. So make sure you have your self-care in there. Okay. Okay. Yeah.

- Do you ever eat here while you're here seeing patients?

- Whilst I'm seeing patients,

- No. Well, not while you're seeing patients, but we've been asking our guests at the end of every episode what their favorite meal is here in the cafeteria. Oh, you mean at the cafeteria or in the spice? So I didn't know if you had a favorite meal.

- You you really want me to say on? Okay. So I like the grilled chicken sandwich with fries.

- That's my favorite too. That is that no one has said that yet. Grilled chicken sandwich with curly fries. With cur what? What I get on Fridays?

- No, not too much fried foods. Okay. Right. I'm supposed to say that and I try to live it. Okay. But yeah, that's my favorite.

- Okay, good. That's a new one.

- And she's also does Orangetheory, so I know for anybody that wants a good exercise regimen, I do it as well. Yes. It's a great way to get your heart pumping and get Yes ma'am. Some good mental clarity. But Dr. Bli, we thank you so much for taking time to spend with us and share your story and then I know parents and prospective parents alike can benefit from hearing your words of wisdom. We can all appreciate that. So I thank you for that. And thank you to the listening audience for tuning in. If you have any questions or any topics that you want to hear about, feel free to let us know and we'll be glad to see if we can get them on our show. And be sure to like and subscribe and tune in so that you can be an advocate for your help.

- Yes, thank you.

- All right. Thank y'all.