Essentia Health pediatrics team participates in Osgood elementary reading night

In partnership with West Fargo Public Schools (WFPS), a team of Essentia Health pediatricians participated in Osgood Elementary School's reading night – Camp Read S'more – on Thursday, May 9.

As kids participated in fun games, parents of students in grades K-5 had the chance to listen to educational lectures presented by pediatric providers on the following topics:

• Screen time — Dr. Dhilhan Marasinghe
• Sleep — Aubrey DeCoteau
• Routines and schedules — Megan Berginski & Elli Lackmann (pediatric occupational therapy)

Each 15-minute lecture was offered twice to different groups of parents.

"We identified these topics with Osgood’s principal, Kristi Toy, following discussion about common problems she has noticed for students and parents," explained DeCoteau, a pediatric nurse practitioner at Essentia who presented on sleep. "Nutrition is another area of concern, so we plan to address this and other topics during future events!"

The pediatrics team kicked off its partnership with WFPS in January by presenting an educational symposium on children’s mental health to staff and parents of students in grades 6-12. Topics included screen time guidelines; signs of depression and anxiety; and routines, attention/regulation strategies and social boundaries.

The team also participated in two nights of parent-teacher conferences in March.

"Well-child checks are the foundation of caring for children; however, by the time kids are school-aged, they only have one well-check a year," explained DeCoteau. "This can make it hard for parents to remember all their concerns and hard for providers to address everything in one visit. Bringing our knowledge to schools helps meet parents where some of these concerns arise to discuss them in a timely manner and help them understand what ‘normal’ may look like for their child’s age."

"Your child's pediatrics team is here to help with school challenges, sleep, focus, etc. — all the big and small parts of parenting," added DeCoteau.