April 23 Community Courier

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April Community Courier

Practice News

Employee Anniversary

Candice has been with Pediatric Associates for 10 years. Candice does not know a stranger. She is a familiar face to many who come to the Cold Spring office. Candice has a big heart and is very thoughtful. Candice is quick to complement others including patients, parents and coworkers. She is always willing to step in to change her schedule or work an extra day to help out a coworker. She is not afraid to point out things that need attention in the office to make it run better. Candice is a reliable and dependable worker. Thanks Candice for your 10 years of service.

New PANK Baby

Congratulations to our provider Brady Baker on the birth of his new baby!, Little Graham, 7lbs 2oz.

Welcome our New PANK Doctor, Katie Harris MD.

Dr. Harris is from Marietta, Georgia. She attended Southern Adventist University in Tennessee for her undergraduate degree before returning to Georgia to complete her medical training at the Medical College of Georgia. She completed her pediatrics residency at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Her medical interests include breastfeeding medicine, newborn care, and sports medicine. She is currently completing her lactation consultant certification to be an IBCLC as well.

Dr. Harris lives with her husband, Josh, in Cincinnati. In her free time, she loves to walk her dog, go on hikes, and watch all types of sporting events. She is a baseball fan and enjoys going to Reds games, although she remains an Atlanta Braves fan at heart.

Need Paperwork for Camps or Sports this Summer?

Any paperwork you need can be filled out at your child's annual well visit. Please call to schedule now, don't wait until the last minute! Remember there are usually no co-pays or deductibles at the well visit. Also, sports physical forms are valid for 1 full year from the well visit date.

For Our Patients That Are 21 and Older

Effective January of this year we will no longer be caring for patients that are 21 or older. There are numerous providers in our area that provide adult medical care. These providers have relationships with adult specialists and hospital systems should you need this level of care. Please schedule an appointment with a new provider and request to have your records transferred to them. Again, thank you for the trust in us for all these years. We wish you all the best in the next chapter in your life!

Travel Health Services

Are you planning to travel internationally for this summer or fall? PANK has a very helpful Travel Health Program. If you are planning any upcoming travel outside the United States, please call our office for information regarding what may be needed for your child in preparation for travel. This includes reviewing required vaccines, recommended medications (covering a variety of topics such as traveler's diarrhea and altitude sickness), COVID entry requirements for each country, and much more info to keep your child healthy and safe while abroad. Please contact our office as soon as your trip is planned so we can make sure all requirements and recommendations can be completed well in advance of your trip. To access the Travel Health Services at PANK you can either call the office or contact us at travel@pediatricassociatesnky.com or watch our Travel Medicine video .

Website Resources

The "Is Your Child Sick" section on our website has advice for common illnesses and medication dosing. Please check it out if your child is ill.

Other News

PANK Blog: Decrease Screen Time

Establishing a Goal to Decrease Screen Time!

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) calls for no screen time for children until 18 to 24 months and says kids ages 2 to 5 should get an hour or less of screen time per day.

When a child spends multiple hours a day on things that are overstimulating such as ipads, TV, or cell phones, it makes it hard for them to maintain focus on things that are not as stimulating such as everyday conversations, lectures at school, or nature. When a child watches a screen, their brains will grow to crave that level of entertainment in order for their brain to maintain attention. However, the real world will never be as stimulating as a screen which leads to inattention in daily life. Babies and children will learn much more about their world by watching you or other people rather than watching a screen. When your kids watch you talk with a spouse, cook, or even clean the kitchen, they are learning important social and functional skills. When kids watch a screen out in public, this is impairing their ability to learn how the world around them works and how they can fit into social constructs of the environment.

Ways to decrease screen time!

Getting children outside promotes the innate exploring and brain development that the brain needs as well as serving as physical exercise. It also teaches independent play to let kids explore nature; no matter the age. Letting kids get messy outdoors helps with sensory integration as well as builds confidence!

Cooking is another great way to teach kids independence as well as teach them great life skills. As well as bonding with you!

Another great way to keep kids active outside of screens is keeping them involved in a sport or exploring other great venues around our city such as the zoo, aquarium, or a park.

Lauren Bryan, PMHNP

For more information on screen time, check out this Parents Guide to Media Use .

Spring/Summer Safety

It's that time of year again--the weather begs us to get outside and get active. This is wonderful for our patients, but this outdoor time also brings a few more injuries, accidents, and exposures to nature. In the coming months, we will share info on injury prevention to help our patients stay safe and healthy. This month, let's talk about bike helmets! 75% of bike fatalities would be prevented with a helmet. Everyone should wear a helmet every time they are on a bike, even if it's a quick jaunt across the street. In the "Community Resources" section of our website, we have a Bike Helmet Safety Pledge and Tips on Fitting a Helmet . Happy spring and enjoy those bike trails!

Spring Allergies

Along with the warmer weather, many of our patients begin to see seasonal allergies return in late March and early April. Sneezing, clear runny nose, and watery/itchy/swollen eyes are prominent symptoms due to tree pollen allergies in spring. For some patients, this is a minor nuisance that can be addressed by bathing at night after outside play and occasional over the counter antihistamines. For children with more significant symptoms, it may be best to stay indoors on high pollen days and take daily preventive medication. If your child is typically on preventive allergy medication in spring, a good rule of thumb is to begin those medications in mid-March. We are also happy to see our patients in the office to discuss how to treat or prevent allergy symptoms and when it might be beneficial to see an allergist. For more information about allergies, visit our website .

Pediatric Associates
2865 Chancellor Dr.
STE 225
Crestview Hills, Ky. 41017

859-341-5400

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February 26 Community Courier

March 7, 2026

Dr. Cindy Spicker is Retiring

March 7, 2026

After 35 years of holding tiny babies, reassuring new parents, and watching generations of children grow, I am stepping away from my pediatric career with a full heart. After much reflection, I will be retiring on July 1, 2026. Being a pediatrician is a calling like no other. To play even a small role in shaping our future has been the honor of a lifetime. I have been especially fortunate to spend most of my career at Pediatric Associates of NKy. Throughout my 31 years here, I have had the privilege of working alongside many intelligent, compassionate and deeply dedicated colleagues. Our office truly feels like a family. We celebrate milestones together, support one another through challenges, and share a common purpose: providing the best possible care for our patients and their families One of the greatest joys of pediatrics is the continuity—caring for patients as they grow from newborns into confident young adults. There is something profoundly special about watching a child you once held in your arms return years later as a parent, trusting you to care for their own newborn. Moments like these are gentle reminders of the deep relationships and lasting connections that make this profession so meaningful. In addition to providing direct patient care, it has been a privilege to help train future medical providers by mentoring young adults early in their journeys. Seeing them grow into compassionate professionals has been incredibly rewarding. I am deeply thankful for my husband and our three children, who supported me unconditionally throughout the years, even when the demands of my work meant time away from home. Their love, patience, and encouragement made this journey possible. As I close this chapter, I do so with immense gratitude—for the families who entrusted me with their children’s care, for the colleagues who became lifelong friends and for a career that has given me more joy and purpose than I ever could have imagined. I will carry your stories and smiles with me always. Fondly, CINDY SPICKER

MYTH OF THE MONTH: "RAW MILK IS BETTER THAN PASTEURIZED MILK"

March 7, 2026

Raw (unpasteurized) milk is sometimes marketed as a more “natural” or more nutritious alternative to pasteurized milk. But the idea that raw milk is healthier doesn’t hold up well when you look at safety and nutrition evidence. What pasteurization means: Pasteurization is a process in which milk is heated to a specific temperature for a specific amount of time and then rapidly cooled in order to kill harmful bacteria and reduce the risk of foodborne illness. Raw (unpasteurized) milk can carry dangerous bacteria. Because it has not been treated to kill harmful microbes, raw milk can lead to infections from Campylobacter, Brucella, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella, and E. coli. These infections can be serious even in otherwise healthy people, and raw milk exposure can be particularly harmful to children. Certain types of E. coli can cause life‑threatening kidney disease in children. Even healthy older children can develop severe diarrhea and dehydration from these bacterial infections. Some of these bacteria are especially dangerous during pregnancy. For example, infections such as Listeria monocytogenes can be passed from a pregnant person to the unborn infant and may result in birth defects, miscarriage, stillbirth, or serious infection in the newborn. Key nutrients are mostly unchanged: A common claim is that pasteurization “destroys” the nutritional value of milk. However, multiple studies have shown that pasteurized milk contains essentially equivalent nutrients compared with unpasteurized (raw) milk products. In other words, pasteurization makes milk safer without meaningfully reducing its core nutritional benefits. The nutrients children commonly rely on milk for remain largely intact after pasteurization: -Minerals such as calcium and phosphorus are unchanged, and these are among the most important nutrients milk provides for growing children. -There may be some deactivation (denaturation) of proteins, but the overall difference is small and does not meaningfully reduce milk’s protein value in the diet. -A few vitamins—especially vitamin C and some B vitamins, may decrease somewhat. However, milk is not a primary source of vitamin C or many B vitamins in most diets, so these small reductions generally have little nutritional impact. Risk vs. Benefits: In summary, the potential risk of infection from bacteria in raw or unpasteurized milk outweighs any claimed benefits, and we recommend against the consumption of raw milk.