March 2022 Community Courier

March Community Courier

Practice News

We Are Excited to Announce Our Newest Provider to the Pediatric Associates Family, Dr. Jessica Gardner .

Jessica is a Midwest native, having spent time in Missouri, Illinois and Minnesota. She received her Bachelor’s degree from University of Wisconsin followed by a brief adventure to Rhode Island for medical school at Brown University. She completed her pediatrics residency at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Her areas of interest include Breastfeeding Medicine and Adolescent Care.
Jessica lives in Cincinnati but splits her time volunteering in mentorship programs in both Hamilton and Kenton County. She especially enjoys working with students interested in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) fields. In her free time Jess loves to travel, cook, bake and spend time with friends and family. She is excited to be joining the PANK family. You can schedule an appointment with her starting in August. Welcome Jess!

New Care Coordinator!

Congratulations to long time nurse Allison Palmer for joining our care coordinator team. She will work closely with our behavioral health and medical providers to help our families navigate their health care journeys.

Dr. Warrick recognized for Volunteer Service

One of Dr. Warrick’s many hobbies is being a small airplane pilot. Since 2017, Dr. Warrick has volunteered with the Civil Air Patrol, Northern Kentucky Senior Squadron. The Civil Air Patrol is the U.S. Air Force Auxiliary, a volunteer organization that serves communities in area of Emergency Services, Cadet programs (for youth ages 12 and older), and Aerospace Education. Dr. Warrick originally joined the organization to be able to use his pilot skills to help with search and rescue, airborne photography, and other disaster relief missions.
Dr. Warrick was selected to be the commander of the unit in August 2020. At a recent awards event for all of Kentucky (known as the Kentucky Wing), Dr. Warrick was awarded Commander of the Year for his leadership of the Northern Kentucky Senior Squadron, and his squadron was recognized as the 2021 Kentucky Senior Squadron of the year as well. Congratulations to Dr. Warrick for his awards and thank you for your volunteer service to our community.
If you ever want to learn more about this organization, feel free to ask Dr. Warrick.

Office Reviews

After your office visit please take some time to give us feedback. You should recieve a text asking to provide us with a Google review. We appreciate your input and your confidence!

COVID Booster Update

Confused about when your child needs a COVID booster? Current recommendations from the CDC state that all children 12 years of age and over should receive a booster five months after completion of the primary COVID series. Recommendations for other age groups are still being developed as more studies are completed. You can schedule this booster by calling our office.

Whats Going Around

Want to know what illnesses we are seeing in the office? Check out the " What's Going Around " section of our website. Please also check our Medical Info sectio n for information about common medical conditions and medication dosing.

Are You Signed up on the Patient Portal?

Please sign up for our Patient Portal . It is an easy way to get your child's test results (like COVID or strep). These results are available as soon as they are put in the medical record in our office and you will be notified they are on the portal. Of course you will also have access to their growth charts, medications, allergies, immunization records and more.

Other News

PANK Blog: Early Childhood Behavioral Health

Many times, we think of mental health therapy as trying to get comfortable on an office couch while we talk about our current day-to-day stressors or rehash past traumatic experiences in an effort to move forward, improve our functioning, and live our best lives. Well, drop the “talk” out of it for our youngest and we can help our kiddos resolve their own stressors and negative experiences as well! Welcome to the world of Early Childhood Mental Health (ECMH), chock full of strategies from various modalities of therapy to help assist your littles in improving their functioning at home, daycare, school, etc.
Several of our counselors are skilled in ECMH and pull from a variety of modalities to work with our early childhood population and their families. Such modalities include Play Therapy, EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), PCIT (Parent Child Interaction Therapy) CBT (Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy), and more!
So how does it work and what does it look like for our youngest children?

Support for LGBTQ Parents

If you are a parent (or prospective parent) who identifies as LGBTQ, you may have specific questions about parenting here in Greater CIncinnati. PANK parent Dan Batchelder has started a social group that may be a great resource for you! The group is open to all and can be accessed through the social app Meetup . Use the term "LGBTQ Parents Cincinnati" in the Search bar to get to the group from the MeetUp homepage.

Warmer Weather Means Accident Prevention Season is Here

With spring in full bloom and summer on its way, now is a great time to prepare for injury prevention. Make sure your bike helmets fit, evaluate barriers to pool access and sign up for water safety lessons, make sure car seats fit for summer road trips, follow trampoline safety principles and review safety principles around unknown dogs with your kids. You can find more on all these topics and more at this resource from the American Academy of Pediatrics .

Breastfeeding: The First Few Days

Here at Pediatric Associates, whether you are breastfeeding, pumping exclusively, or combination feeding, we want you to feel supported! Our nurses are available to take your calls and help with questions. As the Lactation Counselor, I am available by appointment three days a week to offer in-person evaluation and guidance in one of the most fulfilling parts of being a mom. We will work together to create a plan which works for you and your family, whatever your goals. We’re here to help you every step of the way, for as long as you choose. Congratulations on taking the first steps of one of the most rewarding journeys of parenthood! I look forward to working with you! For more information, chekout the Lactation Resources on our website .

COVID Update: Omicron Retreating, Vaccine for Younger Kids Delayed

Need some good news? The Omicron COVID variant continues to go down in prevalence. While deaths from COVID are taking a little longer to come down, prevalence rates are falling precipitously. What does this mean going forward? We are hopeful. We will continue to follow guidance from local, state and federal health authorities, and we expect careful relaxation of control measures. Stay tuned and keep praying for a return to a more normal life.
The FDA and CDC have been very cautious with the COVID vaccine, making sure that costs and benefits of the vaccine make sense. Consistent with that approach, the FDA has hit the pause button on approving the vaccine for children under age five years. Safety data looks great, but efficacy of a two-shot regimen has not yet been sufficiently proven. Not surprisingly, the FDA and CDC are waiting for more data from a three-shot regimen before authorization. We will keep you informed whenever the vaccine is cleared for use in our younger patients and when we have it available.

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

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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.