May 23 Community Courier

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May Community Courier

Practice News

Wishing Dr. Sobolewski the Best in Her New Chapter

After 15 years of service to the patients and families of Pediatric Associates of Northern Kentucky, Dr. Kerri Sobolewski is leaving in July 2023. She is grateful for the trust you have placed in her and the relationships forged over those years. The decision to leave was a difficult one, but it allows her to pursue new interests and spend more time with her children. We wish Dr. Sobolewski well and are grateful for her years of dedication.

Welcome our New PANK Doctor, Mike Brown MD.

Dr. Brown grew up in West Virginia and graduated from Hurricane High School in 2005. He then went on to West Virginia University where he earned a biology degree in 2008 and his MD degree in 2013. From there, Dr. Brown came to Cincinnati to join the pediatric residency program at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, where he completed training in June 2016. While there, he was in the primary care track with a specific emphasis on experiences pertinent to an office-based general pediatrician. He then practiced at a Cincinnati private practice before joining this group in July 2023. He takes particular interest in mental health, newborn care, and preventive medicine.

Dr. Brown resides in Cincinnati. His favorite activity is spending time with his family. An avid sports fan, he cheers on the Bengals, Reds, and WVU Mountaineers and closely follows the NBA and NFL. Mike is married to his wife, Gretchen and has one son, Billy, a daughter, Lucy, and a French Bulldog named Blue.

Staff Appreciation Week

Earlier this month at PANK we celebrated our wonderful staff. Here is a highlight video of the days throughout Staff Appreciation week.

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.

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

We have wonderful tips for you about a variety of topics in the Medical Library section of our website including parenting tips, information on medical conditions, medication doses, and much more! We know you will find this helpful.

Other News

PANK Blog: The Importance of Continuity of Care

Continuity of care is a central component of the patient-centered medical home. There are many benefits to going to one place for all your child’s needs, whether for illness, behavioral health, sports physicals, or wellness checks. Here at Pediatric Associates, we pride ourselves in offering same day availability for illness 5 days a week at all three locations and on Saturdays at our Crestview Hills location.
Within our practice, you have many choices of providers, times and locations. There are situations where you will benefit by seeing the same provider for a given condition – such as for recurrent infections, weight or developmental checks, behavioral health issues, or chronic illness such as migraines, asthma, or abdominal pain.
When you schedule an appointment, please feel free to ask for a specific provider, especially if you have been working with them on a particular issue. This will enhance your experience and reduce redundant conversations. Our staff may encourage this when you call. Thank you for allowing us the privilege to help care for your children!

PANK Blog: Summer Safety - Tick Bites

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.

In this blog post, we will discuss how to remove ticks and what signs to watch for that might indicate Lyme disease.

How to Remove Ticks:
The most important thing to keep in mind when removing ticks is to do it as soon as possible. The longer a tick stays attached to the skin, the higher the risk of disease transmission. Most often, if a tick is removed within 48 hours of attachment the risk for disease transmission is very small. Here are the steps to follow when removing a tick:

Use tweezers: Using a pair of fine-tipped tweezers, grasp the tick as close to the skins surface as possible.
Pull upward: Gently and steadily, pull the tick upward without twisting or jerking it. This will help to avoid leaving the tick's mouthpart in the skin.
Clean the area: After removing the tick, clean the area with soap and water or an antiseptic solution.
Save the tick in a plastic bag (can be helpful if you develop symptoms later)

Symptoms to watch for after removal of tick:

Rash, specifically a bullseye like rash
Flu-like symptoms (fever, chills, headache, body aches, fatigue, joint pain)
Joint pain or swelling

Follow up with us in the office if any of the above symptoms develop.

Here is more PANK information and advice on tick bites and helpful information from the CDC on tick bites.

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

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.