Our Next Chapters

Greetings Pediatric Associates family. Pediatric Associates just celebrated its 30th birthday as a practice. We are celebrating this milestone with great optimism and energy, and we are honored to be a trusted part of your family.

Like all families, our Pediatric Associates family experiences changes and transitions. At the end of this year, on December 31, 2022, the three founding members of our practice, Dr. Cunha, Dr. Brokaw and I, Dr. Bolling, will be retiring from Pediatric Associates. Collectively, we have over a hundred years practicing pediatrics, and nearly all of it was here, at our beloved practice.

The three of us are very excited about being able to pursue interests that have been on the backburner for many years and to spend more time with our own families. Although we arrived at our decisions independently, we also feel a certain symmetry and poetry in retiring together.

Dr. Cunha, a New York native and educated in Florida, will be spending more time at his home in Florida, hoping for an opportunity to care for children less fortunate in Highland County, Florida. He is looking forward to traveling more with his family and friends. He will certainly be spending more time attempting to master golf, pickleball and fishing! Most importantly, he will be there for his wife, Donna, their four adult children and their young families. He is very anxious to spend more time with his granddaughter, Elliotte.

Dr. Bolling, an avid hiker and skier, plans to take advantage of having more time to explore and travel with his spouse, Stephen, and their dog, Murphy. He continues to volunteer with the American Academy of Pediatrics studying and teaching in the area of pediatric obesity. He is involved at his church and is looking forward to several projects that promote getting kids into nature. He is also excited about spending more time with his siblings and their growing extended families.

Dr. Brokaw looks forward to spending as much time as possible with his wife, Jill, and their three adult children. As all three live in distant parts of the country, Barry and Jill will enjoy traveling and exploring new areas, especially by hiking, kayaking, fishing and skiing. Also, he hopes to continue to rehab a family log cabin in northern Ontario. Consequent to his love of nature, he hopes to promote outdoor experiences to youth who might otherwise never have the opportunities. “Dr. Barry” hopes to stay active in his church and volunteer with organizations such as Redwood.

Our partners here at Pediatric Associates are way more than work colleagues. They are our friends, confidantes and counselors. They will continue to meet all your healthcare needs. The practice has always prided itself on having the most talented pediatric providers in the region, and that commitment to excellence is stronger than ever.

This new chapter for you, our families, is also exciting. Nothing has given the three of us greater joy than growing up with your families. With change comes opportunity and growth. We are very grateful for the trust you have placed in us over the decades, and we are grateful to our colleagues at Pediatric Associates who will be there with you and your families moving forward.

Dr. Cunha, Dr. Brokaw and Dr. Bolling

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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.