Children's Health
Health is a significant factor in how children go about their day-to-day lives. For example, good health can affect how they feel, participate in family life and school, socialise with others through sporting activities or otherwise spend time outside school.
In recent years, Australia has made significant progress in improving the health and wellbeing of its children. One crucial period for targeting these efforts is early childhood because it offers a window of opportunity to invest in prevention and interventions explicitly designed for infants’ needs.
Investments during this critical developmental stage can have long-term impacts on physical or mental well being by affecting everything from cognitive development to social relationships with others, all key contributors to overall wellness at any age.
Health Issues Amongst Children
Mental Illness
According to a recent nationwide study, Young Minds Matter. For some time now, anxiety disorders and major depressive disorders have been two of Australia’s most common mental health issues for young people.
Mental illness is a broad category of disorders that can be successfully managed with treatment. The term refers to abnormal thoughts, emotions, behaviour or relationships with others, and examples are:
- Schizophrenia
- Fuzzy thinking
- Delusions (false beliefs)
- Hallucinations (seeing things that aren’t there)
- Disorganized speech/thinking—difficulty concentrating on tasks for more than short periods of time
- Difficulties in social interaction because they have difficulty understanding the mental state of other people.
- Suspiciousness & paranoia about being harmed
- Depression: Sad moods most days, along with feelings like helplessness.
- Disorders due to drug abuse.
Disability
Disability is more than the presence or absence of mental and physical health conditions. A disability may limit what a person can do in their daily life, but it doesn’t have to take away from who they are as an individual.
With early intervention, you can make a difference in your child’s life. Early intervention is not just about doing things as early as possible. It’s also about finding the best way to do it.
To understand what your child needs, it is helpful to have a diagnosis. When parents don’t know the specific disability of their children, they can still get help from doctors who can narrow down which areas might need more attention or intervention.
Having a formal diagnosis will allow you and your healthcare professionals to offer interventions that work best for whatever condition may be affecting development in general-not just one part of life, like speech or mobility.
- Occupational therapy can help with motor skills such as playing, dressing, and going to the bathroom.
- Physiotherapy can help with balance, sitting, rolling, crawling and walking.
- Speech therapy can help with speech and language, as well as eating and drinking skills.
Chronic conditions
Many chronic conditions affect children in Australia. Diabetes, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), asthma, cystic fibrosis, congenital heart disease, and more physical conditions such as meningomyelocele or loss of limb function from things like cerebral palsy are examples. Efforts to identify children with ongoing health conditions generally rely on lists of diagnoses.
Children with chronic illnesses deserve the same care and attention as any other child. With this in mind, we have designed specific structures to ensure that children living with a chronic condition get all of the support they need from doctors who are experts in that area.
Injuries
Many injuries occur on playgrounds, especially on monkey bars and slides. In addition, the following are other common fall hazards:
- Stairs
- Beds without railings
- Windows
- Elevated landings
- Baby walkers
- Slippery bathtubs
- Cluttered pathways
Minor wounds are often easy to manage at home with basic first aid techniques. For minor cuts, apply pressure for about ten minutes. Then the bleeding slowed or stopped altogether by removing any remaining blood from the wound before sterilising it.
A wound that does not stop bleeding is more serious. If the cut or laceration is deep and over a joint (e.g., knee, wrist/knuckle), has been caused by an animal bite, can not get it clean, your child hasn’t had their tetanus vaccination within five years-see your GP as soon as possible!
Children's Health at The Ridge Medical Centre
The Ridge Medical Centre is a family-friendly centre that offers specialised care for children. It was built with the intention of being a place where kids and parents could feel safe, happy, and relaxed.
At The Ridge Medical Center, we have a range of doctors with expertise in child care and advancements in diagnostic technology that make it easier than ever before to pinpoint any potential problems early on so they can be treated right away. Our caring staff will answer all your questions about our facilities or procedures, so don’t hesitate! We’re here to help.
