Page 21 - Lifestyles in Palm Beach Gardens - October '24

Lifestyles in Palm Beach Gardens, Page 21
American Academy Of Pediatrics Guidelines Call For

Childhood Obesity Treatment For Disease Prevention

Children diagnosed with obesity should be treated early and advice. In addition to heart disease, heart attack, stroke, heart patient-centered medicine. His practice has focused on people
aggressively with nutritional support, therapy, medication, and failure, arrhythmia, and heart valve problems are all associated who sometimes feel most vulnerable in the healthcare world,
in some extreme cases, weight-loss surgery for teens 13 and with cardiovascular disease. including patients facing chronic morbid obesity. Dr. Abraham
up, according to new guidelines from the American Academy While it may seem extreme to some to encourage weight- Betancourt is a bariatric and general surgeon with the Palm
of Pediatrics. It is the first time loss surgery on a child as young as 13, the old method of Beach Digital Surgery Institute, a general surgery and robotic
in 15 years the academy has “watchful-waiting,” taking a “wait-and-see” approach, was surgery practice focused on providing minimally invasive
updated its guidance. not working. Early intervention helps lead to a healthier heart treatment options and care for patients suffering from colorectal
More than 14 million throughout that child’s life. disease, endometriosis, hernia, and life-threatening obesity. Dr.
kids live with this common, Good Samaritan Medical Center robotic and bariatric surgeon Betancourt is on staff at Good Samaritan Medical Center in West
chronic disease, the academy Dr. Abraham Betancourt stated that the updated guidance is long Palm Beach.
says, adding that if obesity overdue. However, before deciding on surgery, he said patients In addition, Dr. Betancourt is fluent in Spanish, his native
is untreated, it can lead to and their parents need to fully understand the procedure. language, and English.
short-term and long-term “You have to be very cautious,” said Dr. Betancourt. “It is not Palm Beach Digital Surgery Institute is located in
health issues, including about chronological age. It is about, I would say, ‘How mature the Victor Farris Building adjacent to Good Samaritan
cardiovascular disease and is the patient?’ because if you are going to undergo and put a Medical Center at 1411 N. Flagler Drive, Suite 8900,
type 2 diabetes. patient through surgery, and you want to have the best outcome West Palm Beach, FL 33401. For more information visit
Heart disease is the number of the surgery, you have to be sure that the patient understands palmbeachdigitalsurgeryinstitute.com or call (561) 227-
one killer among men and what the challenges are ahead.” 9238. Find information on bariatric surgery at Good
women, which helps explain Dr. Abraham Betancourt is a gastrointestinal and bariatric Samaritan Medical Center by visiting goodsamaritanmc.
why the academy updated its Dr. Abraham Betancourt surgeon with nearly 20 years of experience in practicing com/services/bariatric-surgery or call (866)-306-2225.

Lead The Fight from page 20 Bernstein also shared his personal story of undergoing Each school’s mental health team includes: school
his parents’ divorce and his introduction to school mental counselor(s), ESOL school coordinator, school psychologist(s),
two of a three-part series, The Trauma-Informed Pediatric health as a recipient of services. When in high school, the school behavioral health professional, co-located mental
Practice: The Superheroes Have Arrived, on August 28, at school social worker, Mr. C, invited him to join a “divorce health professional (at 115 of the schools), and SBT/CST
the National Croquet Center in West Palm Beach. group.” This group helped Bernstein gain the support of leader. There are also supports provided at the district level,
Led by Dr. Shannon Fox-Levine, president of the Palm his peers, learn coping skills, and build resiliency. He then such as the CAPE Team, Mobile Response Team, and
Beach Pediatric Society and medical director of Center took a peer support class and by senior year was leading a community-based agencies with whom the district partners.
for Child Counseling, this part of the series focused on class for the younger classmen and giving back. Center for Child Counseling CEO Renée Layman gave
how Palm Beach County Schools are helping students “He [Mr. C] really set me on this path of who I am today … a brief overview of the agency’s public health framework
with mental health and behavioral concerns – and how it really made me into an advocate to really eliminate barriers to and their data-to-action approach of prevention, early
pediatricians can tap into available supports to help their access school mental health services for youth and their families intervention, and treatment. The center realizes that children
patients. The goal of the event was to help pediatricians … I’m totally committed to supporting the mental health of our don’t necessarily need treatment only, the caregivers need
connect their patients to school-based mental health services children and the support of our families and hope that you will ways to help their own kids.
– from prevention to crisis support. be superheroes also in this fight,” advocated Bernstein. “We have focused largely on building the capacity of
Featured guest speakers included Dr. Seth Bernstein, Dr. Mucenic re-stressed the importance of students and people who work and live with kids to promote their well-
executive vice president at United Way of Palm Beach families being able to access mental health supports in being and resilience,” said Layman.
County, and Dr. Mary Claire Mucenic, director of schools and gave a detailed overview of the services that are Dominika Nolan, director of education and prevention
behavior and mental health for the School District of provided in the 179 schools that make up the Palm Beach services for CFCC gave an overview of all of the services
Palm Beach County. County School District. offered to children, families, schools, and communities in
Overarching themes of the evening included the As part of the school district’s strategic plan, they are order to build the capacity and promote positive mental
superpower in being an advocate for children’s mental measuring and following objectives to support mental health health for all.
health and the necessity of not waiting for a child to fall and well-being, including enhancing a sense of belonging, In the closing remarks for the evening, Dr. Fox-Levine
apart before helping. safety, and acceptance for all students; and trauma-informed encouraged all attendees to think about, “How can you take
Dr. Bernstein provided the history of mental health care and practices. action now and step out of this room tonight and into your
supports in schools over the last few decades and the The schools recognize the importance of destigmatizing day tomorrow and be a superhero, even more than what you
research that supports early intervention and reaching mental health services and share the message throughout have been in the past, with the information and energy from
children before diagnosis. their campuses that, “It’s okay to be okay. It’s okay to not tonight about the exciting things that are happening with our
“All children should get the supports that they need be okay. It’s okay to ask for help.” schools and being able to partner with schools?”
and not have to rely on a diagnosis to bill Medicaid or Mucenic emphasized, “We have people on every school In 2015, Center for Child Counseling launched Fighting
insurance,” Bernstein stated. campus to support mental health. It’s really important.” ACEs to build awareness and action to mitigate the impact
of ACEs and build well-being through positive childhood
experiences (PCEs). In conjunction with Leadership Palm
Beach County Class of 2017, the center developed “Lead the
Fight” in 2016 to bring awareness to system leaders around
fighting childhood adversity with advocacy and action.
Since that time, the agency has educated tens of thousands
of parents, professionals, and systems leaders.
Partnership sponsors who are leading the fight in
making these important and necessary conversations
possible include: BeWellPBC; Children’s Services Council
of Palm Beach County; Florida Association for Infant
Mental Health; Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital; Hanley
Foundation; Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of
Palm Beach County; Mead Johnson Nutrition; Palm Beach
Pediatrics; Palm Beach Pediatric Society; and Searcy,
Denney, Scarola, Barnhart & Shipley.
CFCC’s Fighting ACEs initiative to build trauma-
informed communities is made possible with the generous
support of Quantum Foundation, Community Foundation
for Palm Beach and Martin Counties, and private donors.
CFCC’s pediatric integration program is made possible
thanks to the support of Quantum Foundation, The Frederick
DeLuca Foundation, and Palm Beach County Community
Services Department.
Part 3 of the Lead the Fight 2024 series, Positivity Will
Give HOPE for Our Future, will take place on December 4.
The event focus will be on understanding the effect of positive
childhood experiences on countering the long-term possible
effect of adverse childhood experiences.
For more information about Center for Child Counseling
visit www.centerforchildcounseling.org, Twitter: @
ChildCounselPBC, Facebook: @CenterforChildCounseling,
Instagram: @childcounselpbc.
Photos by Tracey Benson Photography