55% say H1N1 has visited their house
on Nov 20, 2009 in H1N1 The latest poll on HealthyHoustonKids closed yesterday, and the results are in. Most of our readers, 55 percent, say that their children have had swine flu. We didn't ask whether those parents had their children officially tested to confirm the diagn...

Free H1N1 shots at some schools this week
on Nov 18, 2009 in H1N1 Armed (pun intended, sorry) with a fresh shipment of 30,000 H1N1 vaccine doses, local health departments are starting a campaign to give kids free swine flu shots at school. An article in the Houston Chronicle reported today that the Houston Departm...

Twitter-ers to follow
on Nov 18, 2009 in resources What we're reading now tips HealthyHoustonKids For those of you with Twitter accounts, we present a few Twitter-ers to follow. It’s by no means a comprehensive list. It’s a list of some of the tweets we find consistently useful when we want children’s health information or Houston-specific...

Hospital District gives $3-$5 shots in Houston
on Nov 17, 2009 in immunization HCHD babies children Did you miss getting the incredibly affordable $3 immunizations available in Houston last month? Well, the Harris County Hospital District has extended its $3 vaccine program through the month of November, plus added $5 flu shots to the program. Go...

HEARTS program takes aim at teen heart problems
on Nov 16, 2009 in HISD teens UTHSC Memorial Hermann A heart-screening program being piloted in several Houston middle schools this fall will target prevention and treatment of heart disorders in teens – particularly sudden cardiac arrest. Memorial Hermann, The University of Texas Medical School at...

Lack of vitamin D threatens America’s children
on Nov 12, 2009 in teens nutrition babies children A national study has found that two-thirds of U.S. children between age 1 and 11 don’t get enough vitamin D. Perhaps most alarming, 92 percent of black children and 80 percent of Hispanic children don’t get enough of the vitamin. Vitamin D defic...

Texas Children’s, Center for Hearing and Speech team up to help children with profound hearing loss
on Nov 11, 2009 in babies Texas Children's children Texas Children’s Hospital and The Center for Hearing and Speech (CHS) in Houston have formed a partnership that will help cochlear implant surgery patients receive coordinated, comprehensive care. Cochlear implants are electronic hearing devices t...

Reminder: Clean up standing water, lawn debris to prevent mosquitos
on Nov 10, 2009 in tips safety Late last week, Harris County Public Health and Environmental Services announced they found West Nile virus and other mosquito-borne diseases in the 77024 zip code. Also, a bird with West Nile was found dead. The area, which includes Memorial Villag...

Parenting sites we like, plus our contributors sites
on Nov 9, 2009 in resources We've reorganized and added to our lists of online places we share with HealthyHoustonKids readers. Below is our list of parenting sites we like, plus our contributors' sites.  We've also got our list of Houston children's hospitals and services ...

Your garden harvest can help hungry kids
on Nov 6, 2009 in fundraisers nutrition Are you like many Houston families and now grow your own vegetables? I know from working in my neighborhood garden center that many families teach their kids how to garden by growing food. If you’ve got more to harvest than you know what to do wit...