American Academy of Pediatrics

The Pediatric Adolescent Gastroesophageal Reflux Association hosted an educational booth at the American Academy of Pediatrics Conference in Atlanta, Georgia over the weekend. The conference gives us the opportunity to build awareness of pediatric acid reflux and the services available to families through our association. It is a great opportunity to talk with the over 5000 doctors who attend the meeting each year. When the pediatricians come up to our booth, we often ask (tongue in cheek), “So, do you have very many patients in your practice with acid reflux?!” There is much eye rolling or comments like: “All of them!” My favorite rebuttal was from a doctor who said, “Does the Pope wear a funny hat?!” While many of the doctors are aware of acid reflux, we did have many interesting discussions about trends in medication and treatment. We also had the opportunity to attend several lectures on pediatric acid reflux. Be sure to check out the next edition of our newsletter, Reflux Digest for a full update on research and treatment.

While at the conference, I did some networking for PAGER Association. I met a pediatrician who speaks Vietnamese and asked her to assist me with a PAGER member from Vietnam who has a toddler with reflux. Quite by coincidence, the pediatrician is going to travel to Vietnam in a few weeks on a medical mission trip so we are going to try to link them up. Go to www.projectvietnam.net for information about this wonderful mission group. I can’t wait to email the PAGER member in Vietnam and tell her that help is on its way! I also met a pediatrician from rural Canada who treats a PAGER Association family in her practice. We were both surprised to meet each other!

It was also a pleasure to meet Stephanie Petters, our very own PAGER Association Parent Volunteer and North Atlanta, Georgia Support Group Leader. Due to distance, Stephanie was trained via email and we had never met in person. She is doing a fabulous job with her group and she has developed a network of support for families in the area. If you live in the Atlanta metropolitan area, be sure to contact Stephanie about joining her group. Follow the link from www.reflux.org.