Since March of Dimes is celebrating 75 years this month, they recently launched a campaign called Word of Mom: Celebrating 75 Years of Healthy Advice – to empower moms to help make the best health decisions for their families. As part of this campaign, March of Dimes surveyed 500 moms on vaccinations and overall health. Almost 80% of moms agreed that immunization is one of the best ways to help keep their children healthy. Having grown up with a pediatrician grandmother, I always understood the benefits of vaccines and I would like to share with you what I learned from two women working with the March of Dimes on the Word of Mom campaign. Dr. Siobhan Dolan, M.D., M.P.H., is a Bronx OBGYN physician and March of Dimes medical advisor and Jill Teeters is a national Word of Mom ambassador and March of Dimes mom who had a close family experience with polio and knowledgeable on the subject of vaccines and prevention.
What is Word of Mom?
Dr. Dolan enjoys being part of the effort on a national level to teach women about the important things they can do to protect themselves and their family: “This campaign called Word of Mom, appeals to me both as a doctor and as a mom because it really emphasizes how moms have great information and care deeply about their families, are really strong health advocates and can share methods with each other, with other family members about how to help protect their families and vaccinations are a big part of what moms are talking about.”
Jill Teeters got involved with the Word of Mom campaign because both sides of her family have a family connection to polio and she knows first hand how vaccines can help. “My dad was what they considered a polio pioneer. He was in grade school in the early 50s and he was one of the first kids in the NY metro area to receive the polio vaccination”. Growing up she always heard that story. Her husband’s aunt and uncle were both stricken with polio, his uncle Maurice more severely. “Uncle Maurice was stricken with polio at the age of 10 and had a fairly bad case of it and needed the use of hand crutches for most of his life”. He is now in his 80s and is in wheelchair. He never let it stop him, as he was a door-to-door salesman. But his life was significantly changed after polio. Both Jill and her husband were aware of the importance of vaccines, so it was obvious to them when they started a family, they were going to get everyone vaccinated. It will come as no surprise that their 6-year old son has all his vaccinations up–to-date. Jill is also careful to get all their boosters and flu shots on time. “It’s particularly important to us,” says Jill,”because Aidan was born prematurely. He was 12 weeks early. Premature babies are much more susceptible than full term healthy babies to a whole list of illnesses. From day one when he was in the NICU, we were doing everything in our power not to expose him to anything in addition to the challenges he was already fighting.”
Why March of Dimes is leading this effort
The mission of the March of Dimes is improving the health of children through decreasing pre-term birth, infant mortality and birth defects. In the context of their history and this year’s anniversary, it makes sense. March of Dimes organization has been interested in pre-term birth for 75 years. Just look at the history in early research under the late FDR. Dr. Dolan says March of Dimes was instrumental in eradicating polio in the US and the western hemisphere. So March of Dimes has a long history with vaccinations. That’s why this year, celebrating the 75th anniversary, Dr. Dolan says it made perfect sense to bring back the historic vaccination messages up to date with our contemporary maternal child health messages. The key message is importance of vaccinations in maternal child health.
Of course, you should always discuss your child’s history and potential risks with your pediatrician, but there are significant consequences to contracting an illness, and vaccinations are known to prevent the spread of those dangerous diseases.
Which diseases are still widespread
“Moms in our survey were aware that pertussis, chicken pox, meningitis and influenza are still in existence”, says Dr. Dolan. “About 40% were unsure if polio, mumps and measles have been eradicated in the US.” She confirms that polio is the only disease that has been eradicated from the US (though still present in other parts of the world). Dr. Dolan also mentioned a recent measles outbreak in Texas. Naturally, as these outbreaks happen, people become more aware that these dangerous diseases are still out there. So the take home message from Dr. Dolan is “Vaccines do work as long as they’re given. If you have a community where people are not up to date with their booster shots and their immunizations and if that community gets an exposure (in the case of the measles it was someone traveling overseas), so then the infection can spread through the community very rapidly.” We don’t hear about these diseases unless there is a big outbreak, and then it’s a serious situation.
Vaccine vs. natural exposure
Some Moms decide to hold off on vaccinations and get their kids natural exposure to the virus. And there are benefits of getting the condition. Let’s take chickenpox for example. “If you are exposed as a child, you’ll hopefully get a mild case of the condition, but then your body recognizes the chickenpox virus. So if you get exposed later in life, you’re protected, because your immune system is ready to go, it’s ready to attack the virus.” The BIG difference is that with the vaccine, that first exposure comes from the vaccine rather than attaching the illness. Dr. Dolan says getting the condition as a child is a good way to protect yourself later in adulthood. But the vaccine is as good and with less side effects, because you’re not sick.
“With chickenpox, the other concern is that if you don’t ever get vaccinated as a child and you don’t get exposed to chickenpox and then as an adult you’re not immune and you’re susceptible to catching chickenpox”, says Dr. Dolan, who as an OBGYNÂ is especially concerned about a woman in that situation: “If she becomes infected while pregnant, (common, since pregnant moms are often around little children and their illnesses) Now you have a pregnant mom with a fetus inside of her and both she is at risk to become seriously ill with chickenpox, there is also varicella/pneumonia complication as an adult. The baby is also at risk for congenital varicella syndrome. So my feeling is – handle it as a child. I do think vaccination is the way to go. Although if your child has been exposed and got ill, they are largely protected.”
Finally, some kids may contract the disease naturally, some may get a mild version, but keep in mind, some may get a serious form of the disease with high fever. “High fever in a small child is not a good risk to take. So certainly, vaccines are the way to go”, says Dr. Dolan.
What else can you do besides vaccination?
Vaccinations are an obvious choice for preventing a number of diseases. But what else can moms do?
The March of Dimes survey revealed that Moms are very smart and have a good sense of public health messages.
– They know, first of all, to refrain from smoking, mom herself and keeping their home smoke-free.
– Getting regular check-ups for the children, including dental and eye exams is another important step Moms identified. As well as vaccinations.
– Hand washing – “the most tried and true advice, says Dr. Dolan, “but it works, in hospitals, in communities, to try to prevent the spread of infection. ” Jill Teeters says it’s especially helpful now that kids are back to school with a whole new batch of germs.
– Last one was adult booster shots Moms told us was important.
Jill also suggests you have to eat healthy, get enough sleep and drink enough water, just being aware of coughing discreetly, staying home when sick. Jill says it was educational taking the survey, and she says simply participating in it Moms got to learn a bit more or got re-educated, since things also change over the years.
Space out vaccines or grouping
This will have to do what the child’s particular circumstances are and the series where they are. So this is something you should talk to your pediatrician or your provider. Do you have to catch up or are you on track? There are not a lot of blanket recommendations, but rather on how to get up to date on the vaccines. See more at Vaccines.com
What you can do if you are pregnant
First of all, Dr. Dolan says you have to make sure you get your adult booster shots up to date before becoming pregnant. It’s really important to talk to your doctor about your vaccinations before you’re pregnant. Often, you may need a measles, mumps & rubella booster shot. You might need a pertussis booster shot, the tetanus booster shot, chickenpox, meningitis. “Vaccinations are for children but they are also for adults. Sometimes people don’t realize how important it is to get your adult booster shots”, says Dr. Dolan. It’s unnecessary stress for you if your booster is not up to date and you could potentially get sick or hear about an outbreak somewhere.
Secondly, all pregnant women are recommended to get a flu shot during pregnancy.
If you’re not pregnant, you should still make sure you have all your adult booster shots. Parents often take care of the kids’ vaccinations and forget about themselves. Jill Teeters says “we are so focused on taking care of our kids and making sure that they have everything that they need, that I think parents often put their own healthcare needs on the back burner.” And we shouldn’t lose sight of taking care of ourselves.
“Moms are doing their best to take care of the family. They are knowledgeable about vaccines and making good choices for their families and then spreading the word in their communities.” says Dr. Dolan. Some of the advice over the years stayed the same, says Jill Teeters, like “getting your kids vaccinated against preventable diseases.” That’s why March of Dimes started the Word of Moms campaign, so moms and dads get pro-active and educated about the importance of prevention. Jill says “It’s such a scary world that we live in and there aren’t many things that we can control but there is a lot we can do to control the health and welfare of our families. If we can prevent one family from having to go through the devastation of dealing with the complications of vaccine preventable illness like pertussis, it would be a shame not to take the time to do that.” So make a good choice for your children.
