UK HealthCare

‘UK at the Half’: Well-child visits are essential for children’s overall health

Photo credit: PeopleImages | iStock/Getty Images Plus
PeopleImages, iStock/Getty Images Plus

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 20, 2024) — Healthy children grow up to be healthy adults, so it’s important to maintain routine primary care for your child. Bringing your child to their pediatrician for regular check-ups ensures early intervention for potential issues, fostering a lifetime of proactive health management. As the respiratory virus season nears, it’s important to get the whole family vaccinated against flu, COVID-19 and pertussis. Infants are particularly susceptible to severe illness and hospitalization.

In this “UK at the Half,” Lindsay Ragsdale, M.D., chief medical officer for Kentucky Children’s Hospital, discusses the importance of bringing your child in for regular well-child visits and keeping them up to date with vaccinations.

“UK at the Half” airs during halftime of each UK football and basketball game broadcast on the radio and is hosted by UK Public Relations and Marketing. To hear the “UK at the Half” interview, click the play button above.

UK HealthCare is the hospitals and clinics of the University of Kentucky. But it is so much more. It is more than 10,000 dedicated health care professionals committed to providing advanced subspecialty care for the most critically injured and ill patients from the Commonwealth and beyond. It also is the home of the state’s only National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, a Level IV Neonatal Intensive Care Unit that cares for the tiniest and sickest newborns, the region’s only Level 1 trauma center and Kentucky’s top hospital ranked by U.S. News & World Report.

As an academic research institution, we are continuously pursuing the next generation of cures, treatments, protocols and policies. Our discoveries have the potential to change what’s medically possible within our lifetimes. Our educators and thought leaders are transforming the health care landscape as our six health professions colleges teach the next generation of doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other health care professionals, spreading the highest standards of care. UK HealthCare is the power of advanced medicine committed to creating a healthier Kentucky, now and for generations to come.