Welcome to North Scottsdale Pediatrics!

Thank you for visiting the website of North Scottsdale Pediatrics, a leader in pediatric medicine in Scottsdale, Arizona. Established in 1988, we strive to provide excellent care to our patients – from infancy to young adulthood!

Our mission is to create:

• Confidence... that your child will receive the very best health care without unnecessary tests, procedures or medicines.
• Comfort... in a warm, attractive atmosphere where you and your child will feel comfortable.
• Understanding... through open and direct communication with our experienced staff, who take the time to help you understand your children’s health, development, behavior and illness.
• Convenience... through our location, office hours, accessible parking, and nearby pharmacy, X-ray and laboratory.

Among the best pediatricians in the nation, our providers obtained their degrees from top schools and training programs in the country. They share a passion for caring for patients and have dedicated their careers to treating children. In fact, our providers are proud to be consistently voted by their peers as “Top Docs” in Phoenix Magazine multiple times over many years.

We love our families, and we even provide services for parents before your baby is born! Once you’re expecting, we encourage you to schedule a prenatal visit and tour our office. We can provide you with hospital and delivery information as well as recommended readings to help you prepare for your special delivery. Once your baby arrives if you are struggling with breastfeeding, Dr. Caplan and Dr. Wiersma, official lactation consultants, can help and schedules lactation visits for any babies in our practice. And of course we are experts at newborn care.

We know that choosing the right pediatric practice is an important decision, and we appreciate your confidence in us. Welcome to our practice!

After Hours Triage

Please click on the button below to speak with one of our pediatric triage nurses.
This service is only available for urgent questions or medical issues that cannot be addressed during our regular office hours. This service can only be accessed when the office is closed. Thank you for entrusting us with the care of your children.

Speak with an after hours nurse

Coronavirus Update 8/30/2022

8/30/2022 update including change on mask requirements for office visits and guidance on COVID vaccines

*Masks are required for kids over age 2 and adults for all appointments.*
 

Patient Instructions for Quarantine

What is COVID-19?

- COVID-19, is a new strain of Coronavirus. It is in the same family of viruses as SARS and MERS
- Coronavirus is transmitted through droplets spread through cough, sneezing or touch
- Symptoms may include cough, fever, shortness of breath, and/or muscle aches. Some notice significant loss of appetite and/or loss of smell. Symptoms can range from asymptomatic or mild to severe.
- Many people have mild disease, including most children. Most of the serious cases are in older patients and/or patients with complex medical conditions.
- You can find more information on a very rare inflammatory syndrome reported in some children: Multi-System Inflammatory Syndrome in Children

How is it treated?
- For most healthy people and children, treatment for COVID is supportive to help relieve symptoms. There are some antibody treatments and antiviral treatments available to high risk individuals who recently tested positive for COVID-19 or had a close contact with COVID-19 and some therapeutics for hospitalized patients.
- There are vaccines available to protect against COVID-19 for all children and adults ages 6 months and over. There are newer vaccines currently being studied for specific variants or multiple variants.
- COVID-19 vaccines are now available for all Arizona children and adults 6 months and over. We are recommending COVID-19 vaccines for all of our patients who are eligable for vaccine. You can find out more information about COVID-19 vaccine distribution from the Maricopa County Health Department.

How can it be prevented?
- Get vaccinated when vaccine is available to you to protect your family and community.
- Wash hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds or use hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol. Avoid touching hands to face and eyes.
- Wear a mask for community transmission levels are high or when in high risk situations.
- If you are sick, stay home. Cough or sneeze into your elbow if you have no mask. Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
- Clean surfaces regularly with products labeled effective against bacteria and viruses.
- If you are sick it is recommended to wear a mask or face covering over the nose and mouth even at home to prevent spread of droplets that can infect others.

What to do if you are exposed or you think you may have or at risk for Coronavirus?
- If your child has had contact with someone with COVID-19 but is currently asymptomatic, stay away from others or wear a well fitted mask and monitor for symptoms for 10-14 days from last exposure. Please see the most up to date quarantine guidelines for more specific information on different situations.
- If you have any symptoms of illness, please schedule an appointment to be evaluated.
- For children over the age of 2 with mild or no symptoms we are offering telemedicine visits to come up with a testing plan that works best for your situation.
- If your child is having any respiratory distress, take them to the ER, and let them know you are at risk for COVID.
- Adolescents over the age of 12 years who have had moderate illness due to COVID (prolonged fevers, bedrest, respiratory symptoms but not requiring hospitalization) are recommended to have a screening EKG prior to return to play of vigorous athletics. Children and adolescents who have had assymptomatic or mild infection should be assymptomatic for minimum 14 days before return to play. Call the office or portal message your pediatrician if you have questions or concerns.

Protecting yourself and the community
- Keep yourself informed and know where to find up to date information (CDC.gov, azdhs.gov, who.int)
- Wash your hands, clean surfaces regularly, practice good hygiene control measures
- Wear a mask if you or someone in your household is unvaccinated or high risk when you are out and about and for everyone when community transmission levels are high.  
- If you are sick, please stay home!! Refer to the Patient Instructions for Quarantine  handout if instructed to self quarantine by your provider.
- Parents and families must continue to make choices they feel is best for their family with regards to day care/school and activities.
 
What is our office is doing to keep your family safe?
- We have returned to normal office locations and hours. We will continue to monitor the status and provide updates if needed on changes to appointment times/locations.
- We also ask that you let us know before your appointment if you have had known close exposure/contact to anyone with COVID in the last 14 days or have tested positive. You can call our office anytime and we will be happy to help accomodate a change in appointment date or give you further instructions if needing to come in to the office. This is imperative for us to be able to keep our staff and other patients healthy.
 - We are offering telemedicine appointments when an in-person exam is not required. Please contact our team to schedule.
- We are currently seeing children of all ages for well checks and sick visits.
- We ask that all families and patients (over age 2 -- to the best of their ability) who are attending an appointment wear a mask. Our staff and providers will be wearing masks for all patient encounters.
- Our staff and cleaning company are taking extra precautions to make sure both offices are appropriately cleaned.
- Our staff and providers are wearing protective equipment and are monitoring frequently for any signs of infection.

Testing for Coronavirus
- We have the capability of doing rapid in-house testing as well as send out testing to local labs. These different test types and their utilization will be based on your child's symptoms and history of illness or exposure and determined by your provider at your child's visit and also based on our testing supply. We are only testing children who are our patients and cannot offer testing of parents.
- We are not routinely recommending antibody testing for Coronavirus.

Travel Information
- For up to date information on travel recommendations please refer to: www.cdc.gov

What is the risk for Maricopa County and Arizona?
- For best up to date information on risk in Arizona and Maricopa county: www.maricopa.gov/coronavirus

Helpful Links & Resources:
CDC Coronavirus Symptom Self-Checker
Patient Instructions for Quarantine
Home Isolation Guidelines
CDC Coronavirus
Maricopa County Health Department
Maricopa County Vaccine Finder
Additional COVID Testing Locations
Information on Higher Filtration Masks in Kids
AAP Guidelines for School Re-entry
AAP Guidelines for Return to Sports
ACC Guidelines for Return to Play following COVID
AAP Guidelines Infants of COVID Positive Mothers
Breastfeeding Guidelines - COVID positive/exposed
COVID Vaccine & Breastfeeding (ABM)
COVID Vaccine & Breastfeeding/Pregnancy (ACOG)
Maricopa County COVID Vaccine Updates
Article on Helping Kids Wear Face Masks
Activity Ideas for Kids
Helping Your Kids Cope 

Helping Your Kids (and You) During COVID Social Distancing

We are all living through a new reality that is likely to last weeks at least. Schools have closed, parks and places where kids play together are now off limits and we are told to “shelter in place” to prevent the spread and “flatten the curve” on transmission, which has worked effectively in China and Korea. Parents are working from home and may need a quiet space apart from the kids for periods of time. And kids need to be kids and have access to activities to keep them engaged and learning as schools try and figure out how to respond with online learning options.

As parents of children, how to best take care of our kids during this time and how best to take care of ourselves? From the doctors and social work team at North Scottsdale Pediatrics:

1. Maintain safe connections with others while physically distancing. Practice safe physical distancing. With every person outside the household there is additional risk. So it means kids need to interact with friends virtually with no exceptions. But do maintain daily connections especially with friends and family using Face Time or Zoom.

2. Be Healthy. Get exercise and fresh air, but carefully and with separation of at least 6 feet between friends or neighbors. Consider hiking on non-crowded trails or walking or bike riding in the neighborhood or back yard.

3. Establish a routine. Online school, read, write stories or journal, play music, sing songs, reading poems, plant a garden, play games, do projects, or family cooking are some ideas to occupty the time. Try and follow a daily routine rather than a complete free for all.

4. Cut everyone some slack. These are scary times. At times it can feel overwhelming. Kids will express stress in ways that vary with age. Young ones may sense our stress and become whiny or irritable or have melt downs. School aged kids may manifest anxiety and fears: of going out, of going to bed, or difficulty sleeping. Address kids fears and concerns and explain why we have to do this to stay healthy and keep others, especially our older folks, from becoming ill. Here’s a good approach from the Mayo Clinic to help foster discussion with your kids during the pandemic.

5. Try meditation. Some great apps for meditation for school aged children through adults include Headspace, Smiling Mind, and Calm. If you are worried about how you or your child is doing, call our social workers for a telemedicine counseling session. See one of our social workers, Lauren, discuss some strategies in this video.

6. Avoid information overload yet respond to questions and fears. If watching the news gets you upset, do less of that. Focus on the positive stories and look for good things to talk about.