A: Well child visits are an opportunity to monitor your child’s health and growth, address any concerns or medical problems and to provide preventative care in terms of immunizations and anticipatory guidance to your family.

There are frequent well child visits in the first two years of your child’s life due to the rapid growth and development that occurs over that time period.

If you are delivering at Evanston Hospital, we will come to the hospital to visit you and examine your baby there and will see you each day you are in the hospital. Upon discharge, your doctor will recommend the timing for your first office visit. This is usually 2-3 days after going home. If you are delivering at another hospital there will be an appointed pediatrician that will examine your baby and advise you on follow-up upon your discharge.

The subsequent well visits occur at:
1 month old
2 months old
4 months old
6 months old
9 months old
12 months old
15 months old
18 months old
24 months old

Following that we strongly recommend scheduling an annual well visit with your primary pediatrician to monitor growth and development.

A: We recommend that school aged children and teenagers have regular well visits in order to monitor their growth and development as well as to address any health concerns. In addition, there are several vaccinations that are recommended/required for this age group, such as the TdaP (tetanus diptheria and pertussis booster), meningitis vaccine, and HPV vaccine (human papilloma virus).

A: Yes.

We have morning appointments available every Saturday, Sunday and most holidays to see children who are sick. These are same-day appointments and may not be scheduled in advance. You may call as early as you want on the day that you wish your child to be seen. If our staff is not yet in the office, you may leave your name and number with our answering service, requesting a call-back for an appointment time when our staff becomes available.

Please note that you do need to call the office by 10:00 am to assure that your child will be seen. Our weekend and holiday appointments are booked consecutively.

A: Yes. If you have an urgent medical issue after hours, our answering service will provide you with the on-call physician’s number. You can reach this doctor any time of day or night and they can provide guidance over the phone.

Note that we do not charge for phone calls. We believe it is important that patients feel they can contact us when necessary and are not constrained by cost considerations. We pride ourselves on being available for our patients when they need us.

A: If this is a life threatening emergency please call 911.

If you have an urgent concern and would like to speak with a physician please call our office. During office hours, our staff is trained to triage these calls and can contact your doctor.

If our office is closed our answering service will provide you with the on-call physician’s number. You can reach this doctor any time of day or night and they can provide guidance over the phone.

If you are out of town, we are still happy to take your calls and provide recommendations on seeking appropriate medical care.

Note that we do not charge for phone calls. We believe it is important that patients feel they can contact us when necessary and are not constrained by cost considerations. We pride ourselves on being available for our patients when they need us.

A: A care-giver may bring your child to the office if necessary. Ideally, a parent should be available by phone to answer any questions from the physician and so that the doctor can provide information and follow-up about the child’s condition.

A: At our Evanston office you are welcome to park for free in our outdoor parking lot next to the building. Please make sure that you have our parking pass prominently displayed on your windshield so that you don’t get towed. If our lot is full, you may use one of the many lots in our vicinity that charge a small fee.  At our Buffalo Grove office there is free parking in the outdoor parking lot next to the building.

A: If you are a new patient please fill out our patient information sheet and bring this with you to your first appointment. Also, bring any school or daycare paperwork that you need us to fill out.

A: All of our 9 doctors are board certified in pediatrics.

A: We follow the recommended immunization schedule that is published by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and approved by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). This schedule has been extensively studied and provides the best protection for your children against these vaccine preventable illnesses. We strongly discourage any alternative schedules and encourage you to discuss any concerns or questions you have with your physician. If you would like more information please refer to the vaccine information sheets we have linked on our web site or to any of the additional links we have about immunization information.

A: We ask that any cancellations are made with at least a 24 hour notice. Appointments not cancelled by 10:00 am on the day of the appointment will incur a $25 charge.

A: If your child is scheduled for a well-child exam or what is referred to as “preventative medical service” and a new or pre-existing problem is addressed at that time, an additional “sick visit” may be billed to your insurance company that may incur a co-pay or out-of-pocket fee. Additionally, co-pays and balances are due at the time of service unless other arrangements have been made.