Montefiore in the News

In the early days of the pandemic, kids were rarely getting COVID, but that’s not the case anymore.

“Things have definitely changed,” said Dr. Suzette Oyeku of Montefiore Children’s Hospital.

Oyeku says last week, alone, there were 325,000 new pediatric cases of COVID across the country, and the symptoms aren’t always mild.

“COVID, specifically, we’re seeing an inflammation of the lower airways, something called bronchiolitis. We’re also seeing children presenting with croup, which is like a barky cough. We’re also seeing our young babies presenting with fever,” Oyeku said.

COVID VACCINE

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• Connecticut book online here“It is nothing like the flu. Round about vomiting, never ending, and finally she says to me, ‘I don’t think I’m going to make it mom. I’m sorry,'” Dichiara said.“This is it. I’m going to die. That’s how I felt,” Dichiara said.The two of them are now vaccinated, though vaccines were not around when she got sick.“If you got lucky and you beat it, then you got lucky is the way I look at it,” Lisa Dichiara said.“I believe it’s going to help people. It won’t put them in the hospital,” Joey Dichiara said.
• CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
• They said vaccination is a choice, but one they believe could help prevent families from the pain they have done through.
• Their message?
• More than a year later, she says she still has symptoms, like fatigue.
• Joey Dichiara was 17 when she spent two weeks at the hospital in 2020, not long after she was diagnosed with MIS-C, a rare complication from COVID.
• For Ringoes resident Lisa Dichiara and her daughter, Joey, COVID hit hard.

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• Resources: Help With Unemployment, Hunger, Mental Health & More
• Remote Learning Tools For Students And Parents At Home“We know it does not have any impact on fertility because our nurseries are very busy right now,” Oyeku said.
• Oyeku, like many other medical experts, said vaccinations are the key to lowering hospitalizations among every age group. But throughout the Tri-State Area, fewer than half of kids 5 and up have gotten their vaccine.
• Oyeku said one concern parents often site in their reluctance to get the vaccine for their kids is fertility.