Ep12 - Pediatric Psychiatry During Covid-19, Dr. Richard Hahn

The Pursuit of Health Podcast

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On Episode 12 of the Pursuit of Health Podcast, Dr. Fethke invites a local colleague, Dr. Richard Hahn - an experienced Pediatric Psychiatrist - to address a very important and timely issue: the Mental Health of Children during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Dr. Hahn is a graduate of several prestigious institutions, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), NY Medical College, Cornell Medical Center, and NY-Presbyterian Hospital. For the past 25 years, he has been a Consulting Psychiatrist for the Hudson Valley NY public schools, NY’s Putnam and Northern Westchester counties' BOCES, and the NJ Child Study teams. He has been a mental health Consultant at Vassar College of NY, served as the Vice President of NY’s Chapter of the American Society for Adolescent Psychiatry, and continues to serve as an Educational Counselor on behalf of his alma mater, MIT.
Dr. Hahn begins the episode by calling attention to decades old pre-existing legislation that was intended to strengthen and expand mental health services in the U.S., but have yet to meet their full potential because of political and economic conflicts of interest. He expresses his concerns about longstanding deficits in resources available to train and support mental health professionals.
He invites us into the world of School-based Pediatric Psychiatry, stressing the importance of providing care at this local community level for both children and their families. He provides keen insights into the social dynamics of American families’ whose members are often spread out across the country with the public education system as the only glue that still holds us all together.
The discussion then turns front and center to the Psychological Impacts of the Covid-19 Pandemic on our Children. He teaches us that “Isolation is as bad an issue as the virus.” He urges families to be conscientious about exposing kids to age-inappropriate stresses while confined at home in tight quarters with their families. He gives us great advice to make engaging our children in direct communication and interactions a priority so that they can feel safe to share their own thoughts and concerns.
With his unique combination of basic science background in Biology and years of experience as a frontline pediatric psychiatrist, he remains convinced that the Covid-19 vaccine is a critical intervention for both the physical and mental health of our children. Only when we all work together to achieve herd immunity can our children get back to school and normal life.
As we finish this poignant episode, Dr. Hahn gives us all hope with a powerfully unique solution to our nation’s mental health crisis. We owe it to our children to heed his advice and keep moving forward.
Next time, on POH Ep 13, Dr. Fethke is honored to introduce his most influential mentor, Dr. Welton Gersony, to our audience. This world-renowned Pediatric Cardiologist takes us back to the fundamentals of patient care with Words of Wisdom - How to Best Communicate with Patients as a Physician.
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