Stressing Preventative Care for Fall and Winter

By Usha Sathian MD FAAP
Service Chief, Urgent and Community Care
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta

I hope you had a relaxing summer, with long sun-filled days and a lot of R&R! Now that schools are in session, we in urgent care anticipate busy days, taking care of injuries and the inevitable acute illnesses that come with the cooler weather ahead. As urgent care physicians, we strive to offer excellent, evidence-based episodic care to our patients, while supporting the medical home. Our role also extends to timely reminders to our patients about preventive care, whether it is asthma, Halloween safety or communicable diseases.

Let us use our influence where it matters: remind your patients and families to protect themselves this fall and winter and stay healthy.

SPUC’s Board was busy this summer. With review and recommendations for revision of the Bylaws, continued anchoring of the Thursday educational webinars, and a committee putting together relevant educational content for the next annual conference, much is happening at SPUC! Hosted by Seattle Children’s Hospital, discounted registration is now open for SPUC’s 12^th Annual Conference, March 12-14, 2026, with Precourse Leadership Summit on March 11. Hope to see you there!

I am pleased to announce that Dr. Aaron Maki has stepped up as Editor for Pulse, SPUC’s newsletter. He is currently partnering with Dr. Traci Bouchard who has been anchoring this role for several years. A huge thank you to Dr. Bouchard for her time, talent, and efforts over the years! With her departure, we are soliciting help from any interested member to work with Dr. Maki as Co-Editor. If interested, please contact me (usha.sathian@choa.org) or Dr. Maki (aaron.maki@nationwidechildrens.org) for more details.

Lastly, I would like to express gratitude and appreciation to Donna Pendarvis, Association Executive for Ruggles, who has been a great resource and a guide to SPUC as we have grown through the years. We wish her the best in the next phase of her life. You are sure to soon come to know SPUC’s new Association Executive Jeff Schmid. Jeff is already familiar with the society in his role of Meeting Planner, and has enthusiastically embraced his new role.

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SPUC Newsletter Editors

Traci Downs-Bouchard MD FAAP
Aaron Maki MD PhD FAAP

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Winter 2026