BY CATHY HALL for WEEKLY VOLCANO 6/6/25
Yes, summer is here and school is getting out, but after the beach parties, hikes, picnics, and cookouts are over, school will be back in! Does your child participate in sports? Is your child caught up on all their vaccines? Has your child seen the dentist within the past six months? Before the first day of school, there is a certain amount of preparation that needs to happen before the big day. Why not get it all taken care of while the kids are on vacation?
If your child is involved in sports, Washington State requires students in grade six and above to have a sports physical before participating. The physical needs to be performed by a licensed medical professional—but the good part is that a sports physical is valid for two years. The medical provider will check medical history, height/weight measurements, blood pressure, vision, and assess basic organ functions, strength, and flexibility. The provider will fill out the paperwork so that you can submit it to the school when needed.
Before the start of school, all vaccines must be up to date. Washington State requires that all school-aged children be vaccinated against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (DTaP/Tdap), polio, measles, mumps, rubella (MMR), and chickenpox (varicella). COVID-19 vaccination is not required, but it is recommended by the Washington State Department of Health. Once everything is up to date, the current information is sent to the state for their records.
And last—but definitely not least—summer is a great time to get a six-month dental checkup and cleaning. More and more, we are discovering that overall physical health is tightly linked to dental health. If kids are regularly taken to the dentist starting from a young age, it becomes a habit, which bodes well for healthy teeth lasting well into old age.
One of the advantages of coming to Community Health Care is that, in all but two of our clinics, we have medical and dental services in the same building. Sometimes it is possible to schedule both a physical and a dental checkup on the same day, at the same location. All our dentists are ABCD-trained—which is specialized training for treating babies and children. What better time to get ready for back to school, even if this school year isn’t quite out yet?
Call our appointment line at (253) 722-2161 or, for more information, visit our website at www.commhealth.org.
