How to Keep Track of Your Child's Health History

from Shine Newsletter, Fall 2006

Every immunization, each tooth lost and all the inches grown — these are just a few of the important health milestones in your child’s life. Thanks to a new journal from The Children’s Hospital, you can keep a record of these important milestones.

When Toni Wanebo, a mother and Grand Junction native, was traveling from doctor’s appointment to doctor’s appointment with her child, she began to develop a book that would serve as a one-stop record for her child’s health history. She and her friend Jennifer Cofield put their heads together, and “HealthTracks…A Child’s Health History,” was born and further developed at Children’s.

The journal is easy to use, with pockets for receipts and informational handouts, immunization records, medication lists and more. The book also has pages to record family medical history, giving further information to physicians about hereditary diseases, such as diabetes, high blood pressure or heart disease, that may be affecting your child.

“The book is intended to empower parents by helping them keep the nitty-gritty information in one comprehensive yet concise place,” Cofield says. “When the child turns 18, this book becomes a tremendous keepsake and an irreplaceable record of his or her health history.”

Maintaining a medical history supports the U.S. Surgeon General’s Family History Initiative launched in 2004, encouraging families to maintain up-to-date records to track family medical problems. The book provides an easy-to-reference tool to follow this recommendation.

“It is becoming vitally important that we begin to take personal responsibility for the management, care and tracking of our health-care experiences and our supporting records,” Wanebo says. “This book is a great way to do just that, while saving parents a lot of time and hassle when searching for medical records.”

To order, please call The Children’s Hospital Gift Shop at 720-777-1234.