Lara Al-Ejeilat

10/09/2021

Flu shot ✅
Covid shot #3 ✅

I get vaccinated not only to protect myself but to protect my children, the little babies too young to get vaccinated and the people too sick to get vaccinated.

Get you flu shot, get your Covid vaccine

Vaccines are safe

08/14/2021

I love science. I love scientist. One of the many reasons why is that they don’t take anything for granted. They question, they look at the data, and even when they come up with an answer, they don’t stop looking at follow up data and if the answer changes, they admit it and tell you why.

We are lucky in Minnesota to start school after Labor Day. Many states start before us so we are able to watch and learn and not have our children be the experiment. We get a look into the future!

Here are some headlines of how things are going in states that did NOT mandate masks at school
- bbcnews: Florida hospital becoming overwhelmed with Covid-19 surge
- CNN : 'Your child will wait for another child to die.' Amid Covid-19 surge, Dallas County has no pediatric ICU beds left, county judge says’
- More than 1,000 Palm Beach County students at home over COVID-19 concerns, school district say.
- Absolutely alarming.’ Beshear mandates masks in schools as COVID-19 explodes in KY
- Marion, Arkansas school superintendent says more than 830 now under quarantine

…And the list goes on and on

So the big question is, what are we going to do about it?
We CAN change the future. We CAN fix this for Minnesota and be able to keep our kids in IN PERSON school this fall by mandating masks at school!
I am asking the school boards, our leaders, parents to step up and protect our children.

02/09/2021

https://www.facebook.com/1572163299463686/posts/4314708651875790/?d=n

Sharing a sad sad story today...my heart aches for this family
Social media has played a big part in kids’ lives especially this pandemic. It was/is their outlet, the way they communicate with friends and connect. But social media can be very dangerous.

Please...if your kids have social media platforms, have ground rules, talk about limits, about frequent check ins on what they are doing, who they are talking to. There are people out there who know how to reach young minds and manipulate them. Some mistakes cannot be reversed, some cannot be taken back...

As I sit here tonight, I think about how wonderful yet difficult parenting is, how scary it is! Sometimes you do everything right but still something happens.
Yes we need to raise our kids to be independent, we need to raise them to hold their own. But still it is our job to make sure they are safe, make sure they are not being manipulated. We want to give them privacy but we also want to make sure they stay away from danger.
Carve time to talk to your child everyday. Take time to listen, listen to what they say, listen to what they need...give them privacy yes, but always always be there watching from a distance...

My beautiful boy is gone. 16 years old. Sheltering at home. A drug dealer connected with him on Snapchat and gave him fentinyl laced Xanax and he overdosed in his room. They do this because it hooks people even more and is good for business, but it causes overdose and the kids don’t know what they are taking. My heart is completely shattered and I am not sure how to keep breathing.

I post this now only so that not one more kid dies. We watched him so closely. Straight A student. Getting ready for college. Experimentation gone bad. He got the drugs delivered to the house.

Please watch your kids and WATCH SNAPCHAT especially. That’s how they get them.

02/03/2021

The year was 1847...
A time where a woman’s place was in the home...
A young woman called Elizabeth Blackwell had a dream...she wanted to go to medical school...
She was mocked, she was rejected. She was told she would not get accepted because she is a woman, and thus intellectually inferior...

But she did not give up. She persisted. She applied to many medical schools and finally...she got accepted
Dr Blackwell was the first woman in the United States to graduate medical school. She opened the doors to so many of us. She shattered the glass

Today as we honor Dr Blackwell on what would have been here 200th birthday, I ask you to talk to your daughters, tell them they are strong, smart and courageous... tell them they can be anything they choose to be. Yes the road will be long, and yes they will meet resistance and rejection. It will not be easy, but great things are never easy.

01/22/2021

Today I feel blessed, I am thankful and full of hope for a better future.
Today I got my second dose of Pfizer COVID vaccine.

This has been a long long journey, and like so many others, I am tired, I miss my friends, I miss my family. But science, and a large group of wonderful people gave us a way out, a chance to fight and a chance to get back to normal.
So many lives have been lost to this terrible virus, so many people struggling financially, emotionally and physically, but today there is hope, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

I got vaccinated for me, for my family, for my friends and for all my patients. We can do this together. When it is your turn, please get vaccinated.

Until then, we all need to continue to social distance, wear our masks and wash our hands

01/22/2021

07/22/2020

Mask up Minnesota

06/15/2020

This weekend, I have been trying to have my kids practice wearing their masks while playing at home. Just in case school requires them in the fall. We talked about how to remove it; never touch the middle of it, always remove it from the string by the ear. We also talked about how it reminds us not to touch our face and eyes.
I was surprised how well my 3 year old did with it.

This video really helped so I wanted to share 🙂 maybe it can help you!

Activate Mask power!

https://www.facebook.com/wildkrattsofficial/videos/315795123146431/

06/06/2020

Talking to our kids about racism can be very challenging. You might think: but if I talk about it without them asking, does that mean I am actually bringing their attention to it? If I do not even talk about it, wouldn’t it be better? Wouldn’t it teach them that there is no difference between people?

Oh how I wish it was that simple! Sadly, not talking about it will not make it go away!

First thing to realize here is : if you are asking yourself the question above, you are privileged. You have a “choice” to not talk about it. It is not your fault that you are privileged but I think it is important to acknowledge that fact.

The topic of racism is difficult to approach. As a pediatrician and a mom, I find sometimes when I am at a loss of words, books come in very handy with my kids.

This week, at our house, we read “Something Happened in our town”. (See link below). It helped me talk to my 3,5 and 8 year olds about what happened, it triggered questions and emotions. Some questions were easy to answer, some where not.
We need to teach our children that they need to take the initiative to change the pattern, to step up!

Start at a young age, read stories about Rosa Parks, about Martin Luther King. They will not ask a lot of questions when they are 3 but they will start understanding that the problem exists and we fight it and we talk about it and when they are 5 it is a great conversation starter.

Be the Change you want to see in the world.

https://youtu.be/whR_JIzknpo

How to talk with your children about racism and police brutality (child-friendly definitions and discussion ideas for parents included in the print book, whi...

05/26/2020

Mask questions...answered

- Any time when social distancing is not possible, people need to wear masks. Masks need to cover your nose and mouth. Masks are there to protect you from spreading the virus. Since at least 30% of people infected with COVID19 do not show symptoms, this will help stop the spread.

- Children under 2 years of age, should NOT wear a mask. It is a suffocation risk. It is not safe. Please do not let your child wear a mask if they are under 2.

- For the young children who are over 2. If when you put their mask on, they are going to constantly touch their face, their nose, their eyes, then maybe it is safer not to wear it. If you have a 3 year old you know what I am talking about. I am not saying do not try. Practice at home, pretend play and have them put it on the their face, their toy’s face but until they learn to use it safely don’t do it in the grocery store.

Stay safe Minnesota

05/15/2020

Public health announcement

All pediatric offices are open for well child check and vaccines visits at least for children who are under 2 years of age (some are delaying older than 2 till July). Please call you pediatrician to schedule your kids’ vaccine appointment. All offices are doing their best to keep things clean and the staff is all masked so you and your kids risk of exposure is minimal.

MDH reported a drop in immunization rates to 70%. In order to get herd immunity vaccines rates have to be up to 90%. This means that as things are opening up again, there is a higher possibility that we would have a measles or whooping cough outbreak. Those illnesses we know can cause death in children and in the immunocompromised!

Please call and get your kid vaccinated today!

05/14/2020

Hello everyone,
I would like to introduce myself. My name is Lara Al-Ejeilat. I am Pediatrician at the M Health Maple Grove clinic.
I LOVE my job. I love pediatric development, watching kids grow and guiding parents to what they can do to help their child be the best they can be and develop to the best of their potential. I enjoy being able to help families with the struggles and challenges that parenthood brings.
I do not claim to be the best parent, I am far from it. But as a mother of 3, I know that parenthood is HARD. It is an amazing journey, there are days rewarding and heartwarming but there are also many days that it just sucks. But the beautiful thing about parenting is that we will always get the chance to try again and learn.
I also a vaccine advocate, I believe that vaccines are humanity's best invention and they save lives.
I will be posting advise and opinions. Things I like to share with my patients and the community.