By Kathy Kurtz Ferrari
Staff Writer
5/26/11
Expecting a new baby is an exciting time for parents. It is also a time that can be filled with anxiety and questions.
Understanding that fact, MVPediatrics, located at 21 Totman St., Suite 2, in Quincy, is holding an expectant parents’ night at its office Monday, June 6 from 6 to 7:30 p.m.

MVPediatrics is a play on words for the office of Dr. Mark Vonnegut, a Milton resident who has been practicing medicine for almost 30 years. He opened his own pediatric office in 2001 after an affiliation with Milton Pediatrics. MVPediatrics also includes Drs. Colleen Kelly, Hub Mathewson, Katerina Stursova-Wolff and Helen Lyon, along with nurse practitioner
Barbara Healey.

The new parents’ information evening, which is free and open to any new parent or those thinking about changing practices, will offer a chance to ask questions, meet the group’s providers, and get information on a variety of subjects, including what to expect at the hospital for the newborn, breastfeeding, family medical concerns, helpful book suggestions, and philosophy of the practice.

“We meet a lot of parents who choose to call and say they want to come and meet a pediatrician, and they just get to meet one pediatrician and we try to tell them how the whole group works,” Lyon said. “Formalizing it with a nighttime session, they can show up and be with other parents and have a longer time, rather than just a 15 minute meeting. Then we can review more details.

“They’ve taken childbirth classes that tell them everything up to when the baby is born. We tell them a lot about what happens after the baby is born.”

It is hoped that the expectant parents’ night will be held several times a year.

Along with being a traditional pediatric practice, the group’s philosophy seems to be on the cutting edge of medicine. Doctors at MVPediatrics often refer patients for alternative modalities and ideas to complement traditional medicine.

Lyon, who came to the practice last November, has added energy to an effort of working with other health providers who support traditional medicine.

The MVPediatrics staff realizes there are many stressors facing children that can directly affect overall health. In an effort to expand supporting services, the office will be moving to a larger space on the first floor of its current building in the fall. The additional space will provide an area for patients to participate in exercise sessions, group education classes for parents and children, and yoga classes geared to tweens and teens.

“This is complementary to what Dr. Vonnegut already advocated,” Lyon said. “He teaches kids in the office how to do meditation, even during a 10-minute visit with them, and has always emphasized the whole picture regarding diet, sleep, relationships. So it was kind of a natural development for this practice.”

MVPediatrics provides several channels of communication for patients, mindful of the fact that today’s parents are very connected via social Web sites. The group has a Facebook page with daily postings, and a secure portal through the office’s Web site for communication. There, parents can ask questions or request refills for prescriptions. Messages are saved on patient records, which are kept digitally.

“He gets it. He gets how things change,” said Sue Sullivan, practice manager at MVPediatrics. “He’s a great doctor.”

But no matter how fast technology grows, Sullivan is quick to point out a quote from Vonnegut, which can be found on the group’s Web site: “The most useful things we know, we’ve learned from our patients.”

To RSVP for the Expectant Parents’ Night, contact Lisa Weinstein, at Lweinstein@gotomvpeds.com, or call the office at (617) 745-0050.