Phoenix Children’s Hospital Recognizes Juvenile Arthritis Awareness Month

Phoenix Children’s Hospital Recognizes Juvenile Arthritis Awareness Month

Arthritis, typically perceived to affect only those with older bones, can affect teens and children as well. In many states, children diagnosed with arthritis and other rheumatic diseases are treated by the same doctors that work with adult arthritis patients. Not in Arizona.

Phoenix Children’s Hospital recognizes the month of July as Juvenile Arthritis Awareness Month. The five general areas associated with Juvenile Arthritis are: Juvenile Dermatomyositis, Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis, Lupus and Scleroderma (Arthritis.org). Juvenile Dermatomyositis, a rare disease, affects 3,000 to 5,000 US children under the age of eighteen.

After Dr. Michael Shishov, a Pediatric Rheumatologist, came to the Valley in 2006, Phoenix Children’s Hospital has become home to the only two board certified Pediatric Rheumatologists in the entire state of Arizona. Dr. Shishov is Division Chief of Pediatric Rheumatology at Phoenix Children’s Hospital, heading the program that treats everything from Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis to Lupus and Lyme Disease.

Haley, a patient at PCH was diagnosed with Juvenile Arthritis when she was seven years old. Her mother, Tiffany, says, “Before, we were just trying to manage the pain and now it’s not enough just to manage her pain just to get through the day, but to actually give Haley a much better quality of life.”

Common symptoms of Juvenile Arthritis include: muscle weakness, fatigue, joint pain and inflammation, muscle pain and tenderness, rashes on elbows, knees and ankles and more. There is no test for juvenile arthritis, nor is there a cure. However, both early detection and treatment are paramount to ceasing joint damage and managing joint pain and weakness in the future.

Published on behalf of Phoenix Children’s Hospital
Phoenix Children’s Hospital is Arizona’s only licensed children’s hospital, providing world-class care in more than 40 pediatric specialties to our state’s sickest kids. Though Phoenix Children’s is one of the ten largest freestanding children’s hospitals in the country, rapid population growth in Arizona means the Hospital must grow as well. Phoenix Children’s recently announced a $588 million expansion plan to bring its special brand of family-centered care to even more patients and families. The plan includes a significant upgrade of the Hospital’s current campus, an aggressive physician recruitment effort, and new satellite centers in high growth areas of the Valley. For more information, visit the Hospital’s Web site at www.phoenixchildrens.com.

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