Family Health Resources to help keep your family healthy
Get information about important health issues and learn about tools and support services that can help you make smart lifestyle choices for yourself and your family.
For children, adolescents, and adults alike, immunizations are the best way to protect against infectious diseases. It’s thanks to vaccines that many infectious diseases that were once common in this country are now under control.
Holding off on immunizations because you’re worried about side effects? Don’t. In most cases, vaccines cause no side effects or only mild reactions such as fever or soreness at the injection site. Very rarely, people experience more serious side effects, like allergic reactions. And severe reactions to vaccines occur so rarely that the risk is usually difficult to calculate.
Keep track of which immunizations you and your family members should receive and when with these immunization schedules.
Immunization Schedules from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — for children, adolescents, and adults.
Good 2 B Me Website
In adolescence, many children begin to develop the health habits they’ll carry with them for the rest of their lives. Good 2 B Me is a website designed specifically for adolescents and teens ages 10 to 17, but it also serves as a great resource for parents. Good 2 B Me helps kids understand how certain choices affect their health and gives them the confidence to make smart lifestyle decisions.
Good 2 B Me and immunizations
A key site feature is immunizations and the crucial role they play in protecting kids’ health. Studies show more than 35 million American adolescents do not receive their recommended immunizations by the time they are age 14, making them more susceptible to certain illnesses and diseases.
Other issues for teens and adolescents
Other health topics covered on Good 2 B Me include:
- sports and physical activity
- nutrition and healthy weight
- body image and eating disorders
- talking to parents
The Good Health ClubSM
Childhood obesity and diabetes are on the rise, and it’s a trend we’d like to reverse.
In collaboration with the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, an association of independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans, and in consultation with the American Diabetes Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, we’re working to educate kids about wellness and encourage them to make healthy choices for life.
The Good Health Club features a group of animal characters and age-specific messages to focus on four main health goals for kids:
- Eat five servings of fruits and veggies every day.
- Limit computer, television, and video game time to two hours or less per day.
- Get at least one hour of physical activity each day.
- Cut out sweetened drinks.
These Good Health Club materials can help kids get started down the path of healthy living.
For kids of all ages
For kids 9 and younger
- Healthy Tips Sheet — English
- Healthy Tips Sheet — Spanish
- Weekly Journal — English
- Weekly Journal — Spanish