Dear Yum Pediatrics Families,
For the past two and a half years I have enjoyed the privilege of taking care of so many lovely patients in this practice. Getting to know my young patients and their families is something I cherish, and I am grateful to all of you for allowing me to be part of your children’s young lives.
As many of you know I am also extremely passionate about my work with The Doctor Yum Project, a nonprofit organization I founded in 2012. Our mission is to teach families the connection between good food and good health with nutrition education and cooking instruction. Being able to learn from my patients in the exam rooms at Yum Pediatrics allows me a unique insight into how to help our greater community become healthy with good food.
Many of you also know that I am a wife and mother to two young boys. My husband and two sons have been incredibly supportive and understanding of the time and energy I put into my patients and my nonprofit work.
Managing my responsibilities as a physician and nonprofit director along with spending time with my family is challenging. As our practice has grown, I have been looking for ways to be able to give more time to my family and nonprofit work while still taking excellent care of my Yum Pediatrics patients.
It is for this reason all of us at Yum Pediatrics have decided to close the practice each Thursday starting September 22nd.
We feel that this is the best decision for all of us, our staff included, to find the balance we need to continue to take care of our patients in the best way we know how.
While we are closed on Thursdays, our phones will be answered by the Mary Washington Healthlink nurses as they are on the weekends. If you have urgent needs you may reach them at our usual phone number. You may send non-urgent messages through the portal, which will be checked once during the day. If you feel your child needs to be seen, we recommend the Peds Xpress on Salem Church Rd or the emergency room for more urgent needs.
We hope that you will not be inconvenienced by our new schedule and that you understand how dedicated we are to provide you the best care possible.
Thanks,
Dr. Fernando and the Yum Pediatrics Staff