Dr. Caroline Brown

Love this! Please share with anyone who may benefit from these options for accessible kayaking!!

Exciting news! The North Carolina State Parks and Recreation announces a new partnership with Waypoint Adventure_NC, based in Black Mountain, N.C., to provide adaptive recreation programs for visitors with disabilities. Activities such as accessible kayaking and guided hikes will be offered at a few western state parks this summer and fall as part of a new pilot program. “We are eager to launch this program to offer a new way for visitors with disabilities to experience and enjoy North Carolina’s beautiful state parks,” said State Parks Director Brian Strong

This summer, accessible kayaking programs will be offered at Lake James and Lake Norman state parks. Registration is now open for participants and volunteers. Register here: http://ncparks.gov/waypoint

Image description: In the foreground, two people in a kayak with smiling faces are on a body of water. They are both holding kayak paddles across their laps. Several people in canoes are in the background.

Sharing some common myths that I hear in my work as a pediatrician and lactation consultant.

Breastfeeding Myth Busting – Don't Fall for these B***y Traps! - Triad Moms on Main | Greensboro, Winston, Burlington, High Point By: Dr. Caroline Brown MD, IBCLC As a pediatrician, I help new parents with all aspects of newborn care. As a board-certified lactation consultant, I am especially interested in helping […]

One of the kindest people I know shared this post today and I appreciated thinking about how I'm getting very good at considering this perspective with children but sometimes forget that this is also the "WHY" behind rude comments from other adults. But this is so true for any difficult interaction and so very helpful to understand!

Frame shifts and precision in language always helps me make sense of things in my head, and this was a good one for me: the idea of changing what you say in your head in response to your child whining or crying or demanding, from "What a disrespectful tone of voice" to "What an emotional tone of voice".

That gives you the chance to remember that this interaction isn't really about you at all (so it can't be about "disrespecting" you, either). Your child is just reacting to something going on for them, and they're doing so emotionally, because they are a child.

[Image description: The title text in turquoise reads "Mindset shift: Disrespectful tones".
Beneath that is a column which reads "Disrespectful tone of voice" and has an arrow progressing forward to indicate that you should shift it to "Emotional tone of voice".
The Disrespectful column reads, "They can't speak to me that way! That is so disrespectful!" and the Emotional column reads, "Whoa, sounds like they're having a hard time. This isn't about me, this is about their current emotional state in response to the situation."
The image was made by Caley Kukla, M.Ed. End description.]

Dr. Cathleen Killeen Pittman is an academic support specialist and literacy coach who has worked as a teacher and/or administrator at WSFCS and Davidson County schools, Forsyth Tech, and Appalachian State University and is truly one of the most gifted educators I've ever encountered.
Our community is lucky to have her and all the families I know who have worked with her rave about how skillfully she meets each child's needs.
In order to serve more families, she is now offering small group classes! You can read more about the services she offers here
https://ourlearningstudio.com/our-learning-studio

I am thrilled to be featured in her monthly newsletter (see below) as we both are very passionate about supporting neurodiverse patients, in particular!

PROVIDER SPOTLIGHT FOR FEBRUARY:
The Children's Clinic of Winston-Salem

Each month, I will be highlighting outstanding providers that may fill needs for your children. We will be looking at professionals such as an executive function coach, pediatrician, theater director, and more!

After 15 years of experience as a pediatrician, Dr. Caroline Brown saw the need for a new model of care for children in our community, leading her to establish The Children’s Clinic of Winston Salem (CCWS) in October 2023.

Standing in contrast to traditional, larger pediatric practices characterized by high patient volumes and rushed appointments, CCWS prioritizes personalized care. This intentional departure from the norm is evident in CCWS's commitment to a lower patient-to-doctor ratio, which allows for extended and unhurried appointments.

The clinic strives to forge deeper connections with patients and their families, both in-person and virtually between visits. The goal at CCWS is to create the superb healthcare experience by focusing on the QUALITY of care provided rather than the QUANTITY of patients served.

What Makes CCWS Different?

▪ Extended Appointments: By limiting patient numbers, CCWS can offer longer appointment times as needed.
▪ Welcoming Environment: With a smaller patient base, the clinic fosters a personal atmosphere, minimizing wait times and reducing the chaos of visits. A sensory-friendly space promotes a calmer experience.
▪ Direct Text Messaging: Employing a HIPAA-compliant platform, CCWS facilitates secure text communication between patients' families and Dr. Brown, eliminating the need for waiting on hold or endless games of phone tag.
▪ Telemedicine: CCWS extends healthcare accessibility through after-hours telehealth visits.
▪ Focus on Behavioral Health Care: Dr. Brown's passion for neurodiverse patients translates into comprehensive care for developmental, behavioral, and learning challenges. CCWS also frequently collaborates with schools, therapists, and counselors in our community to provide additional support to our families to help navigate what can sometimes be a challenging road.

CCWS pioneers a paradigm shift in pediatric care by prioritizing quality over quantity, fostering meaningful connections, and embracing innovative approaches to enhance the overall healthcare experience for children and their families.

You can check out the clinic online at www.ChildrensClinicWS.com and follow her on social media Dr. Caroline Brown.

A beautiful reminder of what the lack of understanding and compassion feels like to the parents of children with invisible disabilities.
Be kind.
Your looks of disapproval and snide comments are daggers.
What I know to be true, is that parents of children with autism and other invisible disabilities are the very best people I’ve ever known and walking alongside them as to support their children is a privilege and one of my favorite things as a pediatrician is getting to know these families!

Dear Person,

Do you remember me? I’m the boy from the gas station this morning. You know, the one who was lying on the floor in the coffee aisle. You watched me ever so carefully. Your disapproval rained down on my upset self for a few seconds before you spoke.

I lay between mom’s legs- I like the squeezing pressure- and she talked calmly and tried to convince me to stand up. I didn’t want to stand up. I wanted a chocolate donut. I didn’t want to go to school. I hate transitions and Christmas break was so nice in Florida. It’s cold here. Did I say there were no chocolate donuts? And that transitions are hard especially when I’ve had a medicine change?

You looked at my mom and said, “He’s glad he’s not my son.”

What did that even mean?
My mom thought it meant she was a crappy mom.
I wondered if it meant I was bad.

She answered you quietly even- “He has autism and a genetic disorder.” She stared- daring you to say another word.

“I’m sorry,” you said and I think you meant it. My mom said it’s okay, but still, she cried when she got in the car.

You know what I think? I think most of are doing the best we can with what we have and some struggle more than others. Maybe it’s not even autism.

And next time you see us? Tell my mom she’s doing fine and that will stop her from worrying if I am too crazy. The bigger I get, the more people seem to notice me and judge a wee bit too much. There are lots of boys and girls like me, shooting stars, my mom says. We all have something that makes us unique, so keep an eye out and be sure to smile.

Yours Truly,
Amos

Have y’all heard of ? Friends Amy Lawson and Nikki Francis are on a mission to get books into the hands of every kid in Winston Salem! They have donation sites all over town including Whitaker and Sherwood Forrest Elementary Schools, Knollwood Preschool, Mt Tabor Barber, and here at The Children’s clinic of Winston Salem! They accept any book (for babies through adults), as well as board games and puzzles!!

This past year was a huge leap of faith.
There were many days where the task at hand (leaving my employed position for a huge hospital system and starting my own independent pediatric practice) felt too big, too daunting.
I wondered if my dream was possible.
Thankfully I had a husband, parents, and incredible friend, now practice administrator extraordinaire, who believed in this dream of mine!
And while there is still much to learn and many challenges ahead, right now, amidst this holiday season I feel an overwhelming sense of contentment in what we have accomplished this year . Opening The Children’s Clinic of Winston Salem allows me the privilege of caring for patients in a way I am proud of and with a team who share my commitment to provide exceptionally responsive, quality care to our little corner of the world.
And for any physicians out there wondering if you can make the leap too….I’m here to tell you “yes! You can!”

Honored to participate as a medical expert panelist at the Licensed Clinical Counselors of NC state conference this morning. Not much feels better than being in a huge room surrounded by people who dedicate their lives to support the well being of others!!!

The Children’s Clinic of Winston Salem is ready for you!! We would love to see you at our open house today from 4:30-6:30pm. Drop in to meet our team and take a sneak peek of our beautiful new clinic!! We’ll have light refreshments and are happy to answer any questions you may have. Open house is 4:30-6:30pm today at our clinic (1400 Westgate Center Drive, Suite 206).

Here we go y’all!!!!!!!
We are excited to open our doors next week (Wednesday 10/4 from 4:30-6:30pm) to welcome our friends and patients and their families into our beautiful new clinic space!!!

Address is 1400 Westgate Center Drive, Suite 206 (in Greentree 1 building at the corner of Westbrook Plaza Dr and Westgate Center Drive)

We’ll have cookies and light refreshments and be available to answer any questions about The Children’s Clinic of Winston-Salem.

Please stop by if you are able!!

A note from Dr. Brown:
I am so incredibly excited for this clinic. The Children’s Clinic of Winston Salem is quite literally a dream come!
I feel like the luckiest doctor in the world to have the chance to offer something DIFFERENT and oh so needed in a world where the practice of medicine is too often dictated by administrators and corporations and hospital systems that create so many obstacles/layers in between patients and their doctors that even the best doctors struggle to provide access to high quality patient centered care (because they are too busy in the hamster wheel admin keeps them on…and the doctors that do try to deliver that care end up burned out because it’s so infuriating to be trying to advocate for our patients in the middle of the huge machines of corporate medicine).
But I am free!!!!!
- To practice medicine and serve my patients in a way I can feel proud of, in a way that gives me the time to really sees the patient in front of me and allows me to answer all their parents questions without feeling the neeed to rush…
- To choose to be directly accessible by text messaging to my patients…
- To have the luxury of 30 or 45 or 60 minute appointments for patients when needed…
- To hire highly trained staff and to buy the medical equipment that will allow me to improve the care I give without having to convince an administrator to approve it….

And I kept pinching myself this week that I get to work with these extraordinary women.
After being so frustrated and defeated stuck in corporate medicine, this clinic feels too good to be true. But this is happening!!!
We are doing this!!!!!

All the feels this morning as I sent my younger kids off to their first day of school.

Dr. Brown has also known our other new nurse Andrea for many years! Dr. Brown has been the pediatrician for Andrea’s kids for over 10 years! And since one of Andrea’s sons is medically complex, we got to know each other very well over the years.
Andrea started her career as a trauma/ER nurse in West Virginia. She moved to Winston-Salem in 2012 and joined the emergency team at Forsyth Medical Center where she remains today. As a seasoned ER nurse, Andrea exudes calm under pressure and there isn’t much that she hasn’t seen!
A few years ago, Andrea added to her time in the ED by also working part time in a local pediatric clinic and really enjoys balancing the fast paced, high acuity work in the ED with cuddling newborns and the continuity of seeing kids for sick visits and their checkups in clinic.
When she’s not working in clinic or the ER, Andrea lives with her husband and 3 children on their hobby farm with their horses, goats, and chickens. She loves to spend time outdoors, especially in the barn with the horses and teaching her children to care for them. She also has 2 dogs, Finn and Ghost, and a cat named Cheese!

This weekend I was reflecting on my departure from corporate medicine and my leap to independent private practice.
Many friends and colleagues are surprised that I am pivoting to what they see as a more demanding role as a private practice owner. But it’s not about the hours I spend working, the number of days on call, or the amount of administrative work I do. It’s about having autonomy to practice in a way that aligns with the oath I took to “First Do No Harm.”

“What’s burning out health care workers is less the grueling conditions we practice under, ‌and more our dwindling faith in the systems for which we work.”

Opinion | Doctors Aren’t Burned Out From Overwork. We’re Demoralized by Our Health System. The end of medical ideology.

Checked another “first” off my list in 2023….I was a guest on a podcast!
I thoroughly enjoyed sharing my experiences and perspective as a pediatrician and parent of a child with Autism with my friend and fellow pediatrician Dr. Jaclyn Dovico and her husband, an educator on faculty at WFU, Dr. Adam Dovico .
I have also enjoyed listening to many of their other episodes of the podcast!! Highly recommend subscribing to this podcast if you’re interested in hearing some practical parenting advice from two experts who are also very relatable!

What’s better than hiring an incredible, experienced pediatric nurse?
Hiring one that you’ve known (and adored) for nearly 20 years AND who shares her homegrown tomatoes with you!
I first met Shelley when I was a medical student at WFUSOM and she was working on the 9th floor at Brenner Children’s Hospital. Her wit and s***k made her a lot of fun to work with but she was clearly an incredibly skilled nurse who knew all the tricks of the trade and would graciously share her expertise with her fellow nurses and us students and residents. Shelley is beloved by her patients, the physicians, and the staff who work with her. And as a medical student, and later a resident physician, and then even a faculty physician, I always breathed a little easier when I knew Shelley was caring for my patients. And she has been recognized time and again for her skill and expertise as she’s won numerous awards for nursing excellence.
She’s the mother of two now young adults in their early 20s and when she’s not working as a nurse, you can find Shelley striking a yoga pose (she’s also a certified yoga instructor), exploring local bookstores, dabbling with her paint brush (she studied art in London!!), or either listening to a podcast or jamming out to Tyler Children or Phoebe Bridgers while kayaking all over Salem Lake.

We have LOTS of exciting news to share y’all!
Our full website is live now! Check us out at www.ChildrensClinicWS.com (link in our stories)!
And we have officially set our opening date for 10/9/23 - just under 8 weeks away!!!
And we’re now accepting applications to join our practice!
Stay tuned for more updates including introductions of our fabulous nurses!!!!

Thoughts about why so many people are incorrectly told they need to pump and dump while breastfeeding

Visit TikTok to discover videos! Watch, follow, and discover more trending content.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/caroline-brown-085120240_painful-physician-burnout-truths-activity-7096108965662494720-BHgn?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

Caroline Brown on LinkedIn: Painful physician burnout truths This resonates deeply with my own experience as a physician and highlights several of the factors that contributed to my disillusionment with working for a…

I am pleased to introduce you to our Practice Administrator for The Children’s Clinic of Winston-Salem: Kirsten Davis.

One of the things I am most excited about starting this clinic is the opportunity to build a truly incredible team! I can not emphasize enough how delighted I am to have this incredible human as my “right hand woman” to make this dream clinic a reality.

Kirsten has a genuine passion for promoting the overall well-being of children, youth and families. Her range of experience makes her the perfect fit for overseeing our clinic by serving as our Practice Administrator. With a degree in elementary education and a Master’s degree in counseling (M.A.Ed.), Kirsten began her career as a school counselor with the WSFC schools.  She then worked in the corporate setting for an early childhood technology company in HR and marketing before transitioning to program development. Kirsten was the co-creator of a program that ran for ten years at community YMCAs focusing on health education, exercise and nutrition for kids, adolescents and their families. Most recently, Kirsten spent the last decade working in pediatrics as a Behavioral Health Coordinator, helping connect families with mental health services while working closely with a wide variety of counselors and therapists throughout our community.
Kirsten is the proud mother of daughters Maggie and Georgia. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, biking and traveling with her husband, Wes, and their daughters. Kirsten is looking forward to getting to know each one of the CCWS families and is happy to help in each patient’s journey toward improved health and wellbeing.

This!
This is a huge reason I am taking on the challenge of opening an independent pediatric practice (which is A hugely daunting process within a system that is largely dominated by huge corporate giants).
I strongly feel that the care I give will suffer if I have to focus on quantity (which too often runs the risk of diminishing quality).

“The attempts to “fix” the U.S. healthcare system have taken at least one well-worn market-based path: strive for economies of scale. Hospital consolidation is on the rise, a trend that shows no signs of abating as providers try to streamline back-end operations and deploy big data analytics in hopes of improving outcomes and lowering costs. Businesses try this every day.

However some primary care physicians are looking at the exact opposite approach: de-scaling and taking cost out by radically simplifying their practices as a way to make them clinically, financially, and personally sustainable.

What makes these practices different? 1) Each is based on relationship quality rather than production volume; as a result, each is smaller than the average U.S. practice; 2) Visits are longer and the doctor may provide a broader range of services with minimal support staff; 3) They have business plans that demonstrate how their model can be financially sustainable; and 4) Each used their variation on the general model to offer greater satisfaction to their patients as well as to their own personal and professional lives.”

Reimagining Primary Care: When Small Is Beautiful Downsizing can make practices more satisfying.

We are so grateful for all of the support since our announcement about opening this new clinic.
We’ve received lots of messages through social media platforms. Please help us ensure we see each message by using our website interest form to apply for a spot as a patient at our practice and contact us via email if interested in applying to join our team ([email protected]).
Thanks y’all!!! We can’t wait to see you in the fall.

A little summer reading for this pediatrician turned entrepreneur/small business owner.
Highly recommend Made for More by for doctors looking for inspiration to make a change and Advanced Parenting by brilliant pediatrician Dr. Kelly Fradin for parents or doctors caring for children with any kind of special needs whether it’s a chronic medical illnesses or developmental or behavioral or mental health challenges.

Excited to share what I’ve been working on:
THE CHILDREN'S CLINIC OF WINSTON-SALEM.
OPENING FALL 2023

When I took some time off last spring to help care for both a sick parent in the hospital and my son with special needs I was both grateful (to have the time to care for my family) and heartbroken (to step away from patients that I dearly love). When I resigned from the pediatric practice where I had worked for nearly 10 years, I knew my "sabbatical" would be temporary. Being a doctor is more than a just a job to me—it is a huge part of who I am!
But I also understood that I needed to find a way to practice in a more sustainable way. I recognized that the pace of a traditional clinic was not conducive to the flexibility I needed for my own family, and the hurried pace that model demands was making it more difficult to deliver compassionate, quality care. This was especially the case for many of the patients I felt most passionate to help: new mothers seeking lactation support, neurodiverse patients and their parents, and medically complex patients needing comprehensive care coordination.

So I spent the past year researching alternatives - reading books, scouring healthcare websites, and listening to hours of podcasts about the practice of medicine. I spoke to pediatricians all over the country who were doing things differently, enabling them to provide quality, compassionate, patient-centered care. As I researched, I discovered a concept known as the “Ideal Medical Practice” that deeply resonated with me. An Ideal Medical Practice is a model for delivering superior care by using technology and highly trained staff to improve efficiency and quality while offering increased access to a smaller number of patients.

So I’ve set out to build a small, independent ‘ideal” pediatric practice. At The Children’s Clinic of Winston-Salem, we will be an intentionally small clinic so as to afford each patient more of our time and provide more direct access to their families.
If you are interested in learning more about our clinic or applying to join our practice, you may sign up for updates on our website www.childrensclinicws.com

This picture was taken after one of the last times I breastfed my last baby. It was a bittersweet moment after a very bumpy road.
As a pediatrician, I always assumed I would breastfeed my babies but my breastfeeding journey was challenging in ways I had not anticipated. From painful latching, fretting over my baby’s weight gain and jaundice, and struggles to maintain my milk supply with returning to work, breastfeeding was, at times, very stressful.
Throughout my breastfeeding experiences, I was so grateful for the guidance from the encouraging lactation consultants who cared for me (and I was amazed at how much I did not know even as a fully trained pediatrician)!
And I also became determined to learn more, in order to equip myself to better be able to support the families that I care for in clinic.
But life is so very busy with practicing medicine and raising kids of my own, so it wasn’t until this past year that I was able to carve out the time to take the additional classes and study for the exam.
And after 3 months of waiting, I found out today I passed the exam and am officially a board certified lactation consultant!!
And now I am excited to return to practicing medicine armed with this new knowledge and expertise.

Can’t wait to check this out!!!

Admired for years, green space on Reynolda Road is open for the public to explore The trail connects the Boston-Thurmond and Buena Vista neighborhoods.

Carpenter parents have a detailed plans for what they are building (what type of person they intend to raise their child to be) and operate under the assumption that if they have the right materials, assemble those materials in the right order, and connect them in the right way, then they can control the final outcome and ensure it’s built “just right” (ie that their child will turn out alright).

Gardener parents, on the other hand, see their child as a seed and their work is to provide an enriching, supportive environment so that the seed can thrive and bloom into whatever plant it’s meant to be (but the gardener can’t force the seed to be a tulip if it’s meant to be a fern).

In her book, The Gardener and the Carpenter, author Alison Gopnik asserts that if our goal is to raise well adjusted, curious, confident children, then we should opt for being gardeners rather than carpenters. Gardener parenting involves less hovering and micromanaging (and worrying) and more standing back, giving kids room to explore the world around them and try new things and make mistakes so that they have the experience and the confidence to become independent adults who are able to contribute to the world in a meaningful way of their own choosing.

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/05/28/614386847/what-kind-of-parent-are-you-carpenter-or-gardener

Sharing this from the folks at Triad Moms on Main
In case you need some ideas for today…

Rainy Day Adventures in the Triad Looking for Rainy Day ideas to keep your toddler or child entertained while getting their energy out? TMoM team member Brooke shares some!

Please share!

Could you use some FREE diapers?! Did you know that you can get them at Smart Start of Forsyth County’s Diaper Bank?

Stop by any Monday, Wednesday, or Friday from 8am - 5pm with your child’s birth certificate and leave with FREE diapers! ✨