Parents are blessed with a wonderful sense of intuition about their children.  We have found that most parents, even without formal medical training, know when their child needs medical attention.   For those times when you’re just not sure and you need some seasoned advice, CHPA provides telephone triage services.  Our advice nurse phone lines take messages Monday through Friday from 8:00 am until 4:00 pm. The physician call-back phone lines take messages Monday through Friday from 8:00 am until 5:00 pm. The medication refill phone lines take messages Monday through Friday from 8:00 am until 5:00 pm.

The Advice Nurses triage the messages left on all three phone lines and return calls according to medical urgency. These nurses are experienced and highly-trained, and they follow a set of nationally accepted, well-tested telephone triage guidelines in answering calls about your child’s health.  After listening to your concerns and asking important questions, they will offer advice, direct you to specific educational materials, make appointment recommendations or refer your questions to a physician for further advice.

Due to the high volume of calls received, we urge you to check out the links on the website before leaving a message. Answers to many illness symptoms and well child behaviors can be found under Selfcare.net. Another particularly helpful section of the website is under "Links" where you can access KidsGrowth or KidsHealth. A reference book that we've found to be particularly helpful for parents is Your Child's Health by Barton Schmitt, © 2005; it addresses many childhood illness symptoms, injury situations and specific child behaviors that may be concerning to parents.

Please schedule an appointment with a physician to address complex behavioral concerns or lingering health concerns about your child instead of addressing this through the advice line. Also, if you have urgent concerns about an acute illness, please make a same-day appointment.