In pediatrics, we frame conversations with kids and their families about climate concerns in a way that is clear we’re concerned about their well-being, not preaching at them.
Cheryl E. Anderson, MDA Dartmouth Health Children’s pediatrician, along with a group of her colleagues, is a finalist for a national award for the Climate Informed Pediatric Care (CIPC) program. Cheryl E. Anderson, MD, working with colleagues from the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth and NH Healthy Climate, is among the top 10 contenders for ecoAmerica’s 2025 American Climate Leadership Awards.
CIPC addresses the growing health impacts of climate change on children, who are particularly vulnerable to its effects. Launched in 2024, this initiative builds on the American Academy of Pediatrics’ early leadership in recognizing climate change as a critical health issue. The project’s goal is to establish climate-informed care as a standard practice within pediatric clinics.
“Though it is a very real thing with very real, and potentially devastating, health impacts, climate change has become a sensitive and even political subject for many, even in the context of a healthcare provider advising their patient,” Anderson said. “In pediatrics, we frame conversations with kids and their families about climate concerns in a way that is clear we’re concerned about their well-being, not preaching at them. For example, we now have much hotter summers in New Hampshire than ever before, so we advise patients to avoid playing outside on the hottest days, or to be mindful of air quality alerts for kids with asthma and allergies.”
The CIPC team piloted an innovative intervention in seven pediatric clinics across New Hampshire. Key activities included developing and implementing a Climate Informed Care Toolkit, which provides clinicians with actionable resources to integrate climate-related health discussions into routine care, focusing on heat, extreme weather, mosquitos/ticks, air quality, and mental health. The team also created clinic-specific materials, such as posters and children’s activity workbooks, to facilitate these conversations with families.
“The CIPC project addresses the growing health impacts of climate change on children, who are particularly vulnerable to its effects and builds on the American Academy of Pediatrics’ early leadership in recognizing climate change as a critical health issue,” said Carl Cooley, MD, a member of the board of directors for NH Healthy Climate.
Learn more at nhclimatehealth.org.
About Dartmouth Health
Dartmouth Health, New Hampshire’s only academic health system and the state’s largest private employer, serves patients across northern New England. Dartmouth Health provides access to more than 2,000 providers in almost every area of medicine, delivering care at its flagship hospital, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in Lebanon, NH, as well as across its wide network of hospitals, clinics and care facilities. DHMC is consistently named the #1 hospital in New Hampshire by U.S. News & World Report, and is recognized for high performance in numerous clinical specialties and procedures. Dartmouth Health includes Dartmouth Cancer Center, one of only 57 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the nation, and the only such center in northern New England; Dartmouth Health Children’s, which includes the state’s only children’s hospital and multiple locations around the region; member hospitals in Lebanon, Keene, Claremont and New London, NH, and Windsor and Bennington, VT; Visiting Nurse and Hospice for Vermont and New Hampshire; and more than 24 clinics that provide ambulatory and specialty services across New Hampshire and Vermont. Through its historical partnership with Dartmouth and the Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth Health trains nearly 400 medical residents and fellows annually, and performs cutting-edge research and clinical trials recognized across the globe with Geisel and the White River Junction VA Medical Center in White River Junction, VT. Dartmouth Health and its more than 13,000 employees are deeply committed to serving the healthcare needs of everyone in our communities, and to providing each of our patients with exceptional, personal care.
About Dartmouth Health Children's
Dartmouth Health Children's is the only comprehensive pediatric healthcare system in the region. Fully integrated in Dartmouth Health and anchored for more than 30 years by Children's Hospital at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (CHaD)—in Lebanon, NH—Dartmouth Health Children's promotes health, advances knowledge, and delivers the best patient and family-centered care for infants, children, and adolescents across New Hampshire and Vermont. Dartmouth Health Children's conducts groundbreaking research and educates the next generations of health professionals as the primary pediatric partner of the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. Highly skilled and collaborative child health professionals provide care in multiple settings across the region. Outpatient specialty visits and same-day surgery services are available at Children's Hospital at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (CHaD) and Dartmouth Hitchcock Clinics Manchester. Primary care appointments in general pediatrics are available at Dartmouth Hitchcock Clinics in Bedford, Concord, Lebanon, Manchester and Nashua, NH and Bennington, VT; as well as at Dartmouth Health members: Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital, Cheshire Medical Center, New London Hospital and Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center.