Delaware County pediatrician draws on past to help kids going through trauma

Dr. June Elcock-Messam says her ardour is displaying every youngster within the chair throughout from her why they matter.

“I feel that each youngster deserves an opportunity to be completely happy and protected and have a brilliant future. And the whole lot I do is to attempt to make that occur for as many youngsters as I can,” mentioned Elcock-Messam, the president of Each Youngster Counts and co-founder of Media Pediatrics.

She is the one board-certified youngster abuse pediatrician in Delaware County.

“My purpose all the time was to develop up, change into a physician and defend youngsters who expertise trauma,” she mentioned.

It is one thing she wished she had as a baby rising up and experiencing violence in Guyana.

“There have been troopers with weapons that will come and tear gasoline us, beat our lecturers, beat college students,” she mentioned.

When she was 16, her mother and father immigrated their household of 10 to the USA.

“They gave up the whole lot for us to come back and change into no matter we needed,” mentioned Elcock-Messam.

Final yr, Elcock-Messam’s mother handed away. For her, it is nonetheless so onerous to think about the lady who sacrificed the whole lot for her youngsters to have a greater life is gone. However it’s additionally why she’s working so onerous to share that mom’s love with each child who wants it.

“She’d be so proud. She can be so proud,” she mentioned.

There’s now a scholarship in her title by way of her daughter’s nonprofit, Each Youngster Counts. A few of its packages embody trauma-informed actions for youths going by way of onerous instances and assets for kids who’re homeless or in foster care.

“To have the ability to assist to guard youngsters, it nearly is smart of my life like why I might have gone by way of one thing so troublesome as a baby,” mentioned Elcock-Messam.

It is adversity her mother all the time knew she would obtain.