Today was "asthma education patch" day at Girl Scouts. I think it went really well. It's kind of hard to "dumb it down" to a 6 and 7 year old level...but I think I did ok.
First, we talked about what Asthma is. Quite a few of the girls knew someone who has it, and a couple of the other girls in the troop also had asthma. (they were preemie twins, and have basically outgrown their lung issues. I'll bet they are still reactive, though)
Then, the girls got to play with straws with wrappers. They blew the paper off of the straws to show "working airways." Then they all squeezed the end of the straw and tried to breathe through it. This kind of showed them how the "tubes" in the lungs get tight when someone is having trouble with asthma.
After that, we talked about all of Mariella's stuff on the table. We talked about the fact that if Mariella is coughing and coughing and coughing that it doesn't mean she is SICK, and that she can't get THEM sick. We said that the machine wasn't anything to be scared of, and it just meant that Mariella was getting the medicine she needs to help her lungs work the right way, and that she will always be fine after she gets the medicine. We also talked about the ways we can keep ourselves healthy, and therefore helping to keep people like Mariella, with asthma, to stay healthy. (eating good foods, washing hands, coughing into their elbows...etc)
We covered that asthma isn't always coughing or wheezing. That some people have both, or just one...I was wheezing toward the end of the meeting, so they all got to hear a good wheeze. Mariella told them that sometimes she doesn't cough OR wheeze, that sometimes her chest just hurts or feels tight, and that's asthma too. That you can't always SEE that she's having trouble. We discussed that if the girls saw someone having trouble breathing, or if a friend told them that they were having trouble breathing, that they should always get an adult to help.
Finally, all the girls got to check their O2 level. Mariella got all excited about her 97% reading. Most girls were 99 or 100, and we talked about how different people had different numbers, and that it wasn't like a test.
I sent them home with pictures of lungs to color, and that was it. Hopefully, if Mariella needs a treatment or puffer at Scouts now, they won't be afraid. (or as they get older, if they go on a campout or other event, too) the 2 mom's that were there to help out told me I did a good job and kept it at their level...so I hope they got something out of it.
6 comments:
Sounds like you did a GREAT job!! Well done, Sara! I would looooove teaching younger kids (instead I get to do technical lectures to eleventh graders lol).
Can I come next time? ;-)
So awesome - they got to learn about their friend and I bet the information will stick, since it involved hands-on work and gadgets and stuff. Very cool.
That sounds great! What did the Asthma Education Patch look like? Were there any other kinds of health education patches? I wish I could have come!
I added it to the top...I'm not good with the adding of pictures.
I'm not too sure about other patches...I know there is an anti-smoking patch...and there are badges for older girls (which are different from patches) that focus on healthy eating and healthy bodies.
Kids are awesome. I teach at my martial arts club. It's great. :D
This is so totally cool.
A number of my Girl Scout Leader friends here have been asking about this patch to sew on their camp blankets. We used to have it in the UK but it got discontinued a few years ago. Somebody has managed to track down a bunch of them though, old stock!
Well done on the whole asthma educator bit. Really impressive stuff.
I guess I should do a similar thing at school. But my HIgh School peeps really aren't that interested :-(
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