Final Project
Early Childhood Health, Safety and Nutrition Fair
The final project in this course will require you to plan and implement an Early Childhood Health Fair which will include the areas of Health, Safety and Nutrition.
The ECE Health Fair must include the following:
Health Fair objectives which are specific to the target audience
Objectives of a Health Fair
A health fair is an event to:
- Increase health , safety and nutritional awareness by providing health screenings, activities, materials, demonstrations, and information;
- Increase awareness of local, state, and national health services and resources;
- Motivate participants to make positive health behavior changes; Including safety and nutrition
- Provide immunizations for children and adults;
- Environmental Safety assessments
- Nutritional assessments and cooking activities and recipe ideas
- Teach self-care practices;
- Identify topics and participants for future educational health programs; and
- Establish Community partners as a future source for educational health, safety and nutritional programming in the county.
All objectives must be included in the final project
Duties
- Identify the target audience.
- Description of the targeted community and provide health, nutritional and safety demographics
- Identify best ways to reach the target audience.
- What types of entertainment and games will be a part of the health fair?
- Determine the balance between activities and information and/or determine if the health fair should be only activity oriented? (Explain why or why not)
- Develop a theme, like “Family Health Affair” or “Spring into Health.”
- Develop a timeline.
- Create a schedule for the health fair, including opening and closing times, lunch, dinner, etc.
- Select a date.
- Identify necessary committees, subcommittees and possible members.
- Set and manage the budget, considering:
- Publicity and promotion costs;
• Equipment and table, chair, audiovisual, etc., rentals;
• Decorations;
• Refreshments and lunches for participants, volunteers, those in booths
Clinical Subcommittee (The role of the clinical subcommittee)
Health professionals on the clinical subcommittee should help determine what is appropriate to include in a health fair for the target audience. Not all brochures, giveaways, or topics should be included. For example, giving away small objects that could be swallowed by toddlers should beavoided at family-oriented health fairs.
Not all health fairs require screenings. Including screenings in children’s health fairs, for example, may not be worthwhile because schools perform required checks of height and weight, scoliosis, vision, hearing, etc. No intrusive procedure like drawing blood or finger sticks can ever be done on
children without their parents’ signed permission. Hands-on, activity-focused health fairs would benefit children more.
Screening for blood pressure, cholesterol, blood glucose, etc. may be planned if appropriate for the target audience. If screenings are provided, the clinical subcommittee must help in determining appropriateness for the audience, finding appropriate providers, making sure universal precautions are followed, results are accurate, and participants are properly informed
about results and provided with follow-up suggestions. Provisions must be made for situations when someone’s blood pressure or blood sugar is found to be dangerously high during the health fair — where can that person go for immediate help?
For these and many other reasons, having a clinical subcommittee is critical for a health fair.
Duties
Identify key health topics and booths for the target audience.
Determine the kinds of screenings/services for the target audience, (You must choose screening and services that are referenced in the text as appropriate for young children.
- Plan and arrange for booths from various community agencies, with a specific focus on children’s health safety and nutritional concerns such as the American Heart Association, American, American Pediatric Association, Department of State Health Services, etc
- Plan for meeting universal precautions regarding drawing and handling blood, etc.
- Plan for delivery of results to the participants.
- Plan and arrange for treatment referrals for participants with abnormal results, both
- Define and review the kinds of health information, brochures, and giveaways appropriate for the target audience (for example, no small objects for young children or free drug samples,
etc.).
- Plan for immunizations appropriate for the target audience.
- Plan for obtaining consent forms if children are having any screening procedure or immunizations.
- Plan and arrange for “Ask a Doctor,” “Ask a Nurse,” “Ask a Pharmacist,”and all others dealing in children’s issuesetc. booths.
- Plan for equipment needs, such as blood pressure cuffs including children’s, (note: BP screening is not usually done for children), average adult’s, and obese adult’s (the wrongsized
cuff will give wrong results).
- Plan for first aid needs during the health fair.
- Provide information on actual costs for clinical services, such as the lab work provided to facilitate interpretation of the value of the health fair to the community.
- Plan to protect confidentiality of participants regarding results.
• Results only must be given to the individual participant s only.
• No sign-up sheets identifying participants’ blood pressure, lab results, etc. should be used.
• If height and weight are done, for example, it must be done so no one can even accidentally be made aware of someone else’s results — this is true for children as well as adults. (Note: determine BMI and explain the meaning of results. To calculate BMI, go to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention’s calculator at http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/bmi/.
All five of the textbook units must be addressed in the health fair and 3 to 5 chapter topics must be covered from Units 2 -5. For example Unit 2 covers chapters 2-7—You must choose at least 3 of the chapters and no more than 5.
Class Presentation
You will be required to present a 5 -7 minute of your health fair final project which includes : Present as if you are presenting a proposal for your health fair
- Identification of the target audience.
- Description of the targeted community and provide health, nutritional and safety demographics
- Identify best ways to reach the target audience.
- What types of entertainment and games will be a part of the health fair?
- Determine the balance between activities and information and/or determine if the health fair should be only activity oriented? (Explain why or why not)
- Develop a theme, like “Family Health Affair” or “Spring into Health.”
- Develop a timeline.
- Create a schedule for the health fair, including opening and closing times, lunch, dinner, etc.
- Select a date.
- Identify necessary committees, subcommittees and possible members.
- Publicity and promotion
• Decorations;
• Refreshments and lunches for participants, volunteers, those in booths
You may be creative in your presentation utilizing Power point or setting up various scenarios which assist with supporting your position.
