Health Fair lets students explore lifestyle challenges and changes 

by Judith Mullane, R.N., Byrd School Nurse

Let's Get Physical had two stations:

At the first, Michael Karcher shared various modalities using wheelchairs, crutches and other devices to show that it's still possible to participate in activities when one has limited or no use of their legs.  Examples included wheelchair basketball and dancing.

At the second, Carol Eichorn and two occupational therapists showed children how those with limited fine motor skills, visual compromises and physical alterations are able to function.

What it means to "find another way"

For example, how do you hold a bowl to scramble eggs if you have use of one arm?  You can:

1) place the bowl in an open drawer and use your body to push the drawer in, which holds the bowl in place and allows mixing to be done with the hand.

2) use a special bowl that is held in place by a suction cup on the bottom.

Visual and Auditory modifications were discussed with Byrd’s school nurse.

Visual – Especially fascinating to students were the Braille booklets – created for children by children. To demonstrate visual perception, students wore distortion goggles that gave them an altered sense of balance and position of objects.

 
Auditory – The children had to think of other ways an individual would know that the phone is ringing, or that their baby is crying. They focused on how to participate in conversations using other senses – lip reading, gesticulation, sign language and assistive hearing devices were part of their experience.

Also emphasized was the importance of trained anmals in assisting with daily living activities, and how seeing-eye dogs opened the door to explore the training of a variety of animals to assist people with a variety of needs.

Many thanks to Chris Ayers and the class parents, faculty and staff for their hard work and organization to make the Health Fair a success .