HUGHESTOWN — The students in Martin F. Quinn Primary Center’s kindergarten classes were treated to a special lesson on the importance of hand washing by the Geisinger Health System.
“Germ City: Clean Hands, Healthy People,” a science-based educational program to promote awareness, effectiveness and frequency of hand hygiene at home and at school, recently visited the school.
The Germ City unit includes a light tent equipped with black lights, a UV sensitive lotion or “pretend germ lotion” and demonstrations on how and when to wash hands. The “pretend germ lotion” is applied to hands like any hand lotion and, like normal hand lotion, there is nothing to see. Participants then enter the Germ City tent to observe the amount of simulated germs that are on their hands. The simulated germs glow greenish-white under the black lights.
While inside, the students see how easily germs are transferred by shaking hands or touching something. After observing germs, the students learn how to wash their hands. Participants go outside the tent and clean their hands using soap and water, waterless hand sanitizer, or hand wipes. Participants return to the tent to see how well they cleaned their hands.Normally, most students found they missed “germs” on their hands, between fingers and around fingernails. If germs were missed, another hand washing with coaching is completed.
