Teddy bears and raw eggs teach Roanoke Ave. kindergarteners important safety lessons

Kindergarten students at the Roanoke Avenue Elementary School got some important lessons on safety from Kristi Ladowski, MPH, an Injury Prevention and Outreach Coordinator from the Trauma Center at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital when she visited their classroom last week.

Ladowski stressed to the kindergartners the importance of buckling up whenever they get into the car–no matter how short the trip. She underlined the importance of using car seats and/or booster seats for children 8 years old and younger because the booster seats help raise kids up so seat belts fit safely.

Ladowski also showed the students how important it is to use a helmet while skating, snowboarding, skiing, riding a bicycle, or playing many sports because helmets reduce the risk of head injury by 85%, according the statistics presented by Stony Brook Trauma Center. She used a helmet designed to illustrate what happens to your brain during a head injury. Then, two students dropped raw eggs in baggies to demonstrate the difference a helmet (even for an egg) makes in keeping the head/brain safe.

The last part of the presentation was probably the most fun for the students as they donned surgical masks and gloves and went to work on treating imaginary injuries to their teddy bears and stuffed animals. But there’s a real life reason behind the make-believe: the teddy bear clinic is designed to help ease possible fears the children might have about visiting a doctor’s office or going to a hospital. The students taped up noses, tummies, arms, wrists and legs of their “patients.”

Finally, just like real doctors, the kids had to do their medical paperwork explaining what the injury was, how it occurred and how they treated it.

Source: Riverhead Central School District.