Partners in Education Engages Local Youth

Grinnell Regional Medical Center staff and volunteers took to Fairview and Bailey Park to end the school year with a bang for kindergarten and second grade students.  Wednesday, June 1, GRMC hosted their annual Partners in Education Health Fair at the local elementary schools. 

Students learning what blood is composed of with an
interactive display.

Students and teachers were electric with last week of school jitters, as they traveled from classroom to classroom learning about different aspects of health through interactive stations.  Touching ‘blood’, making fruit smoothies using pedal power, and getting their very own plaster finger casts were just a few of the unique educational activities for students.

Parents of elementary students were almost certainly victims of the, “Mom, Dad, I broke my finger at school today!” prank, while frantically waving their finger cast in the air. Classic.

Students were able to pedal to power a
blender to make fruit smoothies.

Each station had a different stamp to mark onto the student’s Passport to Being Healthy; once all of the stamps were collected they spelled out H-O-S-P-I-T-A-L.  The passports doubled as bookmarks; the clever tool designed to encourage students to continue reading throughout the summer was also a nice take-home piece of memorabilia.

GRMC employee volunteer Jan Veach applying a finger cast.

While the kindergarten and second grade students were exploring different aspects of well-being at the health fair, students in first grade were off having fun of their own on a field trip to GRMC. The tour of the medical center is held in collaboration with the Partners in Education Health Fair.

During the tour,students explored the facilities at GRMC and learned about different activities that go on in the medical center.  The tour also helped to show the first grade students that the hospital is here to help them and should not be considered a frightening place.

Both the health fair and tour were fun and successful events, but neither of these events would have been possible without the help of volunteers. GRMC’s plethora of wonderful volunteers makes events like Partners in Education a reality. If you are interested in volunteer opportunities at Grinnell Regional Medical Center contact Cara Kenkel, GRMC’s volunteer coordinator, at 641-236-2043 or by email at ckenkel@grmc.us.  

To learn more about volunteering opportunities at GRMC, please visit http://www.grmc.us/donate/grmc-auxiliary/auxiliary-volunteer-opportunities.

-Written by Nick Moorehead, GRMC summer intern