HealthWorks! Kids' Museum Receives $15,000 Grant

HealthWorks! Kids’ Museum St. Louis is pleased to announce it has been awarded $15,000 in grant funding from the Jefferson Foundation to support the museum’s Beyond Our Walls educational outreach program. The initiative works to break down economic barriers by taking HealthWorks! Interactive health programs and preventive health tools directly to students at their schools, giving lower-income children the opportunity to learn the importance of positive oral and overall health choices through an interactive learning experience. The grant will be used to bring the Beyond Our Walls program to K-5th grade students throughout Jefferson County.

Beyond Our Walls serves nearly 8,000 children in the St. Louis area each year through live travel shows and virtual museum components that connect students in the classroom with health video content and resources to teach children about the importance of their choices and how they impact their personal health. Research has shown that low-income families face several health risks, including increased rates of obesity and diabetes due to poor nutrition and food choices. These families may also lack the education and resources needed to prevent such risks. The programs aim to reverse these trends by using fun and interactive performances to keep students engaged and educate and empower them.

Thanks to the grant funding, HealthWorks! will be able to take two travel programs – Super Scrubbers and Mega Heart – directly to 16 schools within the Jefferson County school districts of Grandview R-II, Hillsboro R-III, Dunklin R-V, Festus R-VI, Jefferson Co. R-VII, Sunrise R-IX, Windsor C-1, Crystal City 47 and Desoto 73.

Super Scrubbers is an oral health and hygiene program geared toward children in Pre-K through second grades. Students will be able to scrub, brush, wiggle and giggle as they fight germs and brush up on good hygiene techniques. A special interactive video will give children the opportunity to spot and correct common hand washing faux pas. By the end of the program, children will be able identify proper habits to keep their teeth and body clean.

MEGA Heart is a program that teaches children in third through fifth grades about heart health. Students will learn about the anatomy and physiology of their heart and lungs, listen to their own heart rates and respiration and discover fascinating facts about their bodies as they get up close and personal with a real pig heart and lungs. The students will also have the opportunity to step inside HealthWorks! MEGA Heart, a larger-than-life replica of a human heart. The MEGA Heart highlights anatomy of the heart and different abnormalities and diseases that can affect it, and it also acts as a space for interactive and fun learning.

Both programs provide each student with an age-appropriate toothbrush and a free admission ticket to HealthWorks! Kids’ Museum St. Louis.

“Approximately 45 percent of students living in Jefferson County live in poverty and, unfortunately, in communities of low-income families, children are not often exposed to education and resources to learn how to make healthy decisions, including eating well and engaging in physical activity,” said Shannon Laine, president and CEO of HealthWorks! Kids’ Museum St. Louis. “That’s why HealthWorks!’ traveling interactive programs, which highlight the importance of health and hygiene, are so crucial. We are thankful to the Jefferson Foundation for providing grant funding that will allow us to reach more than 3,000 low-income children and give them the necessary tools and information to improve their overall health and lower their risk factors for obesity, diabetes and nutritional deficiencies.”

HealthWorks! Kids’ Museum St. Louis is located at 1100 Macklind Ave., St. Louis, MO, 63110. To learn more, call 314-241-7391, visit www.hwstl.org, like the museum on Facebook or follow them on Instagram @healthworkskidsstl.