Danny sprawls in his chair, his left foot sticking out into the aisle.As Johnny makes his way to the chalkboard, he trips over the size 6 Puma®-clad obstacle and falls headlong into Molly, propelling her into the lockers at the front of the room.
As he picks himself off the floor, Johnny becomes painfully aware of the small abrasion in his right palm. In the meantime, Molly touches the spot on her cheek where it made contact with one of the lockers and discovers a small drop of blood on her fingertips.
Ah, such are the unintended “battle scars” of the ordinary grade-school classroom. Not to mention the lunchtime and recess casualties.
Unfortunately, Johnny’s wound is not serious enough to curtail his ability to finish written assignments; and thankfully, Molly’s injury will definitely not leave a scar. Nevertheless, like all wounds, life-threatening or insignificant, they need immediate attention to prevent infection and speed healing.
Now while this drama is unfolding, Miss Schoolmarm is engaged in helping Sarah understand the critical functions in an equation and looks up to find she has a minor crisis of her own to contend with.
The instruction comes to a screeching halt as the beleaguered teacher takes the “walking wounded” to the school nurse.
The learning rhythm has been disrupted, the remaining students are left to their own devices, and a chunk of class time is spent in the nurse’s office.
But the teacher really has no choice. The scrapes certainly don’t warrant a 911 call; but on the other hand, she can’t just leave them to the mercies of the bacteria lurking everywhere. Is there any other solution to this dilemma?
An alternative answer
Well, as a matter of fact, there is. . .now.The family committee of Stephens County’s Oklahoma home and community education (OHCE) organization recently provided a first-aid kit for each of the more than 200 elementary classrooms in the county.
Each class is now equipped with a forest green nylon canvas tote bag emblazoned with the OHCE seal in bright gold. Inside is a supply of antiseptic wipes, a box of adhesive bandages, a plastic bag filled with latex gloves, and a laminated card with illustrated instructions on the care of minor wounds.
The cards have three photos demonstrating the disinfecting process, the bandaging phase, and the disposal of materials. Simple instructions accompany each picture.
The purpose of the kits is threefold: to encourage students to learn to clean and bandage their own wounds, or those of their classmates, by making the supplies and how-to’s easily accessible; to preserve the teacher’s instructional time; and to furnish classroom necessities that many teachers have heretofore been paying for out of their own pockets.
The county OHCE is also furnishing large bottles of Germ-X® to classrooms needing them; and teachers are asked to contact Vicki Zimmerman, chairman of the county’s family committee, at (580) 678-6274 to request one.
Challenges
Vicki has been spearheading the project from its inception. A member of the Sunshine OHCE group, she dropped by the Review office last week on her way to Marlow Elementary to deliver the school’s kits and discussed the details involved in pulling the project together.Although Stephens County has an unbelievable 200-plus grade-school classrooms, “actually, the number seems a lot bigger when you start getting prices for the Band-Aids®, antiseptic wipes and latex gloves,” she observed, speaking from experience.
Implementation of the project has required extensive planning, organizing, decision-making and just plain ol’ runnin’.
The county executive board, as well as the president of each of the county’s five local HCE groups, authorized Vicki to purchase the supplies and bags for the project.
In order to determine the scope of the need, she first had to know just how many grade-school classrooms there were. So she contacted the Duncan superintendent’s office regarding that community’s classrooms, then each of the other elementary schools in the county to obtain their numbers.
The next step was a cost-effective study. Through what source could the committee purchase the necessary items most inexpensively? After checking with various businesses, Vicki found that R&S Drug Store #1 in Duncan offered the best deal, she said.
The canvas bags were purchased through, and imprinted by, the Power Shop.
After all of the materials were acquired, members of the county’s OHCE groups met at the fairgrounds’ Expo Center to fill the bags; and each group was assigned to deliver them to the schools in its area.
This has now been accomplished, and Vicki reported on Friday that MES principal Kim Kizarr had been delighted to receive the kits for the school.
But the project isn’t completed. In January, the family committee will assess each classroom’s replacement needs and supply whatever’s necessary.
“This project affects a little over 5,000 students and teachers in Stephens County,” Vicki noted.
Funding for the first-aid program has been provided entirely by the county OHCE organization.
However, Vicki has applied for a grant through Cotton Electric; and if the application is approved, monies received will go toward replenishing the first-aid supplies in January, she said.
So even though the parade of injuries will likely continue at Marlow Elementary, as well as at other area grade schools, the classrooms are now equipped for the inevitable.