THE GERMINATORS!

1. Lassen County Public Health & Diamond View School THE GERMINATORS!

2. THE GERMINATORS The Germinators are a group of students from Diamond View Middle school who worked with the Health Educator from the Lassen County Public Health Department to implement a flu prevention campaign as part of the Lassen County Public Health Pandemic Flu Prevention Program. Their mission was to spread the message of the importance of regular and proper hand washing.

3. The Skit

4. Jeremy Germ comes to attack two girls who sneeze into their hands, pet a kitty and then begin to eat sandwiches without washing their hands!

5. But the super hero Germinators rush in to save the day !

6. They fight Jeremy Germ to the ground using soap and water while singing their hand washing song!

7. And he is Defeated!

8. The Germinators explain to the dirty-handed girls and the audience that everybody can defeat germs with the two powerful weapons Soap and Water!

9. We performed for our middle school as well as the two elementary schools in our Susanville School District. We passed out age appropriate activity books all about hand washing at the schools for the students to work on in class with their teachers. We also performed for our School Board of Trustees! It was such a hit!

10. Halloween Festival We went up to the community’s Halloween festival and handed out information on the importance of hand washing to over 1,000 kids and reminded them to wash before digging into their Halloween candy!

11. Coloring Contest We held a coloring contest where kids had to color a picture of a child washing their hands and then had to write in one of the important times to wash hands. Jeremy Germ presented the winners with a prize of $25 and a children’s book!

12. We made a display in our local US Bank of the coloring contest entries and a poster board with handouts all with the key hand washing messages. This way, we were able to reach out to everybody that came in the bank!

13. The School! We spread the message at Diamond View School by posting bulletin boards and signs reminding kids to wash hands. We also wrote a message on the school marquee and reminded kids to wash over the school intercom daily before lunchtime.

14. Public Service Announcement We recorded this Public Service Announcement that a local radio station agreed to broadcast for us. It features our star characters Jeremy Germ and the Germinators and tells people how to wash hands properly. Everybody that listens to this station heard the important key hand washing messages! (Be sure that you are viewing the Power Point in Slide Show mode so that you can hear our recorded PSA .)

15. Newspaper Article The campaign was such a big hit in the community, the local newspaper published an article about it!

16. We had so much fun!

17. The SNAP Challenge We entered our campaign into the National Healthy Schools, Healthy People, It’s a SNAP” challenge. The “Healthy Schools, Healthy People handwashing program is a joint initiative of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Cleaning Institute. The School Network for Absenteeism Prevention (SNAP) program seeks to improve hand hygiene habits among students to help prevent the spread of infectious disease and reduce related absenteeism. SNAP is a grassroots, education-based effort to improve health by making hand cleaning an integral part of the school day.

18. WE WON! And became National Award Recipients for our campaign!!

19. Our Award! • All expense paid trip for 3 to Washington D.C. to be recognized for our hard work! • A National Award Ceremony held right here in our community on May 5th at the Children’s Fair! • Handwashing products for the school! • A large cash award for the school! • National Recognition for our program!

20. Our Celebration We had our National Awards Ceremony at the Local Children’s Fair! To make it more special we set up an entire activity area dedicated to promote our message of the importance of handwashing! Kids loved it!

21. Jeremy’s Germ Lair We had tent full of germ activities so kids could learn where germs are, the different types of germs and how germs make you sick.

22. Handwashing Pledge Kids came and pledged to wash their hands by putting their handprint on our pledge board!

23. Lots of Activities Kids got to shoot at the bad germs and defeat them with soapy water! They also got to create their own Jeremy Germ balloon characters!

24. Handwashing Steps Maze We had a maze that listed the handwashing steps in order that lead to a sink so kids could wash after learning the proper steps!

25. We also made a storybook about Jeremy Germ and the Germinators. Pictured below is Bethany DuVarney, the author, and R.W. McBride the illustrator.

26. The Awards Ceremony

27. Nancy Bock (speaking) and Martha Chapin came from the American Cleaning Institute in Washington D.C. to host the ceremony. The Center For Disease Control and Prevention unfortunately could not make it but they made a wonderful video honoring us that we played at the ceremony. The Lassen County Superintendent of Schools, the Susanville School District Superintendent and the Diamond View School Principal all came as speakers to honor the project and the award.

28. Bethany DuVarney, Public Health Educator, speaks on behalf of the project and the wonderful Germinators that she worked with.

29. The Germinators Performed their skit at the ceremony and the crowd loved it!

30. Diamond View School was awarded $4,000 to go toward future handwashing efforts!

31. Lassen County Public Health was awarded a beautiful trophy and certificate. Pictured is Bethany DuVarney, Pan Flu Health Educator, and Christi Myers, Pan Flu Program Coordinator.

32. The program was such a success! Lassen County Public Health hopes to continue in the future with our message to kids to be Germinators and defeat flu germs like Jeremy Germ with soap and water!