On March 13, eighth-grade students at Draper Middle School got a hands-on lesson on the long-term impact of smoking, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and genetics on vascular and heart health. The custom curriculum was part of V-Healthy Day, an effort by area health providers to help students recognize and manage vascular risks and encourage the daily habits that can protect a healthy heart decades later.
They also got an insider’s look at a career in health care.
Throughout the V-Healthy Day, students cycled through several stations designed to give them an up-close look at the progression of vascular disease. They engaged in patient diagnosis and assessment, discussed symptoms, treatment and post-care and had a chance to handle medical equipment including some of the stents, wires, and catheters that are used to treat people with Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD).
As a follow-up to V-Healthy Day, students were also given the option to participate in a one-week hypertension and nutrition study where using what they had learned, they could measure the blood pressure and record the calorie intake (and output) of an adult to determine if that adult is at risk for hypertension.
Thank you to the health care professionals who came to Mohon with this innovative and important lesson in preventive health.
- Beulah Puthuparampil- Mehta, DO- Lead educator
- Maria Sheldon, RN
- Krista Dietershagen, RN
- Dean Bryden, PA
- James Black, VIR
- Jerry Sangiacomo- Boston Scientific, Peripheral Vascular
- Mrs. Jackie Grindrod- Patient Volunteer
- Mrs. Deborah Kavanaugh, K-12 Administrator