CALS at Special Olympics
In Boise at the Special Olympics World Winter Games during February 2009, Canyon County’s UI Extension educator Joey Peutz opened the black-tented “Germ City” exhibit to athletes representing 100 nations. An engaging component of the Healthy Athletes Health Promotion event—teaching about nutrition, hydration, sun safety, tobacco cessation, bone health—it also showed the importance of hand-washing in reducing disease transmission. Peutz and assistants applied lotion to the hands of their intrigued visitors, few of whom spoke English. Hands glowed under ultraviolet tent lights. After the recommended 15- to 20-second hand-washing session, athletes returned to see if they had removed the “pretend” germs. Results: brilliant smiles, raised thumbs, pumping fists. “They’re inspirational,” says Peutz. “They’ve been competing all day. They teach us that attitude is everything.”
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