Who is Mr. Slimy? If your child was in school on November 27th and 28th, they had an opportunity to meet him.
St. Elizabeth Family Medicine Residency Program’s resident physicians, Dr. Rensie DeVera, Dr. Wil-liam Gaetano, and Dr. Vijay Vanumu, went to each classroom at Kernan Elementary School to discuss proper hand washing techniques.
Mr. Slimy, the toy germ, was passed around the classroom for each student to touch. Drs. Gaetano and Vanumu then had each child look at their hands under UV light to see how Mr. Slimy con-taminated their hands.
“Mr. Slimy was covered with Glitterbug powder. When each student touched it, the powder transferred to the child’s hand. The child was then able to see the Glitterbug powder on their hands under the UV light” stated Dr. Gaetano. “This demonstrates how germs travel.” After the students saw how contaminated their hands were, they used hand sanitizer to disinfect their hands.
The students were also taught the proper way to wash their hands, how frequently they should wash their hands and the appropriate duration for effective hand washing.