October 24 was World Polio Day, so this week Cherry Creek hosted our own Polio Awareness Day for students. Early Act members spent yesterday's meeting learning about what polio is and how it affects people in the countries where it still exists. They memorized and learned more about four simple facts dealing with polio.
Fact #1: Polio is a disease that cripples people. Polio affects how children's limbs grow. It often deforms them and makes it very difficult to get around. Polio can even paralyze or even kill people who get it. Right: Boys affected by polio (picture from PolioChildren.org Fact #3: Polio mostly affects children under 5 years old. And once they have it, they have it for life. There is no cure for polio. This one really made Cherry Creek students think. It's hard to think about getting a disease that young and dealing with it for the rest of your life. | Fact #2: It only costs 60 cents to vaccinate a child against polio. Rotary International, who we work very closely with in Early Act, has made it their mission to eradicate polio from the world. To do this, they raise money and even volunteer to go to countries where polio still exists and give out the vaccine. When students at Cherry Creek heard that it only takes 60 cents to make sure a child never has to deal with polio, they talked about getting change from their couch cushions and laundry rooms! It doesn't take much. While we aren't officially collecting money for polio, we will pass any donations on to Lowell Rotary members to make sure it gets where it needs to be! Fact #4: Polio is ALMOST GONE from the world. 99% of the way gone, as a matter of fact! Only Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria still see cases of polio, and there have only been 31 cases of polio so far this year. That is way down from 74 cases at this time last year. As you can see, the numbers are shrinking! This can only happen if children get vaccinated, and educating the public about this disease is the first step! That is where our Early Act students come in!! :) |
After learning about polio in yesterday's meeting, Early Act students met with each student in each grade at lunch time to tell them a little bit about polio and encourage them to pass their new knowledge on. Cherry Creek students who could repeat a fact that they had learned got an End Polio Now sticker and had their pinkie colored purple. Why pinkies? And why purple? Volunteers who administer the vaccine to kids where polio still exists paint kids' pinkies purple as they get the vaccine. Turns out the medicine tastes good and children will actually get back in line to get more! The purple pinkies also serve as a reminder to kids about what they have learned and are a great conversation starter with people at home and around the community. Trust me! People ask. :) |
For more information on polio, check out the following resources: World Health Organization (WHO) Polio Now (Interactive Map Showing cases to date) End Polio Now (Rotary International) |
And it turns out I would stink at being an editor for a magazine. The pictures we took were all so cute that I can't imagine them never being seen by anyone else. So check out the slideshow below for pictures that just didn't fit into the blog today. :)