Special to the Register
Gainesville Daily Register
Muenster —
The North Central Texas College Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) program hosted a safety fair for elementary students at Sacred Heart Catholic School in Muenster Wednesday morning.
A total of 34 first-semester ADN students from NCTC joined members of the Muenster and Cooke County community to set up several stations where Sacred Heart students learned about farm equipment safety, fire safety, dog safety, stranger danger, when to call 911, poison control, internet safety, electric and power line safety, bike safety and street safety.
Joining the NCTC nursing students were volunteers with the Muenster Police Department, Muenster Volunteer Fire Department, Cooke County Electric Coop, Natural Resource Conservation Service, Nortex Communications and the Fort Worth Police Department. Eddie Hazzard and Bella Rose also provided a therapy dog that was used in a demonstration of dog safety.
The ADN program hosted a health fair at St. Mary’s School in Gainesville last spring, but decided to focus on personal safety for their program this fall.
“Safety is a health promotion,” ADN instructor Nicole Goodman said. “It is important that we keep our healthy kids healthy by teaching them how to stay safe in order to prevent injury.”
Sacred Heart students went from station to station to watch demonstrations and participate in games meant to teach various safety techniques.
While the younger students were learning, the NCTC students also seemed to enjoy the experience.
“One of the most rewarding parts of being an instructor is being able to see your students positively affect the community,” Goodman said. “This project is fun for my students because they are able to look further than a textbook. The students take the knowledge gained in their courses and implement amazing health promotion that positively impacts children.”
Despite the cool temperatures, the Sacred Heart students also had a good time.
“The children at Sacred Heart seemed to really enjoy having the nursing students, along with the community volunteers at their school,” Goodman said. “The students were so excited and I even heard one say ‘I learned so much.’”
For more information about the associate degree nursing program at NCTC, contact program coordinator Sharon Forney at (940) 668-7731, ext. 4388.
