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Health Promotion Project

Promoting Fire Safety for School Aged Children and Families

Fall 2013
Prepared for: Ms. Teresa Maharaj Dr. Karen Pancheri Dr. Nina Fredland Prepared by: Iris Bautista Tram Anh Dao Christiane Lam Tina Nguyen Jacob Qurashi Ashley Rasmus Anh Vu Szu-Ling Yang 29 November 2013

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Health Promotion Project

Promoting Fire Safety for School Aged Children and Families

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Project Rationale
October is Fire Safety Awareness Month. All over the nation, people are encouraged to be cognisant of the causes of and simple ways to prevent res from occurring. However, at Woodland Hills Elementary School in Kingwood, Texas re safety was not addressed during this national campaign. Recognising the need for children and families to learn re prevention strategies, the school nurse and the student nurse assigned to her, Ms. Tina Nguyen, decided to include re safety and prevention in the annual health fair repertoire.

Goals
Recognising household res as preventable cause of over three thousand deaths and approximately twenty thousand injuries each year, the students of Texas Womans University aim to educate both children and parents in the Woodland Hills community about being re safe, preventing res, and what to do in case of an emergency. These goals are in connection with the goals of Healthy People 2020. Goal IVP-28 intends to reduce residential re deaths, a goal which in accomplished in part through primary prevention strategies such as education. Therefore the overarching goal of this health promotion project is to prevent household res and promote re safety throughout the population of Woodland Hills including children attending the school and the families with which they reside.

Objectives
Upon visiting the TWU Fire Safety and Prevention booth at the Woodland Hills Health Fair, the following age appropriate objectives should be met:

Children Aged 3-6: State what to do in case of re in the home? On their person? Children Aged 7-10: State how to remain safe around the kitchen? List three places where res can start? Describe what should be done with matches and lighters.

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Children Aged 11-17: Discuss how to remain safe during the upcoming New Years Holiday. Demonstrate how to use a re extinguisher. Discuss how to plan a re escape plan with younger siblings and parents. Describe kitchen safety measures and power outlet safety. Adults: Discuss the importance of formulating a re escape plan with family. List three important features of escape plan including where to go, how to escape second story buildings, and pets and elderly considerations.

Intervention
Implementation of the Fire Safety and Prevention Health Promotion Project occurred on the 14th of November 2013 at Woodland Hills Elementary School 2222 Tree Lane Houston, Texas 77339 from 1530 to 1900. In order to capture the attention and address the different learning needs of the developmentally diverse population attending the fair, a variety of teaching methods were incorporated by the student nurses including visual aides, pamphlets, posters, props, and activity books. To provide the elementary students a more realistic exploration of potentially dangerous household items, student nurses encourage students to examine an overloaded outlet, pots, and matches. A tri-fold poster with visually stimulating graphics served as a major attraction for the young children. In connection with the objectives for each age group, the student nurses instructed visitors to read the information provided and taught key concepts in re prevention. Information such as the mnemonics PASS and RACE, re evacuation plans, and rework safety were discussed with older children, while younger children recalled the importance of not playing in the kitchen while adults cook and how to stop drop and roll.

Evaluation
After receiving instruction, participants were either quizzed or asked to return demonstrate what they had learned. If a student of Woodland Hills Elementary correctly answered questions they were rewarded according to the schools system (Starbucks), with candy, stickers or all of the above. Older students and adults also received candy upon correctly answering questions. When questions were incorrectly answered, student nurses provided remediation and retested the participants. All participants left with additional resources to promote re safety and prevention. Children received colouring books obtained from the local re department and teenagers and adults were provided with pamphlets and a list of online resources. All participants were encouraged to share what they had learned with other family members and friends over the upcoming holiday as teaching another is proven to be the most effective way retaining information learned. Additional evaluation will occur overtime as local incidents of household res are compared to previous years.

Resources
Student nurses used materials from the local re department, Healthy People 2020, the United States Fire Administration, the American Red Cross, the Centres for Disease Control, and the Woodland Hills Elementary school nurse. The pamphlet prepared by the student nurses is enclosed.

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