Covid-19 Education for Elementary Schools

              Magoffin County Extension Service was one of the counties selected by Big Sandy Health Care to receive a grant for $26,000.00, to be used to provide education for parents and children about Covid-19 vaccinations.  When we received the grant, we immediately began to create a plan for ways to educate our elementary students and their parents.  Our county has three elementary schools, serving three different areas:  South Magoffin Elementary, North Magoffin Elementary and Salyersville Grade School.

              We received the grant during the summer of 2022, so we decided that our best opportunity to engage all of the students in the county was to incorporate an educational activity at each of the open houses at the beginning of the school year.  Our superintendent was contacted to confirm that we were allowed to attend these open houses and to provide an educational program for the parents and students.  Large screen televisions were purchased to allow us to use power point presentations to scroll information about the importance of Covid-19 vaccinations for young children to avoid the spread of the disease.  After watching the presentation, each child was given a very nice backpack filled with school supplies to use for the year. The children were allowed to pick out the backpack that they wanted from a huge variety of styles and colors.  The backpacks contained notebooks, pencils, pencil cases, scissors, coloring pencils, pencil sharpeners, hand sanitizer, rulers, etc.

              As a result of this program, over 500 students and their parents were informed about Covid-19 vaccinations, and received the free backpacks.  Magoffin County Extension Service was given an opportunity to be visible in the public and in the schools, and to speak and make contacts with many parents and teachers.  The superintendent of schools sent a letter of thanks to the Extension office, commending us on the amazing gifts given to the students in the schools.  As a result of this program, many parents had an opportunity to learn about some of the programs and services that extension provides, and have since visited the office to get information, publications, and attend programs.