During the months of March and April, What’s In a Doctor’s Bag was presented to 63 students at Jessamine County Head Start. Head Start is a preschool in Jessamine County serving 3 and 4 year olds from low income households. The purpose of this program was to make students more aware of what to expect when going to the doctor, to therefore decrease the student’s fear of going to the doctor while also emphasizing the importance of doctor visits. Before the lessons began, students were asked what a doctor does when they go see him/her. Over 50% of the students answered, “Give me shots!” This was a goal of the program; to explain to students why they do, indeed, may have to get a shot. In addition to explaining shots, the program made students more aware of what to expect when going to the doctor and things they may see at the doctor’s office. Topics included during the five lessons were doctor instruments and their uses, germs and how to prevent them, and shots and why they are sometimes necessary. By the last lesson, every student could name at least one of the instruments in the doctor’s bag and its uses. The lessons were taught through a variety of teaching mediums such as story books, songs, germ models, plush instrument toys, and real medical instruments.

To celebrate the conclusion of this program, a White Coat Ceremony was held for the students and their family members. We had over 125 people in attendance. I wanted the program to resemble an actual white coat ceremony and this was accomplished by having a University of Louisville medical student come and give each student their own white coat just like doctors. Each student walked onto a platform in front of the crowd and the medical student put their white coats on them. The white coats would not have been able to purchase without the help of a FCS mini grant. Seeing the faces of the children while receiving their own white coats made it worth all the effort and planning for the program. The students were so excited, as well as the family members! After the ceremony, the rave about the program continued. One parent reached out to me saying the white coat ceremony was all her daughter could talk about! Another parent emailed saying her son has been going around “fixing peoples heart.” People are already asking if we will be having the program again next year. The community was brought together through this program while also teaching our Head Start students about visiting the doctor.