Adopt-A-School Program
The Adopt-A-School Program places physician volunteers in local elementary, middle, and high schools to augment preventative health education to staff and students. With volunteers active in schools throughout the Sacramento region, Adopt-A-School provides children with a better chance to make informed positive choices that affect their well-being. Volunteers make presentations on such topics as nutrition, exercise, hygiene, anatomy, and the dangers of smoking, drugs and alcohol. Presentations are typically on a monthly basis and concentrate on one or two different classrooms within one school. While children learn about the responsibilities for their own health, relationships are created with health professionals that provide students with positive role models. Since the program was started in 1989, Adopt-A-School volunteers see an average of 7,000 students a year.
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In a 1999 survey of participating schools, we found that presentations by a physician volunteer instill wonder and interest in children about the human body. Teachers, school nurses and students have conveyed their gratitude to our volunteers, noting that with a health professional in theclassroom students spend more time learning about health and science. Some students have even acquired information that was useful for family members.
In addition to having an accessible educational health resource, many of the students developed a relationship with the volunteer. This is a novel and important experience to children who would not normally have the opportunity to meet a physician outside of an exam room. One student commented that " the biggest surprise to me was that I never thought that someone would spend so much time with us."
Physician volunteers also have many positive comments about their experience. Volunteers find that the program is meaningful because they are helping children. One volunteer felt that the satisfaction in the classroom setting was immediate - "you feel the energy, gratitude and sense of accomplishment when you use creative techniques to impart knowledge of how to protect and promote good health."