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STAY SAFE AT SCHOOL

Ambulance Paramedics of BC offer health tips for back-to-school

Aug 31, 2020 | 5:08 PM

KAMLOOPS — As students prepare to go back to school, the Ambulance Paramedics of BC want to remind parents of the importance of teaching kids good hygiene before class starts.

Every year, the paramedics union reminds us of the importance of staying safe on the roads when kids head back to school in September. This year, with the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ambulance Paramedics want to remind families about the importance of proper pandemic protocols, to help slow the spread of the virus.

“The younger kids are always monkey-see, monkey-do. If they see their parents doing something, they’re going to follow suit,” Ambulance Paramedics of BC member Tony Parkin explains. “It’s really an education for the parents to do, to make sure that the kids going back to school have good hand hygiene, be socially distant, and wear their masks properly.”

APBC also provided some strategies for parents and teachers to make sure kids are ready for the new school year and all the rules surrounding COVID-19. Some of those strategies include singing Happy Birth twice while washing hands, or letting kids pick out their own, personalized masks. Then there’s the idea of using visual aids to help children understand how bacteria and viruses are spread.

“A good exercise at home could be getting some glitter and rubbing it on [your child’s] hands, and letting them go about their business,” Parkin says. “Then see where that glitter goes. It’s going to stick to everything they touch, lust like glitter and just like germs. That’ll give a good visual of what to look for, and you can clean the toys together, after.”

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