Overview
When it comes to hospitals and our incredible New Brunswick Health Care System, most young learners are familiar with nurses and doctors. With hands-on activities, learners will discover other allied health helpers that play an important role in keeping us healthy!
NB Curricular Connections
English Language Arts:
- Strand: Interactions – Big Idea: Expression – Skill Descriptor: Express feelings and opinions and give simple descriptions of experiences.
- Strand: Reading – Big Idea: Reading Comprehension – Skill Descriptor: Construct meaning from oral stories, read-alouds, and text.
Explore Your World:
- Strand: Playfulness – Big Idea: Imagination and Creativity – Skill Descriptor: Examine new possibilities
- Strand: Well-Being – Big Idea: Physical Health and Active Participation – Skill Descriptors: Contribute to a safe and caring environment.
What You’ll Need
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Instructions
Read Aloud – Helping Hospital: A Community Helpers Book: Before reading, discuss: “Other than our amazing nurses and doctors, who else works at a hospital? Have you met some of them before?” Allow learners to share their experiences and their knowledge. Then, read through the book. While there is a story, this book also has many captions and a Search & Find at the back. Feel free to read this book as you see fit (chunks, 1-2 pages per day, etc.). Be sure to place in your classroom library so that learners can see all that is inside!
Walk, Talk, and Act: Place the 8 printable Profession Posters around your room that are provided. Go on a hospital “tour”. At each poster, follow the instructions and scenarios provided below:
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- Respiratory Therapist – Put our hand in front of our mouths and feel our breath. Now, do 10 jumping jacks. Put our hand in front of our mouths and feel our breath NOW. Is there a difference? That is our lungs working overtime, along with our heart. People with asthma or other breathing conditions may find breathing heavy difficult. Anything to do with breathing, a respiratory therapist will help with!
- Paramedic – Have learners sit down and pretend to be in a large vehicle as you pretend to drive down the street. Instruct learners to put their seat belts on. Drive slowly around a sharp turn (have students lean to one side), and then slowly turn around another sharp turn (have students lean to the other side) and then – out of nowhere – a turkey! Put on the brakes and try to swerve around the turkey safely….but oh, no, we hit some gravel and it turned our wheel a bit…. We have went off of the road into a small ditch and came to a stop. The turkey is OK, we are OK, but our car has a dent and we are stuck. In an emergency, we need to call 9-1-1. Guess who will come right away? A paramedic. They will make sure that everyone is healthy and not hurt. They are always the first to arrive to an emergency.
- Physical Therapist – Think baseball! It’s the World Series – Bottom 9th, 2 out and bases loaded. We are in a 2-2 tie game. If you get a hit, your team will win it all! Step up to the plate with your bat…first pitch coming in – foul! Second pitch coming in (get ready!) – you hit it and it’s going, going, going, gone!! HOMERUN! Now, run around the bases (on the spot) and as you get to home plate, you feel something not right in your right leg – you’ve pulled a hamstring muscle. You still won but now a physical therapist will help you with exercises to help restore the strength of that muscle, so you can hit more homeruns!
- Red Seal Chef – First, let’s wash our hands (pretend). Dig out your bowl and mixing spoon. We are preparing some mashed potatoes for 20 people. We have some hot potatoes in our bowl, now mash those down. Pour some of these potatoes into 8 dishes. Now, let’s add a bit of cream to these potatoes. Pour some of these potatoes into 5 dishes. Now, let’s add a bit of pepper and stir. Pour some of these potatoes into 4 dishes. Now, let’s add a bit of salt and stir. Pour some of these potatoes into 3 remaining dishes. WHEW! Red Seal Chefs that work in hospitals have make customized meals for all people there. They try to make healthy dishes to help patients get well, but they also have to be good at making many different varieties, as so many people may have specialized diets to get well.
- Medical Laboratory Technologist – Put on your lab coat, gloves, and goggles! We have a sample tube and we are about to put it under the microscope to see what it tells us. What do you see? AHA! Low Iron. We’re going to write this down and give it to the doctor who will tell their patient that they need more iron in their diet and they will start feeling better. Lots of spinach! This is what a medical laboratory technologist will do in their labs.
- Medical Sonography Technologist – Run on the spot for 30 seconds. Oh, dear! I think I have a really, sharp pain on my left, lower side. You, too? It’s not going away….once we speak with a doctor, they may send us to a medical sonography technologist who is going to put some cold, clear goop onto our spot to get a clear look at what’s going on inside. They use sound waves to look inside of us. For this example, they may take a look at our appendix – to help a doctor decide if there’s an infection or a surgery is needed.
- Audiologist – I’m going to “super-soft” whisper some words and you use your ears to try to see if you can guess them. (Examples: watermelon, crocodile, basketball, purple, etc.). We had to focus our eyes and ears to see if we could hear those really soft words. Anytime we have trouble with our hearing, an audiologist would be there to help us. They can help us with hearing, troubles with our ears, and even our body’s balance (that’s connected to our inner ears!).
- Dietitian – Almost snack time! Sit right down and place a napkin on your lap (pretend). Let’s eat – first, let’s start with a nice piece of chocolate cake. Mmmm…now, we have nacho chips and cheese sauce. Mmm…dig into your own hot fudge sundae with extra whipped cream and hot fudge. Oh…is your tummy hurting a little, too? I think we may have eaten too much and maybe too much of “sometimes” foods. A dietitian is someone who can help us feel well and healthy by helping us eat the right foods at the right times.
Discussion: Ask: Which Allied Health helper have you not heard of until today? Have you visited one of these helpers before? How does knowing more about Allied Health Helpers help me? How can I help others with this knowledge, too? How does this help me to create a safe and caring environment for everyone?
Allied Health Helper Riddles: Using the riddles below, have learners move to the poster with the matching Allied Health Helper answer.
- Linda loves to skateboard. Unfortunately, when she was doing a 360 L-Yoop, she broke her ankle. Her ankle is better now, but she is having trouble using it like she did. What Allied Health Helper can help her get back on her skateboard and doing tricks? [Answer: Physical Therapist]
- George has not been feeling well and his doctor thinks he may have an infection, so he has sent him for a blood test. George’s blood is sent on to this Allied Health Helper who can do tests to see if they can uncover whey George has not been feeling healthy. Who is going to help George? [Answer: Medical Laboratory Technologist]
- Pete loves soccer! He has noticed lately, however, that the more and harder he runs in practice, he seems to be having a harder time to breathe. Which Allied Health Helper can help Pete with his breath so he can play the game that he loves? [Answer: Respiratory Therapist]
- Vera loves going for walks and hikes in the beautiful NB woods. Vera, however, has had to pause doing those because she often feels dizzy and she has to sit down. Which Allied Health Helper would be able to help Vera so she can get back on those hiking trails? [Answer: Audiologist]
I’m An Allied Health Helper printable: Have learners choose one of the Allied Health Helpers that we have read about, discussed, and learned about today that they would like to pretend to be! Using the printable provided, have learners draw themselves, along with gear that they need to be their chosen Allied Health Helper. Have learners cut them out and using the attached hospital printable, create a display honoring our Allied Health Helpers this month, by showcasing learner’s work on a bulletin board.
Extension Ideas:
- Set up Explore Your World stations around Allied Health Helpers: pretend lab station, audiologist (hearing and sound experiments), paramedics (medical toys) with stuffed animals, Red Seal Chef (kitchen toys with hospital order cards), etc.
- Invite local Allied Health Helpers to speak to you and your learners about their day-to-day experiences.
- Honor our Allied Health Helpers by writing letters or sending cards of thanks for all that they do to keep our communities healthy.
Reflection Activity
Please see the attached PDF for several choices on how you and your learners can reflect upon today’s activity.
