This page contains the material submitted to the local paper - The Davis Enterprise - for Explorit Science Center's news column published in that paper on Fridays.

Explorit Science Center's new interactive exhibit designed to teach elementary school age children and their families about critical health and safety issues recently got a healthy jumpstart, thanks to a $25,000 grant from Kaiser Permanente.

The mobile Health in Your World program will include interactive learning stations that will be piloted this fall at underserved schools in Yolo and Sacramento counties. The exhibit is eventually expected to serve 12,000 people in underserved communities each year.

According to Explorit executive director Suzanne Ullensvang, the Health in Your World program was created to meet the need for preventive health education at the elementary school level. According to a recent community needs assessment, 48 percent of schools in the Sacramento region do not directly address health education at the elementary level. "Our program will address this and other health concerns, thanks to the partnership with Kaiser Permanente and the financial support from others," Ullensvang said.

The traveling Health in Your World exhibit will include a variety of learning stations that teach participants about the science of the human body and ways to keep it healthy. Kaiser Permanente physicians and other health care professionals will be available during the exhibit presentations to answer questions and help families enroll in subsidized health insurance programs.

"Kaiser Permanente is proud to support Explorit's new Health in Your World project," says Rick Baker, MD, a pediatrician at Kaiser Permanente's Davis Medical Offices and a physician advisor to the project. "It's consistent with our own mission to improve the health of our communities through health education and prevention. The exhibit is going to be a great vehicle for families to learn about health together and have fun at the same time," Baker added.

Other sponsors to date include the J.M. Long Foundation, Wells Fargo Foundation, T.J. Long Foundation, Rumsey Community Fund, Teichert Foundation, UC Davis Trauma & Prevention Services, and the Louise Hess Foundation of the Sacramento Regional Foundation.

To encourage family participation, most Health in Your World events will be held on school campuses after the school day ends. Explorit is also partnering with the Yolo County Housing Authority and other collaborators to pilot the multilingual health education program at other rural and urban community centers throughout the Greater Sacramento area.

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