Allied Health

Allied Health is an All Ages Award from the Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia Council.

Brownies: Complete 4 activities including 1 “Take Action” activity.
Juniors: Complete 6 activities including 1 “Take Action” activity.
Cadettes, Seniors, and Ambassadors: Complete 8 activities including 2 “Take Action” activities.

# Discover

1. 1. 1. **Research Allied Health Programs** - Research the various types of allied health programs offered in the United States, the types of degrees offered, and the entrance requirements. After finding this information, decide what school you would attend and what classes and/or other requirements you would need to get accepted into the school.

2. **Explore Allied Healthcare Salary Ranges** – Visit the American Medical Association website: http://www.ama-assn.org/ and identify at least five settings where allied healthcare workers are employed; document their starting salary and their upper range.
3. **Learn How a Body System Works** – As an individual or a group, select a body system and understand how that body system works. Use a nurse, health educator or other health care provider to help in gaining that understanding.
4. **Learn about Equipment and Supplies Used by Allied Health Professionals** – Allied healthcare workers use lots of different equipment and supplies in caring for patients. Ask an Allied Healthcare worker tell you about this equipment, how it works, and when it’s used. For some equipment – such as pulse oximeters, dopplers, stethoscopes, thermometers, glucose monitors, radiology equipment, lab equipment, students may also have an opportunity to practice with the equipment.
5. **Research Allied Health Scholarships and Grants** - Investigate scholarships available for students interested in attending the allied healthcare field. What are the requirements? Who's eligible? Are there more scholarships offered for specialized areas of study? Do scholarships differ depending on the type of degree you are seeking or the type of school you attend? Document your findings.
6. **Proper hand-washing technique** - Visit the website: www.microbe.org and learn the importance of proper hand-washing in general and in the healthcare setting. Design an activity to teach younger students how to properly wash their hands (i.e. have the students rub glitter on their hands and then wash them to see how well they can get the glitter off their hands). Have older students design a research project that could be performed to measure the impact of hand washing behavior change.
# Connect

1. 1. 1. **Investigate Teen Drug Abuse** - Design a storyboard or story about the effects of drugs on the body and share it with others.

2. **Interview an Allied Healthcare Worker** - Interview allied healthcare worker or Instructor. Ask for a tour of the facility. Ask what influenced the worker or instructor to enter their chosen field. Document your observations.
3. **Visit a Health Club or Recreation Center** - Visit a YMCA, Boys & Girls Club or Health Club. Speak to a personal trainer. Ask how exercise contributes to health. Investigate various sports and sports medicine. Speak to the Athletic Trainer and ask them to determine your amount of body fat. Teach a friend or family member how to perform exercises you have learned or develop an exercise program for yourself and document what you did each day in a diary and how you felt after doing the exercise.
4. **Do Research on a recent Healthcare related news release** – Have the students break up into groups to conduct research on a recent healthcare related new release, focusing on what allied health professions were involved. How has this new discovery or research impacted your view of the health care delivery system?
5. **Earn your CPR certification** - CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation). Visit the American Heart Association website at: www.americanheart.org to find a Basic Life Support Heartsaver Course or the American Red Cross near you. This is an entry-level course that offers guidelines for one-rescuer adult, child, and infant cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
6. **Earn First Aid certification** - This course is usually offered through the American Red Cross. Visit the Red Cross website at: http://www.redcross.org/where/chapts.html to find your local Red Cross.
7. **Attend Babysitting "How To" Workshop** - The Babysitter's Training course provides youths ages 11-17, with the information and skills necessary to provide safe and responsible care for children in the absence of parents or guardians. This course is usually offered through your local Red Cross.
8. **Shadow a Allied Health Professional** - Contact your local hospital, doctor's office, health clinic, pharmacy, chiropractic office, or lab, and ask if you can shadow them for a day or half day - whatever their schedule allows. Document all the activities you observe. Answer the following questions:
1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. What roles does the allied healthcare worker perform?

2. How does the allied health worker incorporate science and math into his or her roles?
3. What kind of leadership, organizational, or decision-making skills does the allied healthcare worker use in her/his position?
4. Would you want to work as an allied healthcare worker? Why or Why not?
# Take Action

1. 1. 1. **Participate in a Community Health Project** - (Cancer Walk, Blood Drives, Diabetes, Heart, Breast Cancer Walks, Screening, etc.). Find ways to participate, other than raising money. Help with registration, offer water, provide sun protection, etc. Write a brief statement of how the Health Project helped the community as well as what you learned about the illness/condition and how it impacts those who are coping with the disease.

2. **Volunteer four (4) hours in a health care facility** - Volunteer your time in a doctor's office, health clinic, hospital, retirement or nursing center. Document your observations.
3. **Do a project for a health care facility** – Contact a doctor’s office, health clinic, hospital, retirement or nursing center to find out what project might be done to meet a need in that organization. Examples might be collecting magazines for offices or residents, donating and taping books for use by the elderly or pediatric patients, collecting toys for donation to a pediatric unit, designing a “boredom” box with activities for patients who are hospitalized, decorating a nursing home unit for a holiday event, planning a special event for the residents of a nursing home, etc.
4. **Create Information on Health Promotion or Safety** - Design a poster, storyboard or videotape depicting the importance of a healthy lifestyle and/or healthy behaviors. These could include a poster of the basic food groups and the recommended serving for each group, importance of not smoking, correct posture, weight control, immunizations, seat-belt use, or helmet-use and share it with your community. Or, conduct an activity at a school or in the community that emphasizes health promotion or safety, such as a bike ride.
5. **Create Information on an Illness or Condition** – Put together a short information guide on a particular disease, condition, or illness, such as asthma, diabetes, cancer, depression that could be shared with a patient or family. The emphasis should be on where to find additional information about the disease, condition or illness and what resources exist in the community to help persons and families with the disease, illness or condition learn more or get support.

# External Links

Council's Own Badges
Allied Health