Head Start Health Fair West Potomac Academy - Bucknell ES

By Mike Meyer
Spotlight
November 21, 2019

Watch News Coverage HERE

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (WDVM)– Excitement was in the air for Bucknell Elementary students, when West Potomac Academy came to interact with them for their Passport To Good Health program.

“Preschoolers come and visit the different departments in order for them to be exposed to what it’s like going to a doctor’s office,” or dentist, said Karen Montiero-Boyd, a teacher at Bucknell Elementary.

The program gives the kids a good experience, so when they go to a real healthcare professional “they recognize certain things that will make them feel comfortable so they won’t have the fear,” Boyd said.

Fifty students from West Potomac Academy came out and participated. According to school officials, this program has lifted the weight off of many parents’ shoulders.

“The parents are excited they’ve actually come back and said you know Ms. Boyd, I had to take them to the doctor and this time they didn’t cry,” said Boyd.

Rachel Rios, a student at West Potomac Academy, said it’s a very great learning experience for not only her but all her classmates.

Rios, a junior, said being at Bucknell is giving her the learning experience she needs to be a Neurosurgeon and she’s learning how to take respirations, pulses, and people’s temperatures.

Comfortable and safe are just a few words teachers describe passport to good health program to be for students.