October 26, 2006

WESTMONT-HILLTOP ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN JOHNSTOWN LEARN ABOUT THE DANGER OF DRUG ABUSE AND TOBACCO

On Thursday, October 26, the Weller Health Education Center presented dynamic educational drug abuse & tobacco and general health programs to 460 students in grades one through four at Westmont-Hilltop Elementary School in Johnstown, PA.

A master's level health educator from the center, with special assistance from puppets Smokin' Joe, In and Ex-Hale--the Lung Sisters, Harry the Heart and Flossie the Tooth helped the younger students learn and understand the effects of tobacco on the heart, lungs and teeth.

Additionally students examined the dangers of tobacco use to the smoker and those around him--with high-impact images and activities that reinforced the consequences of tobacco use. Others learned how our body systems are affected by drugs and critical decision-making skills.

About the Weller Health Education Center
The mission of the Weller Health Education Center is to measurably improve children's lives by giving students the tools they need to make informed and healthy life choices. The region's primary preventive health education resource for schools and organizations, the Weller Center provides engaging, interactive curricula-based health science programs and assemblies for students across Pennsylvania and New Jersey. To accomplish this, each year the Center partners with more than 500 schools and over 80,000 students to supplement and enhance the teaching of health, character education and life science for students grades K through 12. The Center was the first not-for-profit health promotion, disease prevention education facility of its kind in Pennsylvania. Serving more than 1.3 million children since our inception in 1982, the Weller Center remains the only such center in our 39-county service area throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey and one of just 34 health education centers across the nation.