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Show Health Fair reaches kids at an early age Ashley Elementary School held their fourth annual health fair Wednesday. The fair involved all students in the school and was held to promote good health and safety. The event is sponsored each year by the PTA. This year Gayle Kindt was instrumental in organizing and executing ex-ecuting the fair. Louise Darlington, who directed the day's activities, said the fair is meant to provide positive reinforcement to the students prior to summer vacation. Experts in various fields from the community provided expertise in areas of drug and alcohol use and abuse, nutrition, mental health related problems, and first aid. Carolyn Henry, a social worker with the Division Divi-sion of Social Services, Lee England and Fern Reynolds, from the Uintah Country Sheriff's Department, Cricket Brown from the Uintah County Health Department, and emergency medical technicians Jan Bentley, Gary Fontaine, Fon-taine, Lynn Atwood, and Becky Jackson all participated in the fair. Mrs. Darlington said this year's fair is smaller than in past years. An attempt at-tempt is being made to deal with less material, and go into more depth. Uintah County Sheriff Deputies England and Reynolds showed a film strip dealing with alcohol abuse and the use of marijuana. They also brought a display that showed various drugs, and paraphernalia to use them . All of the drugs and paraphernalia have actually been confiscated by the sheriff and his deputies. Mrs. Reynolds said people would probably be surprised how many items are actually ac-tually picked up by law enforcement officers. Mrs. Henry showed a film dealing with child and spouse abuse. The film told the students where they can go for help should they ever find themselves in this position Mrs. Brown brought a puppet to help her demonstrate good health, and a treat was prepared to show the students somethings don't need to be all sugar to be good. The EMT's showed the students how to act in case of emergencies, and how to go about getting help in a hurry. Mrs. Darlington said they especial- ly like to deal with drugs and alcohol abuse with the younger children. She said at that age most of these students haven't yet been exposed to drugs and alcohol, and they feel exposure from a positive viewpoint is important before children get old enough that their first exposure is when peers are using these substances, and they are pressured to participate. A poster contest was held in conjunction conjunc-tion with the fair. The students could draw anything they wanted to dealing with good health and safety. Prizes were given to the three posters in each grade, judged the best. Mrs. Darlington said parents and teachers are pleased with the fair. She said teachers question students about what they learned after the fair is over and the response has been positive. The fair has been a success each year, and the PTA plans to continue it in years to come. |