Germ City
Evangelical is pleased to offer Germ City: The Clean Hands, Healthy People program. This educational, outreach, and research program is available to travel to your school, organization, or event.
Germ City is a fun, interactive way to teach children and adults about the importance of hand washing. It also provides information on safe food-handling practices for older Americans who prepare food in their homes.
About Germ City
The Germ City program uses science-based education and an entertaining technique to help participants learn more about the serious but invisible problem of germs. Germ City’s creative, hands-on experience lets participants see the effects of improper hand washing in a new light.
Audiences:
- children
- parents
- teachers
- older individuals
- others at risk for poor hand washing behavior or unsafe food handling practices
Program Objectives
The program is designed for a broad audience and seeks to:
- change people’s attitudes about hand washing
- increase their personal motivation for hand washing
- help them change their behavior about how often, and how well, they wash their hands
- generate data to support future study of hand washing and the effectiveness of hand-washing education programs
Program Overview
The Germ City program includes:
- classroom education for children and youth
- activities for fairs, festivals, and community events
- research regarding changes in hand washing behavior as it relates to health and safe food handling
The highlight of the Germ City program is a large, walk-through tunnel equipped with black lights.
Participants:
- apply a black-light-sensitive lotion to their hands
- enter the tunnel and observe pretend germs on their hands
- wash their hands
- re-enter the tunnel to see how many “germs” remain on their hands
- assess their effectiveness at hand washing
If you would like Evangelical’s Germ City to visit your school, organization, or event, please call our Community Health Education department at 570-768-3200 or complete this web form.