August: National Immunization Awareness Month

Just in time for back-to-school!

Immunizations are one of the easiest ways that we can protect ourselves and our families from deadly diseases. The vaccines that are offered today prevent the deaths of an estimated 42,000 children each year in the United States alone. Yet, some preventable diseases — whooping cough, for example — have been making a comeback because some children are not vaccinated and also because some adults have not gotten vaccination boosters.

With August inspiring the back to school mindset, it is the perfect time to get the vaccination discussion going with these free resources:

• Quick and Easy: printable coloring pages, puzzles, activity booklets and more for children; puzzles, immunization recordkeepers and more for adults.
• Featured Resources: books, information, and organizations to contact
• Book Club: book discussion group ideas
• Community Resources: local vaccination resources
• Fun Stuff: fun, interactive links

Quick and Easy

Coloring Pages:

• Getting a Shot: You Can Do It!coloring page from PBS Kids
• It Might Hurt a Little Bit, But It’s Going to Help a Whole Lot! coloring page from PBS Kids
• Salk Polio Vaccine coloring page
• Prevention Connection coloring page from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control
• Immunization Action Coalition Superhero coloring page
• Immunization Coloring Page from Milvax
• Your Friends at the Zoo Say Immunize By Two! coloring book in English
• Your Friends at the Zoo Say Immunize by Two! coloring book in Spanish

Puzzles and Activities for Children:

• Be Wise – Immunize! activity book – includes “connect the chicken pox”! from the North Dakota Department of Health
• Freddie Fox Gets His Chicken Pox Shots activity book
• Hepatitis B Crossword, Word Search, and Student Worksheet
• Immunization Health Word Scramble from Milvax
• Immunization Health Word Search from Milvax

Puzzles and Activities for Teens and Adults:

• Immunization Information and Word Search from Blue Care Network of Michigan
• Preventable Diseases Crossword Puzzle from Milvax
• Vaccination Crossword Puzzles archive from Milvax

Easy Immunization Recordkeeping and Other Printables for Adults:

• Vaccination Administration Record for Children and Teens from the CDC (updated March 2011)
• Vaccination Administration Record for Adults from Immunization Action Coalition (updated March 2011)
• 2011 Recommended Vaccinations for Children from Birth through Six Years, from the CDC, parent version (updated March 2011)
• When Do Children and Teens Need Vaccinations? from the CDC (updated March 2011)
• When Do Children and Teens Need Vaccinations? from the CDC in in Spanish (updated January 2010)
• What Vaccinations do Adults Need? from the Immunization Action Coalition (updated December 2010)

Featured Resources

Books for Children and Adults

• Immunization Books for Children
• Immunization Books for Parents

Immunization Reference Information Links

• What is the History of Vaccines? from the College Physicians of Philadelphia
• What Diseases Can Be Prevented by Vaccines? from the Immunization Action Coalition
• Where Can I Find Immunization Records? information from the CDC
• What Does Whooping Cough sound like?
• Ask the Experts at the CDC
• Parents Guide to Childhood Immunizations from the CDC
• Plain Talk About Childhood Immunizations from the Washington State Department of Health. Links to both English and Spanish PDFs

Organizations to Contact

• American Academy of Family Physicians: Immunizations
• American Academy of Pediatrics: Immunization
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Vaccines and Immunizations
• Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia: Vaccine Information Center
• Families Fighting Flu
• Food and Drug Administration: Vaccines, Blood & Biologics
• Immunization Action Coalition
• Institute for Vaccine Safety at Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health
• National Network for Immunization Information
• Parents of Kids with Infections Diseases
• Voices for Vaccines

Book Club

Observe National Immunization Awareness Month this August by choosing one of these discussion-provoking books for your summer reading:

Adult Book Club

• Demon in the Freezer by Richard Preston. New York, NY : Headline, © 2002. Is a smallpox super-virus a real threat? Discussion Questions
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks ( audio book edition) by Rebecca Skloot. New York: Crown Publishers, © 2010. The true story of HeLa cells, which were vital to the development of the polio vaccine, and the woman who unknowingly donated these immortal cells to science. BBC documentary about Henrietta Lacks: The Way of All Flesh, HeLa Timeline from Wired, Discussion Questions

Teen Book Club

• Code Orange by Caroline Cooney. New York, NY: Delacorte Press, © 2005. While conducting research for a school paper on smallpox, Mitty finds an envelope containing 100-year-old smallpox scabs. Has he infected New York City?

Community Resources

Find a local agency or other local resources here:

• Association of State and Territories Health Officials. Find your state health agency.
• American Academy of Pediatrics: immunization activities and initiatives by state.
• Flu Clinic Locator
• State and Local Government Resources listings and links provided by Every Child Before Two
• Military Vaccination Clinic Finder
• State Health Departments from the CDC
• Vaccines for Children Program and VFC Coordinators by state

Fun Stuff

Games

• Play Super Duper Antibodies! game from PBS Kids
• Play Illsville: Fight the Disease “an immersive game that takes you through the historical development of a society as it fights disease and tries to develop vaccines to protect the population” from the College of Physicians of Philadelphaia
• Pioneer Breakthroughs: Match the Disease to the Vaccine Creator from the College of Physicians of Philadelphia

Interactive Information

• Get Vaxed an fun, informational website for teens and young adults
• Google Flu Trends local and world flu trends
• History of Vaccines Timelines from the College of Physicians of Philadelphia
• Learn Actively: Herd Immunity, Koch’s Postulates, Understanding Vaccination Risks, How Vaccines Work, History of the Immunization Schedule, Scientific Method, How Vaccines are Made, Types of Vaccines
• What Vaccinations do YOU Need? interactive quiz from the CDC

Interactive Immunization Schedulers

• Personalized Immunization Scheduler from babycenter.com
• Vaccinate Your Baby widget vaccination scheduler for smart phone orPC from Vaccinate Your Baby
• Childhood Immunization Scheduler from the CDC
• Catch-Up Immunization Scheduler for children six years and under from the CDC
• Adolescent Immunization Scheduler from the CDC
• Adult Immunization Scheduler from the CDC

Provided by Health and Wellness Resource Center.

June: Home Safety Month

 From Health and Wellness Resource Center.

June is National Home Safety Month. According to Safe Kids USA, although unintentional injury deaths of children have significantly decreased in the United States since the late 1980s, thousands of children still die every year from accidents including, but not limited to, falls, fires and burns, bicycle accidents, car accidents and drownings. In fact accidents are the most common cause of deaths in children ages 1 to 14 — more common than deaths by all childhood diseases combined, and the vast majority of these accidents happen at home. Furthermore, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) unintentional injuries are the most common cause of death for people ages 1 to 44.

Most home safety issues are preventable, however, and fortunately, your library ia providing these free resources:

Quick and Easy

Printable Coloring Pages, Puzzles, Games, Activity Booklets, Bookmarks, and Educational Materials for Children and Adults:

From Safe Kids USA:

• Fire Safety Sequence Game – a game to help young children learn about smoke alarms and how to escape a fire (bilingual – in English and Spanish).
• Find the Right Helmet activity sheet.
• Pedestrian Safety word search and activity sheet.
• Fire Safety Specialist Training Chart As you measure your child’s growth, help them become “Fire Safety Specialists.”

From the US Fire Administration:

• Sesame Street Fire Safety Station – easy puzzles and coloring pages
• Coloring Pages – nine coloring pages, each with a fire safety tip
• Printable Fire Safety Matching Game – with pictures from the coloring pages
• Let’s Have Fun with Fire Safety: Marty and Jett’s Activity Book – eighteen pages of fire safety fun
• Marty and Jett’s Crossword Puzzles – two levels of easy crossword puzzles with answers
• Marty and Jett’s Word Searches – two levels of easy word searches with answers
• Is Your Home Fire Safe? door knob hanger and game. Use the checklist to find all 11 fire hazards and all fire safety devices?
• Fire Escape Plan Maze (bilingual – in Spanish and English)
• Fire Escape Plan Worksheet (bilingual – in both Spanish and English)
• Junior Fire Marshall Quiz

From the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA):

• My Fire Safety Inspection Checklist. Kids! Become an “Official” Fire Safety Inspector.
• Sparky the Fire Dog Origami – a beginning paper folding project
• Cool to Do. This month you can print the scene and stickers to add, including a message about fire safety in winter.
• Coloring Pages:
  • Stop, Drop, and Roll with Sparky
  • Stop, Drop, and Roll with Sparky (in Spanish)
  • Sparky’s Five Steps to Fire Safety
  • Sparky Says “Thank You” to Fire Fighters
• Learn Sign Language and Discover the Secret Code for an online game from the NFPA.
• Write a Sparky Fire Safety Poem worksheet.
• Safety Information Card
• More Fun Activities and Printables from the NFPA.

Quick and Easy for Adults:

• Emergency Contact Card from the Red Cross
• Emergency Supply Checklist from US Homeland Security
• Be Red Cross Ready checklist
• Personalized Home Safety Checklist from the Home Safety Council
• Fire Escape Plan Grid from the U.S. Fire Administration

Featured Resources

Books, Links to Information, and Organizations to Contact:

Books for Children and Adults

• Home Safety Books for Children
• Home Safety Books for Adults

Home Safety Reference Information Links

• What are the safety laws in my state? Federal and state firework, seatbelt, lead standard regulations and much more at Safe Kids USA.
• Help! I need some quick safety statistics. Safety fact sheets from Safe Kids USA
• Where can I find in depth studies on home safety issues? In-depth research reports such as “Distracted Drivers in School Zones” and ” Trends in Unintentional Childhood Injury Mortality and Parental Views on Child Safety” from Safe Kids USA
• Where can I find government statistics and research reports on injury prevention and control? WISQARS^TM (Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System) is an interactive database system that provides customized reports of injury-related data.
• I heard something about a safety recall. Can you find me more information? Another great resource from Safe Kids USA

Organizations to Contact

Free information and resources:

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): National Center for Injury Prevention & Control
• Home Safety Council
• National Fire Protection Association
• Safe Kids USA: Preventing Injuries, at Home, at Play, and on the Way.
• U.S. Fire Administration – Citizen Information

Book Club

Observe National Home Safety Month this June by choosing this Oprah Book Club pick for your Summer Reading:

Map of the World by Jame Hamilton. In the space of a few minutes, a tragic accident occurs, and a woman’s life is changed forever. This page-turner highlights how fast an accident can happen and also portrays what happens when a mob mentality takes over. The movie adaptation starred Sigourney Weaver and Julianne Moore. Discussion Guide

Tie Ins

June celebrates Father’s Day! You can bring together National Home Safety Month and Father’s Day with cool ideas:

• Kids send Dad a free Sparky the Fire Dog father’s day e-card.
• Install. Inspect. Protect. Smoke Alarms Save Lives.
• Smoking & Home Fires
• Prepare. Practice. Prevent the Unthinkable. A Parents’ Guide to Fire Safety for Babies and Toddlers

Fun Stuff

Goof off at the reference desk and amaze your friends on Twitter . . . OR add some fun to a library program, your library website, Facebook page, or Twitter feed:

• Hazard House: There are eight fire hazards in the room. Can you find all of them? from the U.S. Fire Administration for Kids website
• Sparky the Fire Dog fun and games from the National Fire Protection Association:
  • Sparky’s Match Game. Play an online matching game, but if the fire alarm sounds go outside!
  • Crack the Code Game. Three different skill levels of code breaking fun.
  • Safe with Sparky Game.
  • Sparky the Fire Dog e-cards for every occasion.
  • Interactive Fire Truck Fun and Games.
  • Stay Fire Smart Game with Uh-Ohs. Can you find and test all of the smoke detectors?
  • Sparky’s Risk Watch Arcade