Students in the Misericordia University Student Occupational Therapy Association recently participated in a Backpack Awareness Day educational program at the Wyoming Valley West School District’s Chester Street Elementary School.
East Brunswick native Karen Spehalski helped provide students in third through fifth grades with information about how to properly pack and carry backpacks to reduce cumulative back and neck injuries, according to Kathleen Hughes Butcher, assistant professor and academic fieldwork coordinator.
Occupational therapy students also weighed the students and their backpacks in order to provide them with information needed to encourage good health and injury prevention.
In addition, Misericordia students engaged the Chester Street Elementary School students in a skit to teach them about backpack awareness, according to a statement provided by the school. The elementary school students also watched an educational video produced by the American Occupational Therapy Association.
