It Is Lyme-Time & The LDF Has Solutions!

Lyme disease cases are skyrocketing and it is time to work harder to prevent the increasing number of people contracting Lyme disease. In the United States about 500,000 new cases of Lyme disease are now reported per year! Internationally, meta- analysis research has shown that about 14.5% of people around the world have contracted Lyme disease!

The Lyme Disease Foundation, Inc. has solutions at Lyme.org! We are offering our CDC funded and approved educational material free from our newly revamped website Lyme.org.

The following items are available for free!!

Parents are encouraged to watch these programs with their families. The K-12 programsare perfect for schools, church groups, town meetings, and anyway people can creatively help educate families and students. The business programs can help reduce worker tick-bites (liability & loss of workers). There is a tremendous need to increase support groups, so the Support Group education program teaches people how to start and operate such groups. Support Group leaders should register with the LDF so we can refer patients to them.

Go to Lyme.org and select “Resources,” then check Public Education to view these options! All programs were CDC-funded and approved. These should be shown in the spring and fall.

1. Education in Schools – K-12 programs include videos, print material, and lesson plans.
2. Education for Businesses – 2 Videos & Print Material.
   • LDF Workplace Ed, hosted by Thomas Forschner, MBA, CPA is a 15 minute instructional video to be used by the Business to developed its own internal tick-bite prevention program.
   • LDF What You Should Know, hosted by Karen Vanderhoof-Forschner, JD, MBA BS is a 15-minute video for employee viewing.
3. Support Group Education – 1 Video and 2 handbooks. The handbooks offer instructions on how to establish and operate a support group.

There are multiple video-based school programs and related print material can be viewed online at Lyme.org.

1-Elementary School Program

Lyme Disease Facts for Kids. These include 5 open-captioned bilingual (English & Spanish) 20 minute award-winning puppet programs hosted by Emilio Delgado, who played “Luis” on Sesame Street. The puppets were created and operated by puppetry majors from the University of Connecticut. The 4 separate programs are each 20 minutes long.

Each program in the group instructs children about Lyme disease and preventing tick-bites in an age-appropriate manner. They are suitable for both school kids, parent groups, and home viewing. Just go to Lyme.org, select resources, select Education, select Public Education. Some programs have handbooks with instructions, so download those and copy them for the students.

Focus groups revealed that even adults are educated and entertained by these shows. Over 600 researchers and physicians found that the preschool - 3rd grade program offered comprehensive information in an entertaining format, and overwhelmingly recommended the programs for all ages.

These videos have been included in over 12,000 school programs across the country, educating over 4 million children every year.

The two English versions were combined (into a 1 hr 18 minute program) and shown on Public Broadcasting Stations across the United States. This version was named a Silver Award Winner in the International Communication Film &Video Festival.

Special Features of these programs:

• Hosted by Emilio Delgado, who plays "Luis" on TV's Sesame Street.
• Open-captioned to facilitate reading and assist the hearing impaired.
• Music by the Emmy-winning composer for Dr. Seus & Berenstein Bears.
• Characters were professionally developed by students majoring in puppetry from the degree granting program at the University of Connecticut.
• The colorful puppets keep the viewers interest and one puppet in each program is physically challenged.

Teacher Reviews!

• The materials were age-appropriate.
• The kids loved it and asked to see it again.
• One student said, "I feel safer because it taught me what to do." One child had a typical rash and the parents were unaware. Great because the class takes trips to tick infested areas.
• The poem and rap song were big hits.
• The Spanish was good for our kids.
• They were great for our hearing-impaired children too!
• Colorful puppets with one puppet in each program being physically challenged.

2-Middle School Program

Lyme Disease and the Scientific Method. This 14-minute educational program illustrates the scientific method, while teaching students about Lyme disease prevention.
This educational program comes with a teacher's 1-day & 4-day lesson plans, and class survey forms and tabulation instructions.

3-High School Program

The high school program is a 3-part program with a 1-minute public service announcement in between. This program is hosted by Karen Vanderhoof-Forschner. This program is perfect for showing in

• Part 1- Lyme disease history, ticks, symptoms, impact on families, and treatment. (30 min.)
• Break - Do a Tick Check Rap! Public Service Announcement (1 minute)
• Part 2 - Prevention, health department campaigns, school and business programs, and research. (28 min).