Andrew Nguyen (11) and Kendrick Perez (11) demonstrated the spread of germs using a game with glow in the dark powder to a Girl Scout Troop, Dec. 10, eliciting gasps of excitement from the girls. The pair has done this presentation numerous times as part of their nonprofit, Reviving Your Vitals. Nguyen said that their goal in establishing this organization is to give elementary school kids an awareness and excitement towards the medical community.
“The inspiration for making the nonprofit was that most kids are not introduced to medical-related topics until they’re in high school, maybe middle school,” Nguyen said. “Our nonprofit is not only to help inspire a future generation to go towards the medical field, but also to be aware of certain medical issues that may arise.”
Nguyen said that they have been able to contact classes, as well as girl scout troops.
“We have some teacher connections, who were able to connect us with a girl scout troop looking to get their medical badge,” Nguyen said. “We went on Dec. 10, and met the troop at Sundance Elementary School.”
Nguyen said that as of now, they have prepared presentations and two medical-related activities for the kids.
“The two topics we’ve taught so far are the med kits and germ-prevention,” Nguyen said. “With germ-prevention, we have a hands-on activity where the kids are able to see how germs spread easily. We use a certain powder that glows in the dark, and then it can spread really easily to other kids. They really like that activity because it shows them how easy it is for germs to spread. And for the med kits, they just like the fact that they got to build their own med kits and learn about the different uses of [them].
The medical kits have a large variety of supplies that students can explore, according to Nguyen.
“We have six different components right now,” Nguyen said. “We have things like gauze, bandage wrap, individual bandage strips, burn cream, first aid cream, which is the cream that you would use on different types of wounds. We also have alcohol wipes, gloves. It’s pretty full.”
Perez said that in their experience, many elementary schools don’t offer much in terms of medical learning.
“We’ve encountered schools that don’t have a program related to anything medical, so we’ve wanted to introduce kids to the idea that medicine is an option, and also let them be aware of topics that are related to that,” Perez said.
Perez said that they have tried to reach as many schools as possible in different areas.
“We’ve been to schools in two different districts: Poway and San Diego,” Perez said. “We’ve gone to schools like Adobe Bluffs, Canyon View, Hage, Shoal Creek, Sundance.”
Nguyen said that their organization has been in the works for more than a year, with him and his partner working to contact schools with the most volunteer opportunities.
“Since last year, we’ve been starting it up, gathering supplies and forming the lessons, and all of that planning,” Nguyen said. “Then we started going to schools last year, just emailing them by getting their emails on the school website, asking them if they would like this opportunity. Some decline, some accept it. And if they do accept it, we would just leave during our school hours to go teach them during their school [hours], whatever time works for the elementary school.”
According to Perez, they receive positive feedback from the groups they teach. Some participants have even found real-world use for the med kits they built.
“One of the teachers from Adobe Bluffs told us about how a kid was injured on the playground, and they were able to use the med kit to patch up the wound,” Perez said.
Nguyen said that a goal of theirs is to make Reviving Your Vitals a school-affiliated club to help grow their impact.
“That way, we can get more members and potentially more volunteers,” Nguyen said. “If we are able to do that, we’re able to receive funding to be able to expand to more high schools and also fund more activities.”
