Product Proposal

Introduction & Statement of Purpose:

My original work product will include creating a brochure about hygiene and teaching
elementary students how to properly follow hygiene rules and prevent sickness. Both the
brochure and the elementary school session will include how to properly: wash hands, shower,
and brush teeth. As we grow up, we tend to learn how to maintain hygiene through our parents.
This is most likely due to the fact that there is no formal course or class teaching us how to
achieve hygiene. Most parents teach their children what they learned from their parents.
However, according to research, the majority of parents don’t know the best ways to wash hands,
shower, or brush teeth. Therefore, the main purpose of my brochure and session is to educate
adults and children on effective ways to maintain hygiene.
Review of Skills and Research:
Many of us wash our hands often, but from research and observation, the majority of us
forget one important thing: to wash around our nails. It is known that people commonly rub their
hands together but forget to clean the main part of the hands used to do everything: fingers. We
do numerous things with our fingers, and the most important action we do is eat. Fortunately,
children in the United States are often taught to wash hands before and after eating. However,
germs can easily get on our hands, especially through door handles, and this requires us to wash
our hands as often as we can. Even if we accomplish this goal, it will not mean much if we go
about it doing the wrong way. As shown in the image above, rubbing hands together is the most
common and sometimes the only step followed by people. Although this step is important, it
gives a lot of focus to the palms of our hands instead of the fingers. Since we do more activities
with our fingers than our palms, this step is not very effective alone.
Ideally, As visible in the picture below, about four of the six steps involve cleaning the fingers.
This shows how crucial it is to thoroughly clean our fingers, especially near the nail area. Many
people believe nails have dirt in them that contain bacteria which can cause an infection.
Considering this fact, it is very surprising that many people do not focus on washing their fingers
and nails.

The best hand washing method includes the following steps:

1) Wet your hands with clean, running water
2) Take a paper towel to turn off the tap
3) Apply soap
4) Lather your hands by rubbing them together
5) Lather the backs your hands, between fingers, and under the nails
6) Scrub hands for at least 20 seconds
a) Sing “Happy Birthday” twice in order to account for the time
7) Obtain paper towel in order to turn on the tap
8) Rinse hands well under clean, running water
 9) Dry hands with clean towel or air dryer
The steps above are created with the assumption that there are paper towels. However, one can
also obtain toilet paper prior to washing hands in order to substitute for the lack of paper towels.

Let’s say we all follow the steps above successfully, but there are still some problems associated
after one washes hands:
1) After completing the steps, one needs to stop the faucet, and what do we all do? We take
the hands we just cleaned in order to touch the faucet that we turned on earlier. This is a
very common mistake everyone does, and the main way to avoid this is to obtain a paper
towel and use it to turn the faucet. This might not be the best solution as some restrooms
have hand dryers instead of paper towels.
2) Majority of places do not have automatic restroom doors​: ​this will cause an issue because
even though one follows all the appropriate steps to wash hands, they will eventually
obtain germs on their hands within seconds as they try to hold the restroom door’s
handle. This is inevitable unless someone, fortunately, happens to open the door as you
were leaving.
Although the two problems above are common, the best thing we can do is follow the steps
mentioned earlier and try to wash hands as often as we can.

Similar to hand washing, taking a proper shower and brushing teeth involves many careful steps.
In terms of showering, one should consider these tips:
➢ Start by allowing water to run over you for a couple of minutes
➢ Warm water makes it easier to remove dirt and residue
○ Avoid hot water as it can remove essential oils and dry out the skin
➢ Shaving should come towards the end
➢ Wash face towards the end because this area benefits most from being under warm water
➢ Don’t spend more than 10 to 15 minutes in the shower
○ Helps avoid damage to healthy body oil
In addition to hand washing and showering, follow these steps in order to effectively brush teeth:
➢ Wind: Wind 18 inches of floss around the middle fingers of each hand. Pinch floss
between thumbs and index fingers, leaving a one- to two-inch length in between. Use
thumbs to direct floss between upper teeth.
➢ Guide: Keep a one- to two-inch length of floss taut between fingers. Use index fingers to
guide floss between contacts of the lower teeth.
➢ Glide: Gently guide floss between the teeth by using a zig-zag motion. DO NOT SNAP
FLOSS BETWEEN YOUR TEETH. Contour floss around the side of the tooth.
➢ Slide: Slide floss up and down against the tooth surface and under the gum line. Floss
each tooth thoroughly with a clean section of floss.

Materials Used
● Lucidpress brochure template
● Three stations for the elementary school session
○ Each station requires a table and models
● Credible sources for research
People Involved
● 2-3 helpers: students/volunteers
● Elementary school students: audience for the session
● Pediatric patients, middle school students, and elementary students: readers for brochure
● Talk to Mrs. Lark (health science teacher) for advice on healthy habits
Methodology- Brochure
1. Obtain the Lucidpress brochure template
2. After thorough research, have one section of the brochure for all three topics
3. Select specific pediatric offices, middle schools, and elementary schools to hand out
brochures
4. Contact office managers before handing out pamphlets
Methodology- Session
 1. Contact Sontag/Sem Elementary School and provide them with details about original
work; ask for permission and if they agree, schedule a date for the session
2. Plan details for the 3 stations involved- hand wash, shower, brush teeth
3. Obtain 2-3 helpers to set up 3 stations at the school
Conclusion/Application
As I mentioned earlier, the main purpose of the brochure and the session is to help people
gain knowledge of the most effective ways to maintain hygiene. All three topics- washing hands,
taking a shower, brushing teeth- will help all of us avoid sickness. Eventually, sickness is
sometimes inevitable but the best we can do is follow all the steps mentioned above. In terms of
the brochure and the session, I hope to change the daily routines of children and adults.

Previous ideas/notes

1) Speaking at Maus Middle school/Sonntag Elementary School

Objective:
● To inform the children about various aspects of the pediatric field and explain the
importance of hygiene, safety (schools and playground), nutrition
● The main goal will be to encourage children to take steps that will not only improve their
health but also save time and money. Medical service is expensive and when going to the
doctor for common issues such as sore throat and allergies, parents will often waste
money and time. To avoid this, children need to know how to wash hands properly and
what food to eat
Steps in the process:
● Set stations around the place to increase children’s awareness about conditions/diseases
they can avoid
● Each station will have one topic and a fun game. For example, the nutrition station will
have a fun “wheel of fortune” game where they can interact and learn valuable
information at the same time
Materials:
● Show visuals and/or share stories about children before and after following advised
guidelines
● As I have mentioned earlier, each station will have a fun game in order to engage the
audience
People involved:
● Middle school students/elementary school students
● Teachers and other staff members (if I need help with the stations; I can’t be at every
station all the time)

2) Research about ways to decrease children’s anxiety in a doctor’s office

Objective:
● During most of my mentor visits, I see children frequently be nervous around Dr. Kumar
even with the Disney-themed decorations to brighten the children’s moods. Thus, with
more research, I am hoping to learn/discover ways to decrease children’s anxiety levels in
a pediatric office and improve their attitude about pediatricians. After talking to Dr.
Kumar, I realized how many children are scared of one main thing: needles. Even though
the front office has Disney channels and captivating decorations- things intended to
lighten children’s mood- somehow their perspective towards doctors and the pediatric
office don’t change a great deal

Steps in the process:

● I will complete thorough research by using credible sources such as Mackin via
● Step 1: find past research on children’s thoughts about pediatric research and how to
improve them
● Step 2: compare sources and identify a specific topic I would like to address in my
original work
● Step 3: determine my methodology for the topic
● After completing these steps, I will hopefully have sufficient amount of knowledge to
identify/discover ways to improve children’s thoughts and perspectives toward the “scary
doctor”

Materials:
● Laptop: past research
● AP Research textbook
○ I am in AP research and since most of these research steps are familiar, I will
have an easier time to come to appropriate solutions if I use the knowledge I have
gained through AP Seminar and AP Research

People involved:
● There are no people involved but I will be referring to studies/experiments done on
children (if there are any). One of my developing solutions is to have a game station that
they can use every time they complete their appointment. There are many complications
 to this solution, which is why this research will be very helpful to me as I am wanting to
have my own clinic in the future.

Works Cited
https://lifehacker.com/an-adults-guide-to-hygiene-for-those-who-werent-taught-168916055
8
https://www1.health.gov.au/internet/publications/publishing.nsf/Content/ohp-enhealth-ma
nual-atsi-cnt-l~ohp-enhealth-manual-atsi-cnt-l-ch3~ohp-enhealth-manual-atsi-cnt-l-ch3.7
https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/when-how-handwashing.html
Calendar

Week ● Obtain the Lucidpress brochure template; begin research

One

Week ● After thorough research, have one section of the brochure for all three topics;
Two finish typing and ask someone to proofread (Mrs. Lark)

Week ● Contact Sontag/Sem Elementary School and provide them with details about
Three original work; ask for permission and if they agree, schedule a date for the
session

Week ● Plan details for handwashing station

Four ○ Demonstrate how to properly wash hands with all the proper steps
○ Print steps and place sheet in front of the station

Week ● Plan details for shower station

Five ○ Explain how to properly take a shower with the helpful tips and
techniques mentioned earlier in the proposal
○ Print tips and place sheet in front of the station

Week ● Plan details for brushing teeth station

Six ○ Demonstrate how to properly brush teeth with all the proper steps/tips
○ Print steps/tips and place sheet in front of the station

Week ● Obtain 2-3 helpers to set up 3 stations at the school

Seven

Week ● Select specific pediatric offices, middle schools, and elementary schools to
Eight hand out brochures
● Contact office managers before handing out pamphlets

Week ● Go to Sontag/Sem elementary school to give the session

Nine