STUDENTS GET HANDS-ON EXPERIENCE AT HEALTH-CARE EVENT

Third- and fourth-graders donned surgical masks, hats and gloves to get a close-up look at the human brain Wednesday morning.

"This is how we dress when we do surgery," Dr. Scott Gibbs, a Cape Girardeau neurosurgeon, told students.

Students had a chance to actually hold the brain after learning about its different functions.

"It felt like a giant sponge," said Danny Campbell, a fourth-grader at North Elementary School in Fruitland.

Classmate Katie Loos said the brain "didn't feel too good."

But Gibbs' "Brains 'R Us" station was educational, students said.

"We learned things like you need to keep your brain safe, and you should wear a helmet so you don't hurt your brain," Katie said.

More than 1,000 students from throughout the region took part in Southeast Missouri Hospital's The Learning Generation, a hands-on learning experience at the Show-Me Center. The daylong event featured more than 20 learning stations on everything from nutrition to how the heart works to safety lessons from emergency personnel.

Approximately 980 students were unable to attend because of limited space.

Students got a chance to raise their heart rates at the Beat Goes On station by running and jumping and to flex their muscles at Muscle Mania in the adjacent Southeast Missouri State University Recreation Center.

The event marked the first anniversary of Southeast Missouri Hospital's Generations Family Resource Center and was geared toward teaching youngsters how their bodies work and how to keep them working well.

At the Lung Power station, Kelly Urhahn, a respiratory therapist, used pig lungs to demonstrate how a respirator works. The lungs work "like a big balloon" in the body, Urhahn said.

"See how they inhale and exhale," she said as the respirator inflated and deflated the lungs.

All of the students squealed except one boy who proclaimed the demonstration "cool."

Students also had a chance for a close-up look at the lungs.

Suzanne Reichmann, a fourth-grader at St. Ambrose School in Chaffee, said the lungs were "gross," but they do serve a purpose. "They help you breathe a lot," she said.