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Melbonna Fountain and Sandy Ferguson show children in Greasy the proper way to brush their teeth.

GREASY, OKLAHOMA - Cherokee Nation employees are touring Adair County schools presenting a program of interactive health demonstrations to 10, 11 and 12 year old students.

The program, run by the Community Health staff at the Cherokee Nation's Wilma P. Mankiller Health Center in Stilwell, is designed to teach youngsters how to take proper care of themselves, with a special emphasis on diabetes prevention.

"We just want to get the point across to kids on healthy nutrition and eating habits, as well as staying active." said Karen Rabon, Community Health Manager at the Mankiller Center.

Members of Rabon's staff provide instruction on proper nutrition, general over all dental care, and the signs and symptoms and treatment of diabetes. Children are given a permission slip the day before the fair to take home and get parental signatures so that they can have their blood sugar checked at the demonstrations.

Prior to the actual health fair, the children took pre-test on different health aspects, giving the presenters a tool to determine which areas of health the students needed to focus on most. Two weeks after the fair, students take a follow-up test to see how well they are remembering information they had received at the health fair."By giving these tests, it helps us to identify the areas in which we need to focus on, as well as how we can make improvements to the program," Rabon said.