CHI St. Joseph Children’s Health and Library System of Lancaster County Partner to Offer Brush Twice-A-Day Challenge

CHI St. Joseph Children’s Health and the Library System of Lancaster County are proud to announce a partnership to offer the Healthy Habits, Healthy Smiles! Brush Twice-A-Day Challenge to children throughout Lancaster County as part of the Public Libraries of Lancaster County On your mark, get set … READ! Summer Reading Program. All participating children ages 5-9 will be awarded Health Hero Power Packs to fuel healthy choices.

The Brush Twice-A-Day Challenge is a free educational program designed to help kids start and stick to the healthy habit of brushing their teeth at least two times each day. Children can join the Summer Reading Program at any of the 17 local library locations or the bookmobile and interested families with children ages 5-9 will get a Health Hero Starter Pack to begin the fun of the Brush Twice-A-Day Challenge. Both initiatives will begin on June 4 and end on Aug. 13, 2016. Families may begin the Brush Twice-A-Day Challenge at any point during the Summer Reading Program.

“We’re extremely excited to partner with CHI St. Joseph Children’s Health to bring the Brushing Challenge to children throughout all of Lancaster County,” said Bonnie Young, Interim Executive Director for the Library System of Lancaster County. “We look forward to connecting families with the tools they need to build healthy habits from a young age.”

Children participating in the Brush Twice-A-Day Challenge will receive a set of Smile Counter scratch-off cards to track their brushing progress at home. Completed cards can be returned to specially marked mailboxes in the libraries. Those completed cards will be mailed to Hank the Health Hero, the lovable and imaginative puppet and champion of the Brush Twice-A-Day Challenge.

Hank the Health Hero will also be appearing at libraries to promote the Brush Twice-A-Day Challenge and other healthy choices for children of all ages. A summer reading guide, available at any of the local Public Libraries, contains the full schedule of the puppet superhero’s appearances or check here http://lancasterlibraries.org/chi-st-joseph-childrens-health/.

“The kids just love watching the smiles add up when they remember to brush their teeth,” said Lori McCracken, director of education at CHI St. Joseph Children’s Health. “Bringing that together with reading, you have two healthy habits for one summer of wellness, and we couldn’t be more excited to share it all with the Lancaster community.”

About CHI St. Joseph Children’s Health

A part of Catholic Health Initiatives, CHI St. Joseph Children’s Health is a community-based organization dedicated to the health and wellbeing of children in Lancaster County. The organization works in collaboration with community partners to assure access to appropriate, quality health services and benefits for every child in the Lancaster community. This mission in children’s health began with the development of Brush.Brush.Smile!®, a mobile dental clinic program, and now includes multiple efforts, programs and services committed to improving the health of children and expanding healthcare access for children and families throughout the Lancaster community. The newly opened CHI St. Joseph Children’s Health Dental Center is located at 401 Locust Street in Columbia and serves as a dental home for children throughout Lancaster County. No insurance is required to receive service; however, CHIP, Medicaid and private insurance are accepted. For more information about CHI St. Joseph Children’s Health, visit www.stjosephchildrenshealth.org.

About the Library System of Lancaster County

The Library System of Lancaster County is a federated system with 14 member libraries, three branches and a bookmobile, which serves 519,462 residents. Established in April 1987 as a 501c(3) non-profit organization, the Library System provides well-coordinated countywide services and cooperative programs to assist member libraries in meeting the diverse needs of its community residents. The mission of the Library System of Lancaster County is to bring together all 14 member public libraries to plan and create a cost-effective network of technology, facilities and resources to meet the informational, educational and recreational needs of all residents of Lancaster County. The Library System ensures that a network of support services is provided to all public libraries in the county.