Viator grad's comic book encourages kids to wash hands
Bam! Kapow! Zap!
That's the kind of approach Jenny Walesa of Prospect Heights took away from her summer internship in infection control at Northwest Community Hospital.
Superheroes take on evil germs in a colorful comic book that Walesa wrote and illustrated during her internship in the hospital's pediatric emergency department.
"The Adventures of Captain Soapy Hands and Madame Sanitizer and the Evil Germ Invader," the oversized comic book is laminated - the better to allow for washing away any germs.
"We certainly want to keep a book about germs germ-free," says Brigette Bucholz, director of patient safety and outcomes at NCH.
Hospital officials are so excited about the project they plan to print at least a half dozen copies that can be used by parents and children who are in the pediatric emergency department.
"The comic book is a fun way for parents to talk to their children about hand washing, and it's cool enough to keep little ones' attention," says Melissa Dillman, Pediatric Emergency Department manager. "Who doesn't like superheroes?"
For Walesa, a 2011 St. Viator High School graduate, the internship was one of the final requirements in earning her degree in community health from Indiana University. She now is at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis pursuing a bachelor of science degree in nursing.
During her internship, Walesa looked at ways the hospital staff worked to prevent infections.
"A big part of my job was to observe the nurses' daily routine, including when and how often they wash their hands," Walesa said, "and observe things like taking blood cultures and monitoring sanitary conditions."
The nurses passed with flying colors, she said, but it was the discharge instructions Walesa went over with patients and their families that planted a seed. Number one on the list was to wash their hands.
Walesa says that after all the hand washing she observed, she wanted to impart something about infection prevention and hand hygiene to her young patients.
"I thought that if I could come up with something creative and fun, that kids might want to read it," Walesa says.
In designing the comic book - which features animated, Lego-like characters - she drew on some of the art and photography classes she took at St. Viator while also consulting with her brother, a comic book fan.
Her supervisors agreed that the importance of hand washing hands can never be overstated.
"As a pediatric nurse and the mother of three young children, I know that hand washing is an important subject for children and adults," Dillman says, "and not just when they are at the hospital, but in other places, like school."