Home About Us Media Kit Subscriptions Links Forum
APPEARED IN


View All Articles

Download PDF

DIRECTORIES:

Job Opportunities

Tutors

Workshops

Events

Sections:

Books

Camps & Sports

Careers

Children’s Corner

Collected Features

Colleges

Cover Stories

Distance Learning

Editorials

Medical Update

Metro Beat

Movies & Theater

Museums

Music, Art & Dance

Special Education

Spotlight On Schools

Teachers of the Month

Technology

Archives:

1995-2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

MARCH 2004

The National Museum of Health and Medicine
by Janet M. Burns

Museums play a vital role in public education, awareness, and understanding. The National Museum of Health and Medicine (NMHM) has a particularly long history of serving the public in this capacity in its 142-year tenure as the nation's only medical museum. In fact, the NMHM's specimens and artifacts were the first museum collection in the country and are currently the only in Washington, D.C. to be registered by the U.S. Department of the Interior as a National Historic Landmark. Since it's founding, the museum has remained dedicated to documenting the evolution of health and medical issues in American society, and to sharing its collections with as many people as possible.

NMHM offers a variety of public programs and tours to accomplish this goal. Programs like health fairs, film screenings, behind-the scenes tours, and historical and scientific lectures, are aimed at adults and children and take place on weekends, weekdays, and evenings.

Docent-guided tours are available for students 5th grade and older with reservations needed four to six weeks in advance. The museum's exhibits include many interactive displays that allow visitors to become more engaged in the material presented.

In addition to being available to school groups, docent-led tours are offered to walk-in visitors at 1 p.m. on the second and fourth Saturday of each month. The tours highlight the exhibition, "To Bind Up the Nation's Wounds: Medicine During the Civil War." Visitors receive the opportunity to experience Civil War medicine through the eyes of battlefield surgeons and the sick and wounded Union and Confederate personnel, as well learn about the state of medicine during this time.

Some of the museum's most highly attended programs are its monthly health fairs. NMHM hosts a free "National Health Awareness Kickoff" program from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the first Saturday of every month, where a different health issue is covered. Medical professionals are usually on site to discuss early detection and prevention options with museum visitors. There are also screening areas to have body fat analysis, blood pressure, diabetes, and cholesterol checked.  Reservations for these programs should be made at least a day in advance by calling 202-782-2200.

Upcoming programs at the museum include National Kidney Month and National Foot Health Awareness Month. For more information about the museum's public programs, please visit www.nmhm.washingtondc.museum/events/events.html.#

Janet M. Burns is Chief, Public Programs, NMHM.

COMMENT ON THIS ARTICLE

Name:

Email:
Show email
City:
State:

 


 

 

 

Education Update, Inc.
All material is copyrighted and may not be printed without express consent of the publisher. © 2004.