Rady Children’s Hospital Girl Scout Patches
Rady Children’s Hospital is proud to offer the opportunity for Girl Scouts to learn more about our different program services through completion of patches focused on health awareness.
View the list of Girl Scout patches that are currently available for self-completion as well as the program service they are associated with.
Audiology
Rady Children’s Hearing Protection Patch
Overview
About 12.5% of children and teenagers (6-19 years old) have permanent damage to their hearing from too much noise. This type of hearing loss is called “noise-induced hearing loss”. It can happen from hearing a very loud sound one time, or most times from listening to loud sounds over and over. This type of hearing loss cannot be fixed, but it can be prevented. The three main ways to avoid getting noise-induced hearing loss are: turning the volume down, walking away from the loud sound, and protecting your ears. The steps of this patch are made to help you make choices that will protect your hearing for your whole life!
Autism Discovery Institute
Rady Children’s Autism Awareness Patch
Overview
One in every 54 children in the United States has a diagnosis of autism. While it affects many people, autism and the behaviors that accompany it may not be well understood.
Children with autism face unique challenges. Though each child might have different symptoms, the most common include speech and language differences, having trouble understanding social cues, difficulty making and keeping friends, narrow or fixated interests, and repetitive behaviors. Even children without autism may experience some of these symptoms or behaviors during their lives. By completing the activities for this patch, you should be able to recognize how to understand these behaviors in others and how you may have things in common with children who have autism.
Developmental Evaluation Clinic
Rady Children’s Mental Health Awareness Patch
Overview
We all (children AND adults) experience stress and worries from time to time. Our bodies have a built-in survival instinct from years ago when you had to worry about things such as a tiger jumping out in front of you. If a tiger were to jump out, you should feel scared! Your brain would focus on getting away, your body would sweat, your heart would beat faster and you breath quicker. You might get butterflies in your stomach or feel nauseated. These things were designed to help you run fast which is good if there really is a tiger but not so good if you are needing to go to school to take a test. The times when we feel anxious are normal, but they should be temporary. They can occur when you need to give a speech in class or playing a sport you don’t think you are good at. But once those things are over, the feelings of nervousness should go away. The activities in this patch are designed to help you decrease anxiety and stress for these temporary periods in your everyday life.
Physical Therapy
Rady Children’s Get Up & Get Moving Patch
Overview
Physical activity is important for everyone! It can reduce the risk of some diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure. It also helps keep our bodies at a healthy weight. When we exercise, our breathing increases and our heart starts pumping more oxygen-filled blood to our muscles. The increased blood flow also benefits our brain, allowing it to almost immediately function better. Most people are more focused after exercise of any kind. Because of this, exercise helps prevent and treat depression. Physical exercise changes the level of serotonin in the brain by increasing the levels of the “feel good” hormones, or endorphins. Endorphins are well-known for their role in mood control.
Psychiatry
Rady Children’s Living Substance Free Patch
Overview
Teenagers turn to drugs and self-medication for various reasons, such as anxiety, boredom, peer pressure, etc. There’s a common misconception that “experimentation” with drugs is natural for high schoolers, but the severity of addiction is often overlooked. Substance misuse is when someone’s use of substances leads to problems with their health or other parts of their life, like school, family or friendships. Prolonged use leads to addiction and substance use disorder–a physiological and psychological dependence on drugs that makes it extremely difficult to get clean.
Although the topic of drug use and addiction is intimidating, there are ways to address the issue, improve communication, and live healthier lifestyles, starting with this badge!