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"Ick....Ticks!" Girl Scouts Learn How To Protect Themselves And Earn Tick Control Awareness Patch

Date: 10.05.2009

There were more than a few "eww"s and "ick"s from participating Girl Scouts of Blackstone Valley Mass. during a Fall Fun Day on September 20, 2009 but more importantly the girls learned steps to protect themselves from tick bites and disease. Over 75 Girl Scouts earned a Tick Control Awareness patch. The patch, which was launched last year as a partnership between the Girls Scouts and the Tick Encounter Resource Center, provides tick-awareness information and activities for all levels of Girl Scouts. The TERC outreach team, led by Erin Rainone and Megan Dyer, were on hand at Camp Cookie along with a few URI students to lead a variety of interactive learning activities required to earn the patch. The girls, and their troop leaders, learned numerous tick-bite prevention techniques including how to identify different species of tick, how to spot ticks on their clothes and what to do if they find a tick on themselves, family or fellow troop member.

Additional information as well as the patch requirements can be obtained by emailing the Tick Encounter Resource Center at terc@uri.edu.

Left image: Learning about daily tick checks || Right image: Tick identification

Are you concerned about the serious health threat caused by ticks?

Would you like to make appropriate tick-borne diseases prevention programming more widely available? If you answered yes to these questions, please consider supporting the Tick Encounter Resource Center at the University of Rhode Island. Proceeds help support tick-bite prevention programs.