Health Education Exhibit to Open at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle

For nearly 50 years, Seattle’s Pacific Science Center has been making science fun for families. To celebrate their half-century birthday in 2012, the Science Center will be unveiling a new exhibit. Although the Science Center houses numerous exhibits each year, this will be its first permanent exhibit in over a decade.
Professor Wellbody’s Academy of Health & Wellness is scheduled to open sometime in the fall of next year. The Science Center describes Professor Wellbody’s Academy as a place that will, “Bring guests of all ages into the imaginative world of Professor Wellbody, demonstrating how personal choices can positively affect our health and well-being. Six- thousand square feet of hands-on inventions, gadgets, activities and experiences will present health as a life-long process of balancing exercise, diet, proper rest and hygiene. These tools and resources for managing health and well-being will help guests discover the control each of us has over many aspects of our wellness.”

With the introduction of Professor Wellbody’s Academy, the Science Center is extending its innovative melding of science and fun into the health and wellness world for families in the Seattle area. The exhibit will encourage health education, including information regarding nutrition, fitness and disease prevention, for families during a crucial point in history. With obesity running rampant and diseases such as Type II Diabetes coming with it, community wellness education is an essential factor in eliminating preventable diseases.
The exhibit will include activities for all ages. The Northwest Focus Gallery will provide information about health-related news, careers and research from around the Pacific Northwest. At the Sneeze Wall, guests will dodge airborne particles in what sounds like an icky adaptation of the popular children’s game, dodgeball.
Major sponsors of Professor Wellbody’s Academy include an anonymous donor, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (contingent upon the Science Center reaching its fundraising goals in order to encourage others to donate), Group Health, Bastyr University, Swedish Medical Center and Seattle Children’s Hospital and many others. According the Pacific Science Center’s website, “The exhibit will help improve life-long health behaviors in our region, (so) it has been enthusiastically embraced by the healthcare community.” Private donations to the project are also welcomed and encouraged.
Via the Pacific Science Center