HealthWorks! Kids’ Museum Announces Newest Exhibit

Coronary Heart Disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, and to raise awareness, HealthWorks! Kids’ Museum St. Louis is getting to the very heart of the matter with the debut of its newest exhibit designed to promote cardiovascular health – a 26-foot long, 15-foot wide and 13-foot high inflatable MEGA Heart. This highly interactive, walk-through exhibit will be used as part of special outreach programming and featured at the museum on select weekends thanks to the generosity of the Jefferson Foundation and SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital, which donated $33,000 and $10,000, respectively to this effort.

The MEGA Heart provides an unmatched educational experience that takes children and families inside the human heart to witness the complexity of its anatomy. Individuals enter through the right atrium – one of the two receiving chambers for blood going into the heart – and are educated on cardiovascular functions, diseases and treatments, before exiting through the aorta, which carries blood away from the heart.

“This exhibit is incredible – it’s one you truly have to experience to fully understand its capacity for awesomeness,” commented Shannon Woodcock, president and CEO of HealthWorks! Kids’ Museum St. Louis. “Childhood obesity, inactivity and many other factors play a detrimental role in one’s heart health. I am confident this exhibit is going to play a vital role in our ability to educate and inspire individuals to establish and maintain a heart-healthy lifestyle. So, it’s from the bottom of our brand new MEGA Heart that we say thank you to the Jefferson Foundation and SSM Health Cardinal Glennon.”

Healthworks! Kids’ Museum is the first and only children’s museum solely dedicated to health education in the St. Louis region and one of only three in the United States. It opened its doors in May 2016, and has since educated more than 38 thousand children and caregivers through hands-on, interactive exhibits, outreach and programming space. The museum is anchored by a 55-foot long, 25-foot wide, 8-foot tall human skeletal structure that serves as universally accessible indoor playground.

HealthWorks! Kids’ Museum St. Louis is located at 1100 Macklind Ave, near the Saint Louis Science Center. Admission is $7 per person and free for those ages two and younger. Parking is free. To learn more about the new MEGA Heart exhibit or for general information about the museum, call 314-241-7391, visit www.hwstl.org, find the organization on Facebook or follow them on Twitter using the handle @youcantoucan.