Goal to target head lice

 

Several Lawrence County agencies are teaming up this week to get a head start on eradicating a pesky problem for the preschool population — head lice.

Children enrolled in the Early Childhood Center will be able to get free haircuts from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday at the school in South Point.

Kutz for Kids, sponsored by the Appalachian Family and Children First Council in conjunction with the Ironton City and Lawrence County health departments, was organized as a new proactive measure to stop head lice before the start of the school year, said Todd Jones, council coordinator.

“It just becomes a huge problem, so we want to get the children in first and identify if there is going to be a problem,” Jones said. “… It is a problem we have addressed and talked about from school year to school year to school year.”

Two stylists from Fantastic Sams and a local independent stylist will be on hand to give the haircuts as well as educate parents on head lice and health issues. If needed, children will be able to get treated for lice as well.

Jones also said the free cuts would help curb the cost for struggling families.

“If you’ve got three or four children, to take them to all get hair cuts, that can be a financial hardship on the parents,” Jones said. “So we wanted to make sure we provided a free service and at the same time ECC was educating these parents in better health practices for their children in the upcoming school year.”

Children enrolled at the CAO Head Start Sybene location will also have a free haircut day from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursday.

Jones said, if the program is well received, there will be another event in December for the community.