The Buzz at The Health Museum

Editor’s note: “An Intern’s Insight” is a recurring blog by our summer interns. This unedited content is strictly the opinion of the writers, and not necessarily of The Buzz. In this blog post, Buzz interns Mark Cox, Alex Daily, and Maddie Tebbe describe a day at The Health Museum, plus some pro tips when visiting. 

The face has become a symbol for The Health Museum. Intern Alex Daily admits it used to terrify her as a child. (From left) Buzz summer interns Mark Cox, Alex Daily and Maddie Tebbe.

As part of our ongoing series to explore Houston’s many world-class museums (read about our experiences at the Houston Museum of Natural Science and the Houston Zoo), we traveled to The Health Museum to check it out.

For Alex, this was a visit filled with nostalgia. She volunteered at The Health Museum during the summers while in high school, but had not returned to the museum since. She, as well as interns Maddie Tebbe and Mark Cox, were surprised to see some of the renovations to the museum. Though the museum looks small from the outside, we spent hours inside, scoping out all the nooks with interesting information that other museum visitors gloss over.

Whitney Bennett, Marketing & Communications Manager for The Health Museum, gave us a quick tour of the museum and some of the camps. Our first stop was Mini Medical School, a camp for kids aged 11-13.

In The Body Shop, all of the interns were surprised to hear 8-10 year-olds talking about capillaries and when blood oxygenated or deoxygenated. Even intern Mark joined in on the fun by answering one of the questions about hemoglobin, a protein that transports oxygen in the bloodstream.

After the tour of the camps, we were free to explore the museum’s many exhibits. We learned that the Amazing Body Pavilion was originally part of the Museum of Natural Science before breaking off into its own museum. The exhibit provides tons of interesting information combined with interactive elements for kids to understand how their body works.

Additionally, in the section dedicated to ears and hearing, there is a sound-proof screaming booth where guests can see how their screams rank with other sounds, such as vacuum cleaners and whistles.

West University resident Susan was visiting the museum with Anna, her daughter. Anna said that her favorite part of the Amazing Body Pavilion was the scent quiz in the nose exhibit because it made her think about smells.

Beyond the Amazing Body Pavilion was You: The Exhibit. Opened less than 10 years ago, this exhibit is a favorite to museum visitors because of all the interactive elements.

Aspen tried out a machine that predicted how tall she would be, and was disappointed to find that she would only be 5’6”. “I want to be six feet, six inches like my dad,” she said. While at the museum, Aspen also tried out the age-o-meter and was happy to learn she would live to 99.

Intern Maddie tried the Age-O-Meter, a test that predicts how long you will live based on health habits, such as how often you exercise, if you smoke, and if you eat breakfast every morning.

Intern Mark did a test to see how unique he was compared to other museum visitors. Some of the questions asked included: do you have a widow’s peak, are your earlobes attached, do you have naturally red hair, and do you have freckles.

We then walked across the hall to the museum’s newest exhibit, Zoom into Nano. The exhibit gives visitors a glimpse of the millions of atoms that make up everything.

Rebecca, a nurse at MD Anderson, said she worked the test carts at the Health Museum when she was training to be a nurse, but today was her first visit back since. She said this exhibit, while fun and interactive, is very real to her and her colleagues at MD Anderson. “It’s good The Health Museum is doing its part to get kids interested in these important topics.”

Daughter Corinne and mom Adrianne came all the way from Grape Vine, Texas to see the nano exhibit. Corinne said she is very interested in nanotechnology and wants to be a researcher when she grows up.

Like Corinne, Sonya, pictured with mom Vicki and brothers Ben and Grant, also wants to be a doctor. She said she was most excited to explore the body exhibit to learn more about her body.

Out in the main hall, John Jones, a retired neurosurgeon, was running the heart test cart. He explained that he works the test cart every Tuesday, and that even though he was not a heart surgeon, he is still very interested in the functions of the heart. In fact, he said in July of 1969, he photographed the 14th heart transplant surgery in the world.

As John talked about his experiences of working at Hermann Hospital for 36 years, Intern Alex realized that her dad, also a doctor at Hermann, might know John. At the mention of his name, John smiled and said the two are friends and chat often.

As we wandered the halls of The Health Museum, we saw faces both young and old enjoying the wide variety of exhibits the museum displays. The fun and interactive activities provide enjoyment for everyone, whether they were seeing how loud their scream was, or checking how long their lifespan could be.

If your child is interested in a future in medicine, make sure you check out their numerous summer camps that they hold for kids in their classrooms. Our trip to the Health Museum showed that no one is ever old enough to learn about human anatomy and what they’re made of, and the museum is definitely the best place to learn while having fun.

Pro Tips

• Try to avoid arriving at the museum at 9 a.m. All of the museum’s camps start at this time, so the Main Hall will be noisy and crowded. Push your visit back 15-30 minutes and avoid the chaos.
• The museum offers free general admission on Thursdays, 2-5 p.m.. Note: special exhibits require an admission ticket purchase.
• Zoom into Nano will be on display until Sept. 1. If you want to see it, we recommend going sooner rather than later.
• Starting in March 2015, the cell lab will become a permanent exhibit. Whitney Bennett explained that after the arts, science labs are the next thing to be cut from school budgets. In this exhibit, visitors will wear lab coats, goggles, and gloves to perform labs, such as blood typing. This program will be the third of its kind in the country, but the first in our region and the first offered in two languages. To make room for this new feature, You: The Exhibit will be removed. If you haven’t visited yet, go while you still can!
• If you’re a member of the museum, check to see when Super Science Summer Member Tuesdays are in effect to participate in free crafts and other activities.