Power Washers™ was inspired by the research of Cleveland Clinic Office of Civic Education Initiatives Science Intern Ryan Graham who completed a hand washing compliance study on nurses at Wooster Family Health Center. He determined that nurses require continual education and training as reminders and refreshers regarding proper hand washing procedures. This finding can be extended into every profession, work environment, home, and school. With the incidence of microbial resistant bacterial infections on the rise and high rates of absenteeism in schools due to illness, we believed it was important to target the primary grades with current hand washing information. Cleveland Clinic Office of Civic Education Initiatives Creative Learning Intern Gabriel Firestone was charged with the mission of creating a hand washing video for students in the primary grades. He decided to teach the students via the Power Washers™ puppets – Super Soap, Water Woman, and Touchy Towel – and their catchy theme song. Gabriel designed and created the puppets, composed the theme song, wrote the lyrics to the theme song, and produced the video under the direction of Bryan Pflaum, Director of Creative Learning. As a result of this collaboration, the Power Washers™ were born.

The Creative Learning Internship Program is a nine-week, paid internship that provides top Northeast Ohio high school students with the opportunity to work and learn alongside creative professionals at Cleveland Clinic in areas such as photography, graphic design, writing, and media production. The goals of the program are: to provide selected students with individually structured, full-time, interdisciplinary arts-related learning experiences during the summer; to foster students' creativity and leadership skills; and to expose students to creative career paths within the healthcare industry. Interns have garnered and accepted considerable scholarship awards at top universities and institutions such as Boston, Princeton, and Case Western Reserve.

2008 Creative Learning Interns Leah Backo, Gabriel Firestone, Dan Lasco, and Rebecca McKinsey make learning creative and exciting!