Personal Health: Hand Hygiene By: Lisa Conenna, Emily Richardson and Erin Castleberry

Did you know?  22 million school days are lost because of the common cold.  Children average 6-10 colds per year.  Adults average 2-4 colds per year.  80% of all infectious diseases are transmitted through touch.  Majority of people don’t wash their hands thoroughly.  Hand washing is an important step in preventing disease and illness.

Why it’s so important  No matter what, our hands are exposed to germs daily. Whether we’re touching food, children, friends or animals, germs can latch on to our hands and spread diseases. Washing hands with anti-bacterial soap or hand sanitizer drastically reduces the germs are hands are exposed to.  Germs on hands can be spread to other people, which increases the risk of another person getting sick.  All though hand washing is highly recommended, many people still forget to wash their hands.  If you don’t have a vaccine, washing hands is the most effective way of preventing the flu.  It only takes 30 seconds to wash hands properly and get rid of germs!

When to Wash Yes, we all know when we wash our hands, but let’s go over it again, just in case.  Before and after preparing food  Before eating food  Before and after treating someone who is sick  Before treating a wound or cut  After using the bathroom  After changing diapers  After picking up animal waste  After sneezing, blowing your nose and coughing  After touching garbage

How to Wash Many people wash their hands, but aren’t doing it correctly. Here’s how:  1. Wet your hands with warm or cold water (not hot water) and apply soap to hands.  2. Work the soap into a lather and gently scrub all around your hands. Be sure to get all around your fingers and nails.  Use soap on your hands for a minimum of 20 seconds. Don’t have a stop watch on you? Hum the words to “The Happy Birthday Song” or “Yankee Doodle Dandy”.  Rinse soap off with warm or cool water.  Dry hands with paper towel or air dry

Don’t Have Time to Always Wash?  Carrying hand sanitizer is a great alternative to washing hands if you’re always on the go. Open up the sanitizer and rub it all around your hands and fingers.  Be careful! Hand sanitizers only reduce the number of germs on your hands. They do not remove all types of germs.  Make sure your hand sanitizer is at least 60% alcohol based in order for it to be effective.

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