We were told from the time that we were little kids to wash our hands. "Did you wash your hands before dinner"? Our mothers would ask. "Wash up before bed" our parents often commanded. "Johnny, stop picking your nose. Now go wash up before you eat" I'm sure that most of us out there have heard these shouts or something similar to them from our parents as we were growing up. What is the big deal about this anyway? Well, that is what this article about. The Center of Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta cites five common ways in which those disease- causing germs can be transmitted on our household. The first is hands to food. Here, the germs are transmitted from dirty hands to food. You or someone else eats the food and possibly gets sick. Another way is changing an infants diaper. Obviously, there is a multitude of germs in an infant's stool. Without washing, these germs cam be transmitted anywhere and onto anything. Another was if from food to hand. Here the person is handling raw uncooked foods. If they do not wash their hands, they can spread these germs anywhere even back onto other foods, which are then consumed. Nose, mouth, eyes is another way of transmitting germs. Hand washing can prevent all of the above. What is the big deal you ask? Well, the incidence of hospital- borne infections is on the rise. Why? One of the reasons is that hospital staff is not washing their hands the way that they should. Properly, hospital staff should wash their hands in between touching every patient. I need to tell you that is not the case. As a matter of fact, that is no where near the case. A surgical hand wash for instance, use to take about a good 10 minutes, we would start at the elbows and work down, scrubbing each finger individually to its tip. I would venture to guess that isn't happening much today. There was a recent article in the Sunday San Diego Union newspaper that discussed just that fact. It talked about how people were getting preventable infections unnecessarily because hands were not properly washed. Do we care now as much as we did even 10 years ago about what we do to others? I don't think so. Hand washing is the beginning of infection control. This is an indisputable fact. Not simply a statement. Also, does it matter how we wash our hands, I think so. Simply rinsing you hands with water isn't good enough. You need to wash your hand with both soap and water and the temperature needs to be on the hot side. Why? Because of the oils on your skin, the germs can adhere to your skin so simply rinsing with water will not get rid of them. The soap forms a bond with the oils and will take the germs with them. Also, the heat of the water opens the skin pores and releases some of the bacteria in them. Here are some interesting facts: One half of bacterial infections don't respond to antibiotics any longer. Only an estimated 22-63% of medical personnel wash their hands between patient contacts. There are an estimated 1.5 million infections per year that occur in long term care facilities. Direct touching transmits 80% of common infections. There are approximately 22 million cases of food poisoning with 10,000 deaths per year, which the FDA say is, cause by lack of hand washing. Seniors and the disabled are 10 times more likely to die from food poisoning than the rest of the population. This accounts for 1/3 of the US population. The top cause for food borne illnesses is poor hygiene The top cause for poor hygiene is lack of hand washing. The above stats were gotten from the Food and Drug Administration and the Center for Disease Control. Living in a fast paced society leaves little time for many people to stop and wash their hands. They are not thinking about the consequences of their lack of action. However, you as the disabled person must pay attention. Why? Because as I stated above, you are 10 times more likely to die from food poisoning than the general population. This is a fact folk not fiction. Most individuals who are disabled are exposed more frequently to health care providers from doctors to nurses' aids. Not all of them take the time to wash their hands, thus exposing you to infection. The remedy here is to ask the medical provider whether they are a doctor or an orderly to wash their hands before they touch you. Don't take a no for an answer. Let's take a look at the above facts. Fact One; over half of the bacterial infections don't respond to antibiotics any longer. Because of the overuse of antibiotics, many of bacteria have become resistant to them. It used to be when I was growing up (I'm in my mid- 40's) the doctors wouldn't give us an antibiotic usually penicillin unless our fever lasted more than three days. This gave our body a chance to fight off the infection. The antibiotics were used only if we couldn't do it on our own. Today however, people don't want to be inconvenienced, they don't have the time to come back if they don't get better, so they pressure the doctors to give them medication. The result is bacterial that becomes resistant to the antibiotic. Fact Two; only an estimate 22-63% of medical personnel wash their hands between patient contact. This scares the heck out of me. As disabled people, we deal with medical personnel very often. How do we know that the nurse who cleaned out the colostomy bag from the patient in the other room right before she came in to perform a procedure on you washed her hands? Its simple, ask. If she says that she didn't, don't let her touch you with doing so. Do not be ashamed to speak up. You may be saving yourself an infection. I can tell you from working in a hospital that there is so much work to do that sometimes they simply forget. Even if it is your doctor, speak up. This leads us into Fact Three; that there is an estimated 1.5 million infections that occur in long term care facilities per year. These facilities do not have the same ratio of trained medical personnel that hospitals do. They usually hire medical assistants or nurse's aides to perform the direct patient care. These individuals may not fully understand the full ramifications on not washing their hands. That is why you better. Fact Four; direct touching transmits 80% of common infections. It has been said and proven that our hands touch every part of our body a number of times every day. So it is easy then to comprehend how when we rub our eyes after touching bloody meat from the grocery store without washing our hands that we can cause an infection. Common infections include but are not limited to: colds, sore throats, eye infections, the flu, other viruses... Fact Five; the FDA says that there are approximately 22 million cases of food poisoning with approximately 10,000 deaths per year that is caused by a lack of hand washing. In my opinion, you have to be very suspicious of the food handlers in restaurants or fast food chains. Who are the food preparers? Are they illegal immigrants from a third world country and possibly sick? Being hired simply because of cheap labor. You need to ask those questions about the food establishments that you frequent. Also, don't discount yourself. Preparing your own food with dirty/contaminated hands can also cause food poisoning. Fact Six; seniors and the disabled are 10 times more likely to die from food poisoning than the rest of the population. This to me is a very scary fact. Whether we like it or not, most disabled people have compromised immune systems. This either because of medications that they are taken, or appliances that you are using, or because you are sedentary. Either way, this should be a huge incentive for you to make sure that your hands are washed. Facts Seven and Eight; the top cause of food borne illnesses is poor hygiene and the top cause of poor hygiene is lack of hand washing, speak for themselves. Many of the germs that we are talking about here are what we call opportunistic. This means that they usually will not cause disease. They actually live on your skin or in your bowels. However, if your health is compromised because of a disability or a common cold, these germs can do great harm. Many of you who are disabled have compromised immune systems. Either from your illness, or from medications that you may be taken or simply because you live a sedentary life. Because of this, you are more susceptible to infection. It is simple to wash you hands isn't it? Well do it! It could save your life. |
