I watched with interest as President Obama during his first hundred days address, state that one of the main things that could help thwart the spread of the current Flu virus was to wash your hands! He said it more than once for a reason. Many people do not take it seriously but it is a FACT! The CDC in Atlanta has determined that the Number 1 way that disease is spread throughout the world is from people NOT washing their hands often and correctly!
Now, I happen to be something of an expert on this particular issue...No Really! Previously I have written about my experience when I described my work Giving Back to Your Community as a School Volunteer. I discussed my role as a health care volunteer dressing up as "Healthy Bear" and teaching classes of kindergarteners and first graders why and how to correctly wash their hands. The fact of the matter is that people everywhere take hand washing for granted.
If you really want to avoid catching any sorts of contagious diseases, here are some easy to remember steps:
1. Turn on the water, warm, not hot and rinse your hands.
2. Soap your hands thoroughly and work up a lather.
3. Vigorous scrub your palms, the tops of your hands, the fingers and finish around your wrists!
4. Do this for about 30 seconds. A good rule of thumb is to sing the chorus of Here we go round the mulberry bush. Just change the words to "This is the way we wash our hands, wash our hands, wash our hands" Or if you can think of something that works for you, sing it! Just make sure you are soaping you hands vigorously for at least 30-45 seconds!
5. Rinse hands under a stream of water pointing hands down for the water to carry away the dirt and germs down the drain.
7. Completely dry your hands with a clean dry paper towel!
OH, he also mentioned, cover your mouth when you cough! Respect yourself and others around you!
That's it, easy as pie. Just do as Healthy Bear says and as I have told the school kids since 1993; Do yourself, your friends and family a favor! Wash your hands correctly and often! Thanks for stopping by, you may now return to your regularly scheduled program!
