THE BASIC HAND WASHING TECHNIQUES

Hand Washing is the single most important method of preventing the spread of illness, infection and food-borne illness.

Every year more than 164 million school days are lost due to illness and children are often passing on the illnesses to their parents and siblings.

In light of the concerns over seasonal flu (or influenza), washing our hands is one of the most important and effective things we can do to prevent getting the flu.

Over a million gets a food-borne illness each year. Of these, thousands die as a result of their illness.

Those who are particularly vulnerable to these infections are the very young, the very old, those who are hospitalized and those fighting diseases such as AIDS or Cancer.

Many of those illnesses could have been avoided if we adults, children and caretakers had done something as simple as wash our hands correctly.

In my Care-giving training we'd been taught how to do the basic hand washing techniques. The Department of Health also promotes these techniques and so with other establishments such as our work place, resto/diners' place and even at our home and our children's school.

When to wash our hands?

After going to the bathroom
After changing diapers or cleaning up a child who has gone to the bathroom
After blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing
After handling an animal or animal waste
After handling an animal or animal waste
After handling garbage
Before and after treating a cut or wound
Before and after tending to someone who is sick
Before preparing or eating food

What do we need are the following}:
1. nail cutter/cuticle stick/brush (optional : use whenever your nails/hand is very dirty)
2. soap (liquid/bar and must be in a dish or dispenser)
3. clean hand towels and paper towels
4. water

What to do before washing?

Assemble all things needed before each wash, but keep them ready at all time. Check hands for any jewelries remove them first and nails should be trimmed with a nail cutter.

How we do it?

1. Wet hands with clean running water and apply soap. Use warm water if it is available.
2. Rub hands together to make a lather and scrub all surfaces.
3. Use these techniques:

4. Continue rubbing hands for 20 seconds. Need a timer? Imagine singing "Happy Birthday" twice through to a friend!
5.Rinse hands well under the running water.
6. Dry hands using a paper towel or air dryer. If possible, use paper towel to turn on and off the faucet.
7. Be noted, now that hands is clean, use paper towels to open any dirty door handles to avoid contamination again. . . . :-(

Remember, BEWARE OF THE GERMS WE CANNOT SEE. . . SO SHARE TO YOUR LOVEONES!!!!!!