Practice Health Habits
- wadE
Recently at work, everyone in the company received a plastic vial, with a spritzer at the top,
filled with hand sanitizer, kind of reminds me of those liquid glue sticks with the rubber top you
used in grade school.
Remember these?
Accompanying this lovely holiday gift was a memo titled, "Practive
Health Habits". Here's a copy of the memo:
Practice Healthy Habits
With the flu and cold season around the corner, it is important for you and your family members to take extra care in practicing daily health habits.
Follow these simple health habits with the goal of protecting yourself and others:
- Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze ? throw this tissue away after you use it.
- Wash you hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. If you are not near water, use an alcohol-based hand cleaner.
- If you do not have a tissue, cough or sneeze into you upper sleeve, not you hands
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth. Germs often spread this way
- Stay away as much as you can from people who are sick
- When you are sick or have flue symptoms, stay home, get plenty of rest, and check with a health care provider as needed. If you are sick, do not go near other people so that you don?t make them sick too.
- Get regular exercise, enough rest and eat healthy balanced meals.
Germs at Work
- 229,000 germs per square inch on frequently used faucet handles
- 21,000 germs per square inch on work desks
Why Wash?
Handwashing is the single most important means of preventing the spread of infection.
- Hands are the most exposed part of the body to germs.
- Touching the eyes, mouth, nose or food transfers the germs into the body.
The most important thing you can do to keep from getting sick is to wash your hands. Wash your hands often for you can?t see germs with the naked eye or smell them, so you do not really know where they are hiding.
Prescription to Healthy Hand Washing
- First we your hands and apply liquid or clean bar soap.
- Next rub your hands vigorously together and scrub all surfaces.
- Continue for 10-15 seconds or about the lengthy of you favorite little tune. Remember, it is the soap combined with the scrubbing action that helps dislodge and remove germs.
- Rinse well and dry your hands.
(Source: Department of Health and Human Services, Center of Disease Control and Prevention and Minnesota Department of Health)
Now granted, I do work for a health insurance company, but even this seems a bit much. What are we,
7 years old?
Is this just to let obsessive-compulsive types fell better about their compulsive hand washing?
If we are so dumb as to not keep ourselves from licking faucet handles, is it a good idea to give
us a liquid that is 124 proof?
As Bird Flu mania keeps growing, should we expect this sort of paranoia to grow?
Why stop here, why don't we have plastic disposable drop cloths on our desks and keyboards that
we throw away each day? When will OSHA demand all faucets be motion sensors?
At any rate, stop whatever you are doing... and go wash you hands!
What do you think? Drop us a line at webmaster@simpleprop.com and give us some
feedback. Maybe we'll even run your letters in future Gambits. 'The Daily Gambit' is updated every weekday.
