| It's Not How Often You Wash Your
Hands, But How Well You Wash Them
With the H1N1 flu pandemic upon us, washing your hands may not
be good enough. The fact is, it's not how often you wash your
hands but how well you wash them.
Most of you are taking additional steps to stay healthy. Missouri
State University Student Wellness Coordinator Gerilyn Reed says
that still may not be enough.
“Either they wash real quick or don't wash at all,”
she said about her students.
She says not enough people practice proper hand washing technique.
“Usually I just do it quick and don't lather up,” said
student Lindsey Geary.
“I think it's more about how often than how well,” said
student Lea Huffman.
That’s not true, according to Reed. To prove it, we put five
students and their hand washing to the test.
First they rubbed a gel into their hands that only shows up under
a black light. We then asked them to wash their hands as they
normally do. Most washed for only a few seconds, hardly working
up a lather with the soap. Afterwards, the black light easily
found all the places they missed.
“You missed your wrist, you missed side of hands, webbing
fingers,” Reed told one student.
Even worse was the student whom we asked to rinse with water only
- no soap.
“You're nice and orange,” Reed told him afterwards during
the black light inspection.
Reeds says, if any of these students picked up the H1N1 flu bug
on their hands prior to washing, the germs would likely remain
and the students could still get sick.
We had them repeat the process, but not without first teaching
them some proper hand washing techniques.
“Wash your hands for a good 20 seconds,” Reed said.
She also told them to be sure to work up a lather with soap and
concentrate hard on those easy-to-miss areas.
“A lot of what we saw that lit up is wrists, top of hands,
webbing of fingers, finger nails, and calluses. Really work into
them to get germs,” said Reed.
Afterwards, the difference was remarkable.
“It looks like you did a lot better in between fingers; that's
good,” Reed told one student.
“Definitely a lot better this time than last time,”
she told another.
“Second time's a charm on you; good job,” she told a
third student.
It’s an important lesson for these students - who thought
they were doing enough.
“I didn't realize how much I didn't wash off,” said
Geary.
“You need to take time to wash hands. Don't hurry and walk
out,” said Huffman.
Reference Source: ky3.com
September 25, 2009
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