Daily Preparedness

While traipsing down the Yellow Brick Road of Life, it seems that we are faced with an ever-growing number of viral and bacterial Flying Monkeys waiting to swoop down and capture us. Avian Flu, Swine Flu (H1N1) and MRSA are just a few of the agents of physical misery and destruction that are lurking about the forest of our everyday lives.

Beyond the headlines, hypes and even hysteria, there is much we can do today and everyday to protect ourselves (and our little dogs, too). While we might be tempted to move into a germicidal bubble, we can effectively prevent, prepare, protect and pandemic-proof our families and ourselves.

In part one, we will follow the admonish of Benjamin Franklin, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” In the case of serious illness, an ounce of prevention may be priceless.

What can you do to prevent being attacked by the Flying Monkeys of Disease?

The number one, simplest way to avoid an infectiouis disease is good hygiene, which consists of:

1. WASH YOUR HANDS! Yep, as Momma used to say, “Wash up, now!” Hand washing often and thoroughly may be the best defense against the leading causes of infectious diseases.

• Use soap and running water for at least 20 seconds.
• Thoroughly scrub all areas of the hand, including the top of hand, in between fingers, the palm of the hand, under nails and the wrist area.
• Rinse well under running water and dry thoroughly with clean towel or paper towel.
• If in a public restroom or a home where an ill person resides, once your hands are clean and dry, use a paper towel to turn off the faucet and open the door.

If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol based hand sanitizer. Be certain that you use the hand sanitizer according to the following guidelines (or instructions on container):

• Squirt a quarter-sized dollop of hand sanitizer in palm of hand
• Thoroughly rub all surfaces of hand (as above for hand washing) with the hand sanitizer
• Sing the “Happy Birthday” song to yourself TWICE while scrubbing hands. Don’t stop until you have completed song
• If your hands are still damp with hand sanitizer—and they should be—allow them to air dry.
• Don’t touch contaminated surfaces—see above.

1. WHEN TO WASH HANDS:

• Before eating
• Before preparing food
• Handling any raw meat product, packaged or otherwise
• After using the bathroom…..EVERY SINGLE TIME, MALE OR FEMALE!
• After changing a diaper
• After cleaning the kitchen
• After cleaning anything, including handling dirty clothes
• Especially after cleaning up any bodily fluid.
• When you return home
• After known contact with an ill person
• Before and after cleaning a wound of any type
• After handling any animal, domestic or otherwise, including their food, dishes, bedding or cages
• After blowing nose or coughing into your hand
• Before cleaning out the dishwasher or putting away clean dishes
• Before setting the table
• After taking out the trash

3. Insist that ALL family members learn and follow hand washing rules.

4. Sneeze and cough into your elbow or better yet, cover your nose and mouth with a tissue!

5. Use disposable tissues instead of handkerchiefs. If you must use a handkerchief, wash it in hot water and strong laundry soap before using again. DO NOT just refold it and use day after day!

6. Avoid sick people as much as possible. If your friends insist on coming to public functions while they are sick, leave. Real friends do not share germs.

7. Do not share (and teach this to your tweens and teens!) make-up, food, drinks, shaving razors, chapstick, lip gloss, eating utensils, beverages, towels, washcloths, athletic equipment, toothbrushes etc with others. Sharing lip gloss and chapstick is a common habit among some teens. Both substances are superb carriers of a wide range of Flying Monkeys of Disease.

8. When using a public restroom, remember that many microbes, including MRSA, can live on hard surfaces for months at a time. Use common sense and at least these precautions:

• Cover the toilet seat with disposable covers or toilet paper. Be certain that the paper is dry. If fluid shows up from the seat, remove that cover and recover seat.
• Avoid contact with as many surfaces as possible. Utilize toilet paper, your own tissues and paper towels to open doors, lock locks, turn on water and turn off water. DON’T use the same paper for all of those operations.
• Don’t flush the toilet while you are on it or right over it.
• Wash hands thoroughly as above.
• Report dirty bathrooms to management.

9. Regularly launder bedding.

10. Replace hand towels daily. If your family is ill, consider switching to paper towels. Using clean & dry washcloths to dry hands, instead of larger hand towels, will cut down on laundry.

11. Re-use bath towels only if each person has their own, the towels are hung up to dry thoroughly, and are not used to dry hands. Even with those guidelines, wash after 2 or 3 re-uses. If someone is actively ill, switch to laundering bath towels after each use.

12. Keep your hands away from your face. Teach children to keep their fingers out of their mouths, nose, eyes and ears.

13. Utilize a shopping car seat cover for infants and toddlers. Wash frequently.

14. Utilize spray disinfectants for hard surfaces.

15. Consider wearing disposable gloves when cutting raw meat or cleaning seriously germy spots such as toilets. Remove and replace gloves if you must stop part way through the process. You will still need to wash your hands afterwards, but you will be less likely to cross contaminate other surfaces and make hand washing more effective.

In addition to practicing good hygiene, there are a few more things you can do to stop those Flying Monkeys!

• Stay as healthy as possible. Eat a healthy diet, get enough sleep, follow guidelines for screening exams, take medications and vitamins as prescribed, exercise moderately and reduce stress as much as possible.
• Avoid ‘communal’ foods..those big containers of food that lots of people can stick their hands in. This goes for open, large-scale samples in public areas.
• Avoid sick people. It is best to remain six feet from anyone who appears ill. It happens at every office party or social gathering. Someone arrives that is obviously ill, but felt they ‘had’ to come. See if you can’t encourage that person to go home and get back in bed where they belong! The same goes for co-workers. On public transportation, move if the person next to you is ill.
• Insist that all healthcare providers practice good infection control. This includes washing their hands before examining you and changing table covers between exams. Anyone breaking your skin (as in drawing blood, etc) should be wearing gloves and possibly a mask. Ask your doctors, especially your pediatrician, what infection control practices they use. Are there ‘well baby’ times?
• Bring your own entertainment for children in waiting rooms.
• Watch all food handlers and food service workers. Are they healthy looking or sneezing, coughing, etc? Is the food served at the right temperature? Hot foods should be delivered HOT and cold foods COLD. Are food handlers wearing gloves? Is the location clean? Do servers handle plates and glasses away from the drinking/eating surface? Is flatware clean and covered? If you see something questionable, speak up, request a replacement or leave.
• Research and discuss with your physician the need for vaccinations.
• Research and consider the need for facemasks and/or respirators. Learn the difference between the two and how to use them. For those with compromised immune systems, masks and/or respirators may be needed.
• If someone in your home is chronically ill, elderly, an infant or otherwise more susceptible to serious complications from disease, research and learn all you can about infection control.
• As much as possible, stay out of Emergency Rooms, hospitals and other crowded areas teeming with germy people.
• Ask about and double-check your children’s schools & childcare providers policies regarding infection control. Are personnel trained to handle bodily fluid spills, illness, food preparation safety and infection control? Do caregivers practice good diaper changing and toileting practices? Observe them carefully! Are sick children quickly isolated and parents called to pick them up? Are teachers supported in efforts to remain home when they are ill? Is food served at the correct temperature, in a clean environment and with good dishwashing practices? Is food prepared by at home served in your child’s classroom?
• Obey all declarations from public health officials should an epidemic or other widespread disease emergency occur! That may mean that ‘there’s no place like home.’

Prevention truly is the best medicine. By remaining healthy, adopting good habits of sanitation and insisting that those around you do, as well as being pro-active, you can avoid at least some of the Flying Monkeys of Disease!

——-This Week’s 10×100 Challenge Goals——-

8. Check the tire pressure and tread depth on your tires.

9. Clean out your medicine cabinet and dispose of out-dated medications.

10. Test your smoke detectors & change batteries as needed.

11. Set up a spot for your perpetual grocery list. Let your family know where it is!

12. Photocopy your credit cards & ID. Place copy in your “What If?” Notebook.

13. Check the outside dryer vent. Be certain that vent flaps open freely. Remove any visible lint.

14. Clean the inside of your car windshield. “Stuff” gathers on the inside of the windshield and can cause complete ‘white out’ when you are driving towards the sun.

15. Clean one pantry shelf. Move older food to the front.