{"id":1543,"date":"2019-12-06T16:58:00","date_gmt":"2019-12-06T23:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/imaginehealthcentres.ca\/?p=1543"},"modified":"2019-12-06T16:58:00","modified_gmt":"2019-12-06T23:58:00","slug":"national-handwashing-awareness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/imaginehealthcentres.ca\/national-handwashing-awareness\/","title":{"rendered":"National Handwashing Awareness"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

National handwashing awareness week is from\u00a0December\u00a01st to\u00a0December\u00a07th. Are you
\nwashing your hands correctly? Even the most diligent hand washers among us still have room for
\nimprovement.<\/p>\n

In nursing school, one of the laboratory experiments we completed was basic hand washing. We
\nput a small amount of clear liquid on our hands then washed them for the standard 20 seconds.
\nWe repeated the experiment again for 2 minutes (as if we were going into the operating room).
\nThe clear solution we applied to our hands was blacklight responsive. Our instructor shone a
\nblack light on our hands to see how much residue was left. It was astounding how many solutions
\nremained on our hands, even after the 2-minute hand washing session. One area people,
\nincluding us nursing students, often miss is under the fingernails, around the nail beds and the
\nskin between your fingers.<\/p>\n

When you should wash your hands includes not only after using the washroom and when they
\nare visibly dirty but also after changing diapers or helping a child in the washroom; before<\/p>\n

preparing food; after touching any sort of raw meat \u2013 especially poultry; before and after treating
\na wound; before and after\u00a0assisting someone who is ill; after touching animals, animal food or
\ntreats and after taking out the garbage.<\/p>\n

There are proper hand washing guidelines posted in some public washrooms. Some key things to
\nkeep in mind are:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Use warm water and soap.<\/li>\n
  2. Scrub key areas (especially nail beds, beneath nails and between the fingers).<\/li>\n
  3. Scrub your hands for at least 20 seconds,\u00a0or the length it takes you to sing the alphabet.<\/li>\n
  4. Dry your hands thoroughly.<\/li>\n
  5. (If in a public washroom) use a dry paper towel to open the door.
    \nDon\u2019t forget to teach your children and little ones around you proper handwashing techniques.
    \nNot only are you teaching them to protect themselves against germs and bacteria but they are
    \nprotecting others as well.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Hand sanitizers and alcohol hand cleansers work in a pinch but they should not be used to
    \nreplace all hand washing. Hand sanitizers are not effective if your hands are visibly soiled.
    \nHowever, it can be used when soap and water is not available. The alcohol kills bacteria whereas\u00a0handwashing removes the bacteria, dirt and spores that could potentially make you sick. Hand
    \nwashing is important to protect yourself and those around you from becoming ill.<\/p>\n

    Don\u2019t forget to moisturize after hand washing, especially in our dry climate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    National handwashing awareness week is from\u00a0December\u00a01st to\u00a0December\u00a07th. Are you washing your hands correctly? Even the most diligent hand washers among us still have room for improvement. In nursing school, one of the laboratory experiments we completed was basic hand washing. We put a small amount of clear liquid on our hands then washed them for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1544,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[91,171,93,172,90],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/imaginehealthcentres.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1543"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/imaginehealthcentres.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/imaginehealthcentres.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imaginehealthcentres.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imaginehealthcentres.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1543"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/imaginehealthcentres.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1543\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1545,"href":"https:\/\/imaginehealthcentres.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1543\/revisions\/1545"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imaginehealthcentres.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/imaginehealthcentres.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imaginehealthcentres.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imaginehealthcentres.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}