Wash Your Hands (The Right Way)

Handwashing is an important life long habit. Most people know this because of the media blitz over the past ten years. Not everybody does it right and there is a right way.
Nana knows 'first hand'--- because I had been a hospital RN. The first thing you are taught in Nursing School is, believe it or not, 'how to wash your hands the proper way.' There is a right way and a wrong way. Although anti-bacterial soaps are no longer recommended,hand washing is still said to be the best way to stay well. Most children get colds. It's a part of growing up, but handwashing also prevents the spread of bunches of other bugs that appear during toilet time.

In Nursing School, we were taught that after rinsing the hands of soap, take a paper towel and remove the wetness from your hands, then take another one and finish drying.

A few years ago, I decided to remove hand towels (not the decorative ones) from my bathrooms and replace them with paper towels. For each bathroom, I bought Bamboo paper towel holders from Kohl's. We use the more expensive paper towels so they don't disintegrate. A small child can be taught to use two paper towels. Now they come so one towel is perforated, so little hands need only one. Make sure you have a nice sturdy step-up at your sink and some fun liquid soap, but not anti-bacterial soap.

I recommend that you clear off your sink area, so the liquid soap and the paper towels are the main attraction. This reminds everybody that the purpose of the sink is to wash your hands. (Keep tooth brushes in a covered area, away from the circulating bathroom air)

The cold/flu season is coming. Let's try to help prevent a few. Here's the directions. These are from John Hopkins website. Maybe it could be made into a song.

There's more to hand washing than meets the eye. Follow these tips for guaranteed clean hands:

Wet your hands with warm, running water.

Add soap, then rub your hands together.

Lather up and away from the running water for at least 10 seconds.

Wash the front and back of your hands, between your fingers and under your nails (clean under nails by rubbing them across your palms).

Next, rinse your hands under running water. Let the water run into the sink, not back down your arms.

Turn off the faucet with a paper towel. Discard the paper towel without touching the trash container.

Dry your hands thoroughly with a clean paper towel or hand-drying machine.

To prevent chapped or cracked hands, use a moisturizing soap and follow with plenty of lotion. Cracking can open the skin, revealing another avenue for infection.

Have a healthy day.