On National School Nurse Day Lend a (Clean) Hand to Keep Kids Healthy!

May 12, 2010 | Written By: Healthy Schools Campaign

Today we have a guest
blog by Donna Duberg, assistant professor of clinical laboratory
science at Saint Louis University and a member of the Tork^®
Green Hygiene Council™

National School Nurse’s Day on May 12 is the perfect
opportunity to recognize some of the hardest working members of the
school staff.  School nurses are charged with keeping hundreds of
students healthy on a daily basis and today face more challenging health
issues than ever before. 

One
of the best ways to pay tribute to school nurses is by helping to
reduce their workload.  Parents can lend a hand by reinforcing the
messages that school nurses share every day and ensure that kids arrive
at school healthy.  By implementing proper hand hygiene habits, we
ultimately could help reduce the number of student visits to the nurse’s
office.

Below are some handwashing
tips and advice to help keep students clean and healthy:

Students should wash
their hands:

• After
  arriving at school
• Before meals or eating
  any food
• After visiting the washroom
• After sneezing
• After arriving home
• When hands are
  visibly dirty

Simple steps to
proper handwashing:

• Wet hands with clean
  warm water
• Apply soap
• Rub hands together vigorously and scrub
  all surfaces for 20 seconds. Remember to wash both of your thumbs as
  thumbs are quite often skipped in the handwashing process.
• Make sure to wash under nails, watches
  and jewelry because germs gather there
• Rinse with clean water
• Dry hands
• Use a paper towel to avoid contact with
  frequently touched surfaces while leaving the washroom, such as the
  faucet and door handles
• Because hands are to
  be washed frequently, use mild and gentle soaps

After washing and
drying your hands:

• Avoid touching your
  eyes, nose or mouth
• Avoid close contact such as shaking hands
  or giving high-fives in the hall, especially with sick friends
• Cough or sneeze
  against your sleeve or in a paper tissue that you throw in a waste
  basket

Plus: To download a free hand hygiene poster from Tork, click here!

You can find more great handwashing resources and information from the CDC online.