Spread the Word, Not the Germs on Global Handwashing Day – October 15, 2009

Tork® Green Hygiene Council Member Donna Duberg Offers Simple Tips for Proper Handwashing Techniques

From playgrounds and classrooms to rural communities and urban areas, people across the world are being reminded of proper hygiene techniques on October 15, Global Handwashing Day. With flu season beginning and concerns regarding the H1N1 virus are top of mind for parents and schools, advice from authorities, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), remains the same: good hand hygiene is a powerful public health preventative measure.

Despite this advice, a new Harris poll, commissioned by SCA Tissue North America’s Tork® brand, shows:

• Thirty-eight percent of U.S. adults won’t be washing their hands more frequently this flu season and
• Forty-eight percent of U.S. adults are not planning to take advantage of available flu shots

Considering we use our hands for almost everything and that the flu virus can live for up to eight hours on common surfaces like faucets and door handles, it’s especially important to teach students proper hand hygiene techniques early on to ensure healthy, lifelong handwashing habits.

To celebrate Global Handwashing Day, follow the below handwashing tips and advice and help keep your school healthy and safe.

When should you and your students wash your hands?

Good hand hygiene is especially important during flu seasons and during school hours. Students must wash their hands often and dry them thoroughly. If available, they can use an instant hand sanitizer as a supplement between washes. To prevent infection and cross-contamination they should wash their hands:

• After arriving at school.
• Before meals or eating any food.
• After visiting the restroom.
• After sneezing.
• After coughing.
• Before preparing food.
• Before and after visiting a sick person.
• After arriving home.
• When hands are visibly dirty.

After washing and drying hands, be sure your students:

• Avoid touching their eyes, nose or mouth.
• Avoid close contact such as shaking hands, especially with people who are sick.
• Cough or sneeze against your sleeve or in a paper tissue that you throw in a waste basket.

The best way to wash and dry your hands

Hands are full of surfaces that can be difficult to reach, which means that children tend to forget certain parts. When your students use a public washroom, instruct them to wash their hands as long as it takes to sing “Happy Birthday” twice. Here’s a step-by-step guide:

• Wet hands with clean warm water.
• Apply soap.
• Rub hands together vigorously and scrub all surfaces for 20 seconds. Remember to wash both thumbs as thumbs are quite often skipped in the handwashing process!
• Make sure to wash under nails, watches and jewelry since millions of germs gather there.
• Rinse with clean water.
• When at school, a single-use paper towel ensures that hands can be completely dried and virtually germ free.
• Use the paper towel to avoid contact with frequently touched surfaces while leaving the washroom, such as the faucet and door handles.
• Since hands are to be washed frequently, use mild and gentle soaps.

About Donna Duberg

An assistant professor of clinical laboratory science at Saint Louis University, Donna Duberg is an authority on hygiene and disease prevention. Duberg champions the benefits of proper hand sanitation and can provide expert insight on how businesses, homes and other open-to-the-public areas can stay germ free.

She has been used as a source for many interviews locally in St. Louis and nationally, including Good Housekeeping magazine. She makes recurring appearances as the "St. Louis Germ Expert" on the FOX2 newscasts. Duberg was chairperson of the Clinical Laboratory Science Program from 1998-2007 at Barnes-Jewish College of Nursing and Allied Health in St. Louis.

About Tork Green Hygiene Council (TGHC)

Tork created the Tork Green Hygiene Council (TGHC) to assist in its ongoing commitment to providing environmentally friendly and hygienic away from home washroom solutions.

Comprised of top professional and academic authorities from across the country on green building, corporate sustainability, hygiene and germ prevention, the TGHC is a council of four experts that offer holistic and trusted perspectives on how businesses can create sustainable and healthy work and home environments.

The TGHC provides independent feedback and advice on Tork’s environmentally and hygienically friendly initiatives, serves as valued professional resources to Tork’s partners and customers and provides expertise and industry insight.

The TGHC exists to enhance global awareness of proper sustainability and hygiene practices to make the world a greener, safer and cleaner place to live and work.

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