How To Wash Your Hands
by Christina Jones
 Proper
hand washing may be the
single most important thing we can do to prevent the spread of
MRSA, as well as cold and flu virii and other infectious diseases,
and to prevent antibiotic resistance. We must
do it in our homes, and medical staff must do it between
patients, because MRSA is everywhere now, and is especially
prevalent in medical settings.
Always wash your hands after
using the bathroom, before, during and after food preparation,
after blowing your nose, when they are visibly dirty, and even more often when you, or
someone in your home, is sick.
The medical community knows how to wash their hands, and
their process is a lot more involved than ours, but here is how
to do it so that the bacteria washes down the drain, rather than
stays on your hands:
Wet your hands. Apply liquid soap, or bar soap.
If you are using bar soap, make sure that it is stored in a
container that drains, or you will have a colony of bacteria
living underneath it. Lather up the soap, and really scrub
your hands, and scrub them all over, and all the way to your
wrists. One of the places that is frequently missed by
hand washing, and is also the number one place for bacteria to
reside, is the thumb and the area between the thumb and the top
of the wrist. Be absolutely sure you scrub this area very
well. If you have a scrub brush, use it, and be sure to
scrub under your nails. Keep scrubbing for about 20
seconds. Sing a kids song (Twinkle Twinkle) and when it is
finished, rinse your hands well. After all of that
scrubbing, it would be a shame to leave the loosened bacteria on
your skin. Rinse well, and send that bacteria on down the
drain. Dry your hands with a fresh towel, or with paper
towels, and then throw them away.
Using a paper towel to turn off your water faucets is always
a good idea as well. When I am in public, especially, I
use a paper towel to open the door to the restroom when I leave.
All of the scrubbing in the world will not help when the guy in
the bathroom before you did not wash his hands before he left.
Clean your faucets and toilet and bathroom door handles
daily. Using these measures will not only help you prevent
the spread of MRSA, but will keep a barrier between you and many
other types of infections.
There are many good hand washing resources on the internet, I
would suggest printing out one of them and posting it in your
bathrooms. If you have children, choose one that is easy
for them to understand, like the one at
HenryTheHand.com.
For more information about hand washing see:
Clean Hands
Coalition
KidsHealth.org
CDC
(Centers for Disease Control)
WashUp.org
ScrubClub™ 
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