International Clean Hands Week: Tips for Caregivers and Seniors
During International Clean Hands Week, family caregivers and their elderly relatives can rededicate themselves to hand hygiene. This means that they have an opportunity to remember why it is so important to wash hands to prevent the spread of germs and diseases. It’s not enough to run the hands under cool water a few times per day. Both seniors and family caregivers need to wash hands properly and frequently.
Elderly Care Springfield PA – International Clean Hands Week: Tips for Caregivers and Seniors
How to Wash Hands Properly
The best way to reduce the risk of getting sick is to wash the hands well. According to experts, hand washing should be done with warm water and soap. The lather process should take about a minute and people should concentrate on areas between the fingers and around the fingernails.
It’s also a good idea to keep hand sanitizer nearby to provide an additional level of protection. Hand sanitizer is the next best thing to use if there is not easy access to a sink and soap. However, nothing is as effective as a thorough hand washing with warm water and soap.
Elderly people also need to wash their hands regularly. They must follow the same process that the family caregivers do, unless they physically cannot get out of bed. In that case, using a hand sanitizer with a 60 to 90 percent alcohol content is acceptable. When using a hand sanitizer, family caregivers should rob it all over their hands, between the fingers and across the nails.
How Often Should People Wash Hands
The question of how often should people wash hands has an imprecise answer, because people should wash their hands as often as they need it. Someone that doesn’t do much or encounter much during the day will not need as much hand washing as other people. Here is a list of the times where people should wash their hands properly.
- After using the toilet
- After touching the face or hair
- After sneezing, blowing the nose or coughing
- Before and after handling food
- After handling dirty linens or clothes
- Before and after dressing a wound or incision
- Before and after helping an elderly person use the toilet or shower
- After returning from outside
Properly washing hands is such an easy way to ensure the health and wellness of the entire household. By making it a goal to take hand hygiene to a higher level, family caregivers can influence their elderly loved ones positively. International Clean Hands Week is the idea time to review the most current information on hand hygiene and make extra effort to stop the spread of disease and germs.
Source: https://www.cdc.gov/features/handhygiene/index.html
If you or an aging loved one are considering Elderly Care Services in Springfield PA, please contact the caring staff at True Direct Home Health Care today.
Doc, as he is called by everyone - staff, patients and clients - first experienced home health care and hospice care while as a colleg student at King's College as he cared for his mother every day while she first battled COPD and then lung cancer. It was during this time that he came to understand that caring for a patient was more than just clinical expertise.
"Admittedly, my strongest attribute is my communication skills and the simple fact that I love to help people. Even the smallest thing you can do for someone really can mean so much to them long term. In fact, it could change them forever. That's what providing quality personal home health care should be all about."
In his spare time, he cooks for homeless shelters and children's music and arts events. He also is highly involved in his local youth sports soccer academy as a coach and Board member.
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