Hands pick up absolutely everything, including germs.
That?s why Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Josh Sharfstein started with the hands to kick off Prevention Wednesday at Healthy Start on North Carey Avenue, with a demonstration on proper hand-washing.
“We?d like to see school kids and kids in day care doing this all the time,” Sharfstein said.
“We hope that people will wash their hands several and many times a day.”
Before eating, after going to the restroom, getting dirty, coughing or sneezing into your hands are really good times to wash, he said.
“My mom always has me wash my hands. I even wash my hands before I go to bed,” 5-year-old Elijah Brown of Baltimore said, before washing his hands again.
Perhaps more important than washing often is the quality of the wash. While doctors and researchers debate whether anti-bacterial soaps or good old-fashioned bar soap rules for the home bathroom, all agree that a good, 20-second lather is essential to killing germs.
To show how much a quick wash would miss, Sharfstein and city epidemiologist Jamaal Russell shone a black light on Elijah?s hands and those of his sister, 2-year-old Trinity, to illuminate any remaining germs after their first wash. Then, using proper washing technique, showed them how to make all the florescent bugs disappear down the drain.
Prevention Wednesday, scheduled to continue on occasional Wednesdays throughout the fall, is designed to get residents thinking about how to stay healthy before the winter cold and flu season kicks in.
“We?re trying to brand Wednesday so that at least once a week, people are thinking about prevention,” Sharfstein said. “We want to give information that?s useable, and we want to give people resources to improve their health.”
Future Prevention Wednesdays will focus on preventing sudden infant death syndrome, lead poisoning, cancer, heart disease and obesity.
