Public Schools benefit from TCI Hospital ‘Clean Hands Project’

(Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands – Wednesday, June 07, 2017): Public primary schools on Providenciales and Grand Turk received educational sessions and donations of hand hygiene supplies as part of a multi-phase ‘Clean Hands Project’ launched by Interhealth Canada – Turks and Caicos Islands Hospital over the past two weeks. These institutions were the Oseta Jolly Primary, Ianthe Pratt Primary, Enid Capron Primary and Eliza Simmons Primary. Ona Glinton Primary School is scheduled for Friday, June 9th 2017.

Proper Hand Hygiene is one of the most cost-effective means of preventing the spread of bacteria. Teams of Infection Prevention and Control advocates from TCI Hospital visited each institution to conduct interactive hand hygiene GloGerm sessions.

The fun and safe liquid, gel and powder casts a revealing glow when exposed to ultraviolet light, which turns the invisible product into simulated germs. There were demonstrations on proper hand washing techniques and hand sanitizer dispenser stations were mounted across each school compound accompanied by wall signage.

Interhealth Canada – TCI Hospital donated supplies of antibacterial hand soap for bathrooms along with cases of hand towels, bottles of hand sanitizers, Clorox wipes and hundreds of pocket size-antibacterial wipes. The second phase of the project will focus on public primary schools in the outer-islands. The Ministry of Education, Youth, Sport and Library Services tremendously supported the initiative, which focuses on preventative measures.

Germs are unavoidable, but millions of bacteria can live on the skin. Shared keyboards can also contain as much germs as a toilet seat. Items such as cell phones can have more harmful bacteria than the handle in a public restroom because germs lurking on surfaces touched by persons may be transferred to cell phones, tablets and other everyday gadgets used by children and adults.

Touching the face with contaminated hands may spread illnesses like pneumonia, the cold, and the flu. Overseas studies on bacteriology have found there are nearly 332,000 genetically distinct bacteria on the human hand. These bacteria belong to 4,742 different species. The average person spends less than 10 seconds washing their hands. The ideal recommended washing time is 20/30 seconds.

ENDS