Posted on July 4: Wash your hands before you go

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Sonya_Malcolm_opt.jpg” caption=”Sonya Malcolm”]

Remember your mother always telling you to wash your hands or else you'd get sick? It turns out she was right.

The Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care says that hand washing, when done correctly, is the single most effective way to prevent the spread of communicable diseases.

The recent Ontario outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) has made hand washing of paramount importance, especially for people visiting or working in health care facilities.

Screen, Clean & Go, a new campaign launched in response to SARS, is designed to make everyone aware of the important role they play in infection control and preventing the spread of SARS. Everyone who enters the McMaster University Medical Centre or other health care facilities in the city are being asked to follow three simple steps before coming into the hospital.

“People need to be prudent and take a common sense approach,” says infectious diseases expert Mark Loeb. “The current SARS situation is under control, but programs such as Screen, Clean & Go will help us continue to fight against another outbreak.”

The idea for the program came from Sonya Malcolm, who devised the idea while a public relations intern with Hamilton Health Sciences. Malcolm joined the Faculty of Health Sciences and Hamilton Health Sciences this week as a full-time communications co-ordinator.

The Screen, Clean & Go program is part of the “new normal” situation instituted by all hospitals affiliated with Hamilton Health Sciences. “New normal” procedures include a vigorous surveillance for potential SARS cases, and self-screening and hand washing by all people entering hospital buildings.

In Hamilton, health care facilities including McMaster Faculty of Health Sciences joined forces to launch the Screen, Clean & Go campaign to keep the public aware of the “new normal” situation and, more importantly, to emphasize what individuals can do to control the possibilities of infection.

The campaign model, based on a standard stoplight, is simple:

Red means SCREEN – everyone must screen themselves for the symptoms and risk factors of SARS before entering a health care facility. Symptoms include fever, headache, general malaise and muscle aches. The risk factors are exposure to people who have SARS; exposure can happen simply by visiting hospitals where SARS patients are currently being treated. The Ontario government provides hospitals with daily updates of those facilities. There continues to be no cases of SARS in Hamilton.

Yellow means CLEAN – refers to hand washing. As simple as it sounds, thorough hand washing is the best defence against the casual spread of infection, including SARS. Hand wash stations have been set up at hospital and unit entrances, making it easy for everyone to wash their hands with an alcohol-based sanitizer before coming into the building.

Green means GO – if you have no symptoms of SARS and haven't been exposed to anyone with SARS, you may come into the hospital after you wash your hands. All visitors are asked to follow the hospital's visiting policies.

For updates on this campaign, visit the HHS Web site.

Photo caption: Sonya Malcolm washes her hands at a Screen, Clean & Go station in the Ewart Angus Centre. Photo credit: Chantall Van Raay