Thursday, March 15, 2018

Wash your hands!

Our blog this month is from Healthy Lifestyle Arena. It's all about how a simple, but extremely beneficial, habit plays an important role in your health. Also, don't forget to register for my spring classes! You can view the schedule here.

Washing Hands Plays Key Role in Nursing Home Health

When I was in college, I worked as the night orderly on the intensive care of a reputable and clean nursing home. I saw a number of older people in various stages of their last days or in a condition where they were no longer able to care for themselves.
There are several residents that I have not and never will forget, even though this was over 40-years ago. Compared to most nursing homes in the area, the one I worked at had a lower than average death rate and lower than average of required hospitalizations. Some of the others in the area were dirtier, poorer staffed and required more patient to hospital transfer and more deaths, when compared to the number of residents.
I often think it was because of the staff at the one I worked at cared for the residents and treated them with respect as if they were members of our own family, even they were so out of it that they had no idea who we were or where they were.
I look back on it now and realize that cleanliness played a major factor in our good reputation. The floors and rooms were kept very clean and we were constantly reminded to wash our hands every time we left one resident to care for another. Gloves were only worn for the really messy cases, but as a rule, we didn’t wear gloves (this was before all of the safety issues we see today).
Our parents tell us to wash our hands all the time and with the flu season upon us, we are reminded about keeping our hands washed everywhere we turn.
But does hand washing really make that much of a difference when caring for others, like in a nursing home environment?
Check this out:
“Infection prevention practices centered on hand hygiene (HH) protocols can save lives across all healthcare facilities, not just hospital settings. This includes nursing homes, according to a new study published in the February issue of the American Journal of Infection Control (AJIC), the journal of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC).”
“Researchers reviewed the impact of implementing a multicomponent HH program among nursing homes (NH). They found that incorporating consistent measures that prompt staff, residents, and visitors to wash hands can lower mortality and antibiotic prescription rates, and increase overall hand cleaner use. This study is among the first to assess HH practices outside of the hospital setting through a randomized controlled trial.”
The researches listed their results:
  • The intervention group that incorporated HH measures reported lower mortality (2.10 in the intervention group vs. 2.65 in the control group, per 100 residents per month) and antibiotic prescription rates (5.0 vs. 5.8 daily doses per 100 resident days). Notably, researchers recorded a 30 percent lower mortality rate in the intervention group in January-March 2015,
  • To note, while the study resulted in a lower mortality rate among the intervention NHs, the study leads flagged that the impact was not sustained after the HH intervention ended (2.53 deaths per 100 residents in the last three months of the study, as compared to 2.87 deaths per 100 residents in the three months after the study concluded).
Additionally, they reported that the number of antibiotic prescriptions in the intervention group were lower than the control group indicating that regular hand washing helped prevent the spread of illnesses and infections.
If you have any loved ones in a nursing home, share this with them and insist that follow strict hand washing protocols. It can and will make a difference in how long your loved one OR YOU, will live.

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With that in mind, Young Living has great products that we can use on the go and at home to keep our hands clean:

Lavender Foaming Hand soap
Lavender Foaming Hand Soap cleanses and conditions your hands without leaving dryness or irritation. Infused with Lavender essential oil, vitamin E, and aloe, this soap is effective and gentle enough for the most sensitive skin.

Lavender Oatmeal Bar soap
With a relaxing floral scent and luxuriously creamy formula, our Lavender-Oatmeal Bar Soap leaves skin feeling soft, smooth, and refreshed. Oats offer gentle exfoliation and remove excess oil while moisturizing botanicals such as coconut, jojoba, and wolfberry seed oil and five therapeutic-grade essential oils prevent over-drying. With its
100 percent vegetable-based formula, this bar is vegan-friendly. It’s also hypoallergenic and made without synthetic dyes or colorants, parabens, petrochemicals, or sulfates, so it’s gentle enough for all skin types.

Thieves Foaming Hand Soap
Thieves Foaming Hand Soap makes it easy to lather, rinse, and get on your way! With a plant-based, instant-foam formula, skin is left feeling clean and refreshed but never over-dried. Plus, you’ll love the lingering citrus-spice aroma of our proprietary Thieves® blend of Clove, Lemon Cinnamon, Eucalyptus and Rosemary.

Thieves Cleansing Bar Soap
Thieves® Cleansing Soap offers cleansing benefits, plus the power of pure essential oils. Containing the legendary Thieves oil blend, this bar soap is ideal for purifying the skin.

Thieves Waterless Hand Purifier
Long-lasting Thieves® Waterless Hand Purifier is enhanced with natural Peppermint oil to cleanse and purify hands. Use as often as necessary. Apply a nickel-sized amount to the palm of hand and rub until completely absorbed.



Joyce Phelps Stephens, NCLMBT #2272
110 Iowa Lane, Suite 201
Cary, NC 27511
(919) 270-5868
www.joycephelpsstephens.com
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https://www.myyl.com/joycestephens (YLEO#401605)