DSEA Action!

Healthy Habits Week begins September 23 Celebrate Healthy Habits Week— sponsored by the NEA, PTA and LYSOL very year, the common cold results in 22 million lost days of school for students1, as a result of the 2.2 million cases of the common cold that affect Americans under the age of 17 annually2. Following the worst cold and flu season in over a decade, it's essential to stress the importance of hand washing, along with other good hygiene habits, to reduce student absences. Join us in launching the inaugural Healthy Habits Week on September 23, 2013 – a collaborative effort to reinforce the importance of practicing healthy habits among school-age children. We encourage you to bring the Healthy Habits Program to life by educating students on good hygiene habits that bridge the gap between home and school. To join the movement, go to www.lysol.com/mission-forhealth/healthy-classroms/ to access Healthy Habits Program resources, including a downloadable Healthy Habits Program toolkit with standardized lesson plans, tips for teaching good health and hygiene habits in both the classroom and at home, and a parent activity calendar. E 1. CDC, Adolescent and School Health. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/ healthy youth/infectious/index.htm. Last accessed March 2013 2. SNAP Healthy Schools, Healthy People. Statistics. Available at: http://www.itsasnap.org/snap/statistics .asp. Last accessed Dec 2012 HEALTHY Habits ® Presented by LYSOL, in collaboration with NEA and National PTA Tips for Teaching Hygiene in the Classroom Help keep YOUR STUDENTS HEALTHY with these IMPORTANT LESSONS: To help keep students from spreading illness-causing germs, the best thing to do is focus on simple, effective measures that we know work to limit the spread of germs. In the classroom, you can include such simple yet effective measures as making sure students routinely wash their hands, cover their coughs (with their arms rather than their hands), dispose of tissues rather than leaving them sitting around and avoid sharing cups or utensils. Handwashing is one of the best ways to prevent the spread of germs in a classroom. While a quick rinse may suffice for washing paint off one's hands, soap and water is a must when it comes to getting rid of germs. To effectively wash away germs, be sure to teach your students to use soap and scrub in between fingers, under nails and on both sides of their hands, and make sure they do so for at least 20 seconds (the time it typically takes to sing "Happy Birthday" twice). Focus your classroom handwashing routines on the key times your students' hands are most likely to spread germs. These include after going to the bathroom, blowing noses, coughing or sneezing, playing outside, touching used tissues or other contaminated surfaces, touching a class pet, touching garbage, and before eating or handling food. Consider having your students wash their hands more frequently when there's more illness going around. When soap and water are not available, however, alcohol-based hand sanitizers with at least 60 percent alcohol can help in some situations to decrease the number of germs on hands. Just be aware that hand sanitizers may not be as effective when hands are visibly dirty, and they do not work against all types of germs. Cleaning and disinfecting are part of a broad approach to helping prevent infectious diseases in schools, as reinforced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). While cleaning is important for physically removing dirt and germs from objects or surfaces in the classroom, it does not actually kill germs. Disinfecting wipes can be a practical way to target and kill illness-causing germs in the classroom. For the sake of both safety and effectiveness, always use EPA-registered disinfectants, including disinfecting wipes, and be sure to use them according to the instructions on the label. Focus on wiping frequently touched surfaces in the classroom, such as door handles, sink handles and even tables and chairs. Visit www.lysol.com/healthyhabits and www.cdc.gov for more information on preventing germs in the classroom. About Community-Associated MRSA. . . ou have probably heard about MRSA: Methicillinresistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). This is a type of staph bacteria that does not react to certain antibiotics. Staph will typically cause skin infections, but MRSA can also cause other infections, including pneumonia. Staph and MRSA can be spread by skin-to-skin contact, sharing or touching a personal item with someone with infected skin, or touching a surface or item that has been in contact with someone with MRSA. Traditionally, staph infections, including MRSA, have occurred most often among people in hospitals and healthcare facilities (such as nursing homes and dialysis centers) who have weakened immune systems. Y 14 September 2013 DSEA ACTION! Community-Associated MRSA (CA-MRSA), however, can cause illness in those outside of hospital/healthcare facilities. Students can contract MRSA, too CA-MRSA symptoms include skin infections like pimples and boils. The Center for Disease Control has discovered CAMRSA infections among groups such as athletes and children. Factors in the spread of the infection is thought to be close skin-toskin contact, openings in the skin such as cuts or abrasions, contaminated items and surfaces, crowded living conditions, and poor hygiene. For students spending time in locker rooms, dormitories or other close conditions, it's especially important to practice these basic yet important hygiene measures: • Keep hands clean by washing thoroughly with soap and water or using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer • Keep cuts and scrapes clean and covered with a bandage until healed. • Avoid contact with other people's wounds or bandages. • Avoid sharing personal items such as towels or razors. Source: Healthy Habits Programs at www.lysol.com. www.dsea.org

• Cover