Permission For Meds.pdf

John Fuller Elementary School’s Health and Wellness team is incredibly excited to announce that we now have a hand washing station in our cafeteria.  Thank you to Memorial Hospital and their generous donation. Because of them we were able to accomplish this big job. We could not have done this without them and our maintenance department.

Research shows that frequent hand washing decreases the spread of germs and illnesses. According to the CDC https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/why-handwashing.html, handwashing

• ●Reduces absenteeism due to gastrointestinal illness in schoolchildren by 29-57%
• ●Reduces the number of people who get sick with diarrhea by 23-40% 
• ●Reduces diarrhea illness in people with weakened immune systems by 58% 
• ●Reduces respiratory illnesses, like colds, in the general population by 16-21% 

Our children have recess before lunch and share germs on the playground equipment.  Sometimes their hands are visibly dirty. They didn’t have a way to wash their hands in a timely manner because the bathrooms are so small with individual sinks and lunch is such a short amount of time. 

Hand sanitizer is a great option and available for when soap and water are not but it is not as effective if your hands are soiled or greasy.  According to https://foodinsight.org/hand-me-the-hand-sanitizer-when-and-when-not-to-use-it/

It’s also important to note that hand sanitizers cannot kill the norovirus, a food borne illness that accounts for 19 million to 21 million illnesses a year. The norovirus is spread by eating or drinking contaminated foods and beverages, as well as sharing food or eating from utensils with someone who has the norovirus. For this reason, it is best to always try to wash hands properly—with warm soap and water before eating.

Our goal is to keep our children safe, healthy, and in school.  With this hand washing station, we will decrease the amount of illnesses in our school which will increase our attendance and help maintain the health of all of our children here at John Fuller.

The next time you come in stop by and check it out!

Kindly,

April Fitzsimmons, RN and the Health and Wellness Team