In 1999, a medical doctor by the name of William Sawyer was worried about putting his children into daycare. He worried about all the germs that they would come in contact with and wanted them to remember the importance of handwashing and hand awareness. So, he came up with the idea of a sock puppet that evolved into Henry the Hand, and ending with Henry the Hand Champion Handwasher as a cartoon character. Henry continues to encourage people of all ages to wash their hands every 1-2 hours, protect their eyes, nose and mouth, and break their unconscious habit of touching their T-zone (eyes, nose and mouth area). Henry the Hand Foundation reminds us how important hand washing is especially during the cold and flu seasons, now during the COVID-19 outbreak, and all 52 weeks of the year.
The American Medical Association (AMA) and the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) endorsed the Henry the Hand’s 4 principles of Hand Awareness which are as follows:
Wash your hands when they are dirty and before eating.
Do not cough into your hands.
Do not sneeze into your hands.
Above all, do not put your fingers into your eyes, nose or mouth.
Hand hygiene is one of the simplest, and yet most important and effective, measures to maintain cleanliness and prevent infections. The ideal amount of time to wash hands is 30 seconds, but 15 is recommended at the very least. Most of the bacteria on your hands are under the fingernails, so make sure you scrub under them with a fingernail brush. Damp hands are 1,000 times more likely to spread bacteria than dry hands, yet only 20% of people dry their hands after washing them.
Staff should help remind and encourage clients as to when hand washing should be done. Not only will it help protect them but those around them from illnesses. We should all lead by example and wash our hands whenever the following occur.
Before, during and after preparing food.
Before and after eating or smoking a cigarette.
After using the bathroom.
After blowing their nose, coughing or sneezing.
After touching the cat, cat food or animal waste.
After touching the garbage.
Coming back from a public place.
What started out as an idea of a concerned parent, who happened to also be a doctor, is now being taught all over the world. There are Henry the Hand Educational posters written in 23 different languages. It is amazing how one small thing could evidentially save thousands if not millions of lives. In 2003, Dr. Sawyer co-founded the Clean Hands Coalition with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to promote the saying “Clean hands prevent disease and save lives!” So, lets all do our part and spread the word about hand washing awareness and not germs.
For more information on Henry the Hand, click here.