Nursing students from Thompson Rivers University Williams Lake visited Nesika Elementary School on Friday to share some hand-washing tips with students.
Hand-washing can help prevent and reduce the spread of diarrheal and respiratory illnesses.
According to the Global Health Canada website, a single gram of human feces — which is about the weight of a paper clip — can contain one trillion germs.
Germs can also get onto hands if people touch any object that has germs on it because someone coughed or sneezed on it or was touched by some other contaminated object.
When these germs get onto hands and are not washed off, they can be passed from person to person and make people sick.
Teaching people about hand-washing helps them and their communities stay healthy, reduces the number of people who get sick with diarrhea by 23 to 40 per cent, reduces diarrheal illness in people with weakened immune systems by 58 per cent, reduces respiratory illnesses, like colds, in the general population by 16 to 21 per cent and reduces absenteeism due to gastrointestinal illness in schoolchildren by 29 to 57 per cent.
Last year three of the nursing students embarked on a project to promote Naloxone training and at the farmers market this fall, nursing students had a booth where they were taking people’s blood pressure.
Read more: TRU nursing students promote Naloxone training
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