CrestClean’s hand-hygiene training sessions helps school battle winter ills
Two youngsters check for “invisible germs” on their hands during a session on hand-hygiene presented by Gina Holland.
A CrestClean manager has won praise from a Christchurch school principal for teaching kids about the importance of adopting good hand-hygiene habits.
Gina Holland offered to run awareness sessions at Halswell Primary School after Stuart Cameron got in touch for advice following an unprecedented level of student absences due to winter bugs.
He says Gina’s presentation hit home with the youngsters. “She delivered it really well and the kids were really excited and engaged by what she was doing.”
During the interactive sessions, Gina encouraged the youngsters to rub a clear liquid gel into their hands to demonstrate how germs can spread if hand washing is not carried out thoroughly.
The Glo Germ gel represents “invisible germs”. Any residual solution left on the skin when the hands are not completely clean after washing glows brightly when exposed to ultraviolet light.
“The children were amazed that even after cleaning their hands there were still ‘pretend germs’ on their wrists, between fingers and under nails,” says Gina. “We then went over the correct way to clean hands and trained them to be hand-hygiene specialists.”
At the conclusion of the sessions, each class received a practical reminder of Gina’s visit. “The teachers were given a CrestClean sanitiser spray bottle and some microfibre cloths to help keep their classroom sanitised all day long,” says Gina, CrestClean’s Christchurch South Regional Manager.
Halswell Primary School has been hit hard this winter by a particularly nasty cold bug, says Stuart. On one day 130 children had succumbed and were away sick.
“This term has probably been the worst I’ve seen it. Often at this time of year people get colds and are away for one or two days, but with this particular thing that’s floating around they are away for five days.”
He says encouraging better hand-hygiene among students was a good reminder of how a simple step could help prevent the spread of germs.
Gina’s presentation was well received by students and teachers, he says. “It was appropriate for all age groups, which was really good.
“The thing that has been fed back to me was that the kids were really surprised on how much of the Glo Germ was still on their hands after they thought they’d washed their hands thoroughly. That came across really well.
“The way Gina did it was a very effective illustration of the need to wash hands thoroughly.”
Gina had initially planned to run two hand-hygiene sessions at the school – but as word spread among the teachers everyone wanted their class to be involved.
Over two days 10 sessions, each lasting about 20 minutes, were delivered involving the whole school.
“I love doing these sessions with children and adults as it is always well received,” says Gina. “It’s a great way to demonstrate how easily germs can contaminate a clean area without being seen and it’s a reminder to us all of the importance of hand-hygiene.”
CrestClean’s Gina Holland demonstrates good hand-hygiene habits to students at Halswell Primary School.
