American Academy of Pediatrics staph safety guidelines

Advice from the pediatricians—doctors dedicated to the health of all children—for keeping safe from staph infections has been posted on the doctors’ Academy website. The guidelines begin with background on the bacterium and how its infections are spread and treated. The guidelines for protecting children from being infected by staph are presented in three sections: how to prevent/control spread, messages for school personnel, and messages for students/parents. Once again, as mentioned in an earlier Defywire Watch post, everyone is strongly admonished to wash their hands.

These authoritative guidelines are clear, concise, and well worth reading, reproducing and sharing.

Talking with children about violence

The tragic headlines today about the school shooting in Finland are the tip of a media iceberg that will crowd television, radio, print and digital media for the next several days. Even when a terrifying school event occurs on the other side of the world, it reaches the homes, schools and places of play for millions of children. Adults are confronted with what to say to young people about the event, and about the broader ideas of violence that are brought up by news coverage.

The following guidance is from the guidelines of the National Education Association (NEA):

Your child watches a newscast that contains a lot of violence.

Watching the news and other media with your child enables you to discuss current events like war and other conflicts, and can provide an opportunity to reinforce the consequences of violence and to assure your child that they are safe. Ask your child what she’s heard about it and how she feels about it. Listen carefully to encourage your child’s full expression of feelings and thoughts. Answer any questions she has. Don’t overwhelm a child with information. Mainly, you want to make sure you have an opportunity to answer questions and provide comfort.

Also, take care to reassure her that you and school officials will do your best to assure his or her safety. And let your child know you’re available if she wants to talk more at another time.

Even if you don’t see your child watching coverage of a major violent event, don’t ignore it. If there’s a major story in the news, especially one involving children, your child probably knows about it.

Personal safety assembly at Lakewood, Colorado middle school

Master Corina Black, shown above, heads the ATA Black Belt Academy in Lakewood. She is passionate about women’s safety and self-defense. Last May, she conducted a personal safety and self-defense assembly for approximately 800 eighth graders at her community’s Dunstan Middle School. Female teachers and administrators also attended. Master Black said about the event:

The girls were very attentive and interested in keeping themselves safe. I was very pleased with them accepting the challenge of keeping themselves safe over the next 8 years as they complete high school and then college. I outlined a four-step plan as a starter for personal safety and awareness — P-erceive; A-nalyze; F-ormulate; I-nitiate. They also got to try a hands on approach to someone grabbing them and a spacial body positioning drill in relation to a real or perceived threat.

It is helpful to think of safety across a broad range of techniques. Physical self-defense is perhaps the oldest, and certainly important for every youngster to have in the range of ways to keep from getting hurt. It is good news, though, that new lines of first defense can be not physical, but digital. In our maturing age of digital devices and wireless communication, highly effective self-defense is often using a cell phone to send alerts and location information that will bring help.

The story quoted and image are from YourHub.com, a weekly section produced by the Rocky Mountain News.

Washing Hands Safety Tip

The superbug safety concerns that are receiving a lot of focus this fall have parents, children and school people working hard and carefully to learn the best ways to keep children safe from infection at school and elsewhere. As it turns out, at the top of almost every list of steps to take is the advice to wash hands often and correctly. The Defywire Safety Tip (on the list for January 8, 2007) is about Washing Hands. Watch the video with you children for a quick reminder that will be reinforced by seeing the actors doing the right job in the sink.

Some of the top health sources that recommend hand washing to prevent infection by antibiotic-resistent Staphylococcus and other germs are:

The Mayo Clinic: Wash your hands. In or out of the hospital, careful hand washing remains your best defense against germs. Scrub hands briskly for at least 15 seconds, then dry them with a disposable towel and use another towel to turn off the faucet. Carry a small bottle of hand sanitizer containing at least 62 percent alcohol for times when you don’t have access to soap and water.

Center for Disease Control and Prevention: Where you can read detailed instructions for washing your hands with soap and water, using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer, and when you should wash your hands.

Microbe World has an activity for kids called Caught Dirty-Handed which is a very much hands-on tutorial on the importance and methodology of hand washing.