Re: [Felvtalk] Question re: keeping them healthy-article

2008-12-13 Thread Lisa Borden
   

You didn't get it because your immune system was strong enough to
fight it off. Hospitalized patients are the ones that are at risk for
getting c-diff. I could probably take care of a hundred patients with
it and not get it. The reason we (nurses) wear gowns when taking care
of these patients is not so much for our protection, but rather for
the protection of our other patients. And c-diff definitely isn't
new. It's been around for a while! 

Lisa
 On Fri 12/12/08 10:18 AM , Rosenfeldt, Diane d...@quarles.com sent:
  Argh! My mother got C. diff when she was in a nursing home, and it
was
 a horrible horrible thing. It didn't kill her, but it took months to
 clear up. She had fallen and broken a hip and a wrist, and the
constant
 diarrhea made everything much much harder for her and her
caretakers.
 I'm sort of surprised that I didn't get it from visiting her!
___
Felvtalk mailing list
Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org
http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org


Re: [Felvtalk] Question re: keeping them healthy-article

2008-12-12 Thread Gloria B. Lane
http://bulletin.aarp.org/opinions/othervoices/articles/a_hospital_germ_on_the_warpath_.html

Opinion -  A Hospital Germ on the WarpathYou can take some simple  
steps to avoid infection
By Betsy McCaughey - November 1, 2008 - From the AARP Bulletin print  
edition

Grace Voros was 85 and enjoying life, watching her family grow and  
taking romantic walks with the man she fell in love with 61 years ago,  
when she took a minor fall. She went to the hospital for an x-ray,  
where tests confirmed she had no broken bones. But while there, she  
contracted an infection no one in the family had ever heard about, “C.  
diff,” and died.

C. diff, short for Clostridium difficile, is raging through hospitals,  
infecting hundreds of thousands of patients a year. The bacteria  
contaminate every surface, including bed rails, bed tables, nurses’  
uniforms, privacy curtains, faucets and call buttons. When patients  
touch these surfaces and then pick up food without washing their  
hands, they ingest the germ. Any patient taking antibiotics who  
ingests C. diff is in danger of developing severe diarrhea, leading to  
dehydration, inflammation of the colon and even death.

Routine cleaning isn’t enough to protect you from C. diff. Researchers  
at Case Western Reserve and the Cleveland VA Medical Center found that  
after routine cleaning at a hospital, 78 percent of surfaces were  
still contaminated. To kill the germ, you need to use bleach.

When surfaces are not properly disinfected, the results can be deadly.  
At Thomas Jefferson Medical Center in Philadelphia, three consecutive  
patients occupying the same room came down with C. diff. One died.

Staffs at many U.S. hospitals are woefully uninformed about what to  
do. One study reported that 39 percent of medical personnel didn’t  
know that C. diff could be spread on stethoscopes, blood pressure  
cuffs and other equipment. About two-thirds of medical staff were  
unaware they should clean their hands with soap and water, because  
alcohol sanitizers don’t kill this superbug.

What can you do to protect yourself? Insist that everyone treating you  
clean their hands before touching you.

Clean your own hands thoroughly before eating. Do not touch your hands  
to your lips. Do not place your food or utensils on any surface except  
your plate. Ask family to bring wipes containing bleach to clean the  
items around your bed.

When you leave the hospital, assume any belongings you bring home are  
contaminated. Do not mix clothes from the hospital with the family  
wash; wash with bleach. Regular laundry detergents do not kill C. diff.

If you are visiting someone in the hospital, be careful about eating  
in the cafeteria or a restaurant where the staff go in their scrubs or  
uniforms. These uniforms could be covered in invisible superbugs. More  
than 20 percent of nurses’ uniforms had C. diff on them at the end of  
a workday, according to one study. Imagine sliding into a restaurant  
booth after a nurse has left the germ on the table or the seat. You  
could easily pick it up on your hands and then ingest it with your  
sandwich.

Poor hospital hygiene and lax practices such as wearing scrubs in  
public are putting all of us at risk. That’s why I founded RID, the  
Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths, so that other families won’t  
have to go through what Grace Voros’ family suffered.

Betsy McCaughey is a former lieutenant governor of New York.





On Dec 12, 2008, at 1:27 AM, dlg...@windstream.net dlg...@windstream.net 
  wrote:

 yes it is.  story was about Grace Voros, 85 who took a minor fall.   
 went to hospital for x-ray.  no broken bones, but contracted c. diff  
 and died.   article was in aarp bulletin for november 2008.  if  
 someone will tell me how to copy article and attach to email, will  
 do.  dorlis
  catatonya catato...@yahoo.com wrote:
 what is the germ?  is it c-diff?  My grandmother died from that in  
 August.  Evidently it's highly contagious.
  tonya

 dlg...@windstream.net wrote:
  just saw article in AARP magazine about a new germ that only  
 Clorox can kill it. it is popping up in hospitals all over. said  
 that if go to hospital, make sure all coming into your room wash  
 hands throughly with lots of soap and water. also bed rails, etc  
 should all be washed down. seems lately, we can get sicker in  
 hospital than at home. one lady died from it. dorlis
  Pat Kachur wrote:
 If you are concerned, you could wipe off your shoes with some type  
 of germ
 killer before you come in the house.


 - Original Message -
 From: Lisa Borden
 To:
 Sent: Saturday, November 15, 2008 10:32 AM
 Subject: [Felvtalk] Question re: keeping them healthy




 I am at work and I just thought of something. I am a nurse and come
 in contact with human bugs all the time. Is it logical for me to
 think that I should NOT let ANY of my cats come in contact with my
 clothes or shoes when I come home? Or are the human bugs not a risk

Re: [Felvtalk] Question re: keeping them healthy-article

2008-12-12 Thread Rosenfeldt, Diane
Argh!  My mother got C. diff when she was in a nursing home, and it was
a horrible horrible thing.  It didn't kill her, but it took months to
clear up.  She had fallen and broken a hip and a wrist, and the constant
diarrhea made everything much much harder for her and her caretakers.
I'm sort of surprised that I didn't get it from visiting her!

-Original Message-
From: felvtalk-boun...@felineleukemia.org
[mailto:felvtalk-boun...@felineleukemia.org] On Behalf Of Gloria B. Lane
Sent: Friday, December 12, 2008 9:09 AM
To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org
Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] Question re: keeping them healthy-article

http://bulletin.aarp.org/opinions/othervoices/articles/a_hospital_germ_o
n_the_warpath_.html

Opinion -  A Hospital Germ on the WarpathYou can take some simple  
steps to avoid infection
By Betsy McCaughey - November 1, 2008 - From the AARP Bulletin print  
edition

Grace Voros was 85 and enjoying life, watching her family grow and  
taking romantic walks with the man she fell in love with 61 years ago,  
when she took a minor fall. She went to the hospital for an x-ray,  
where tests confirmed she had no broken bones. But while there, she  
contracted an infection no one in the family had ever heard about, C.  
diff, and died.

C. diff, short for Clostridium difficile, is raging through hospitals,  
infecting hundreds of thousands of patients a year. The bacteria  
contaminate every surface, including bed rails, bed tables, nurses'  
uniforms, privacy curtains, faucets and call buttons. When patients  
touch these surfaces and then pick up food without washing their  
hands, they ingest the germ. Any patient taking antibiotics who  
ingests C. diff is in danger of developing severe diarrhea, leading to  
dehydration, inflammation of the colon and even death.

Routine cleaning isn't enough to protect you from C. diff. Researchers  
at Case Western Reserve and the Cleveland VA Medical Center found that  
after routine cleaning at a hospital, 78 percent of surfaces were  
still contaminated. To kill the germ, you need to use bleach.

When surfaces are not properly disinfected, the results can be deadly.  
At Thomas Jefferson Medical Center in Philadelphia, three consecutive  
patients occupying the same room came down with C. diff. One died.

Staffs at many U.S. hospitals are woefully uninformed about what to  
do. One study reported that 39 percent of medical personnel didn't  
know that C. diff could be spread on stethoscopes, blood pressure  
cuffs and other equipment. About two-thirds of medical staff were  
unaware they should clean their hands with soap and water, because  
alcohol sanitizers don't kill this superbug.

What can you do to protect yourself? Insist that everyone treating you  
clean their hands before touching you.

Clean your own hands thoroughly before eating. Do not touch your hands  
to your lips. Do not place your food or utensils on any surface except  
your plate. Ask family to bring wipes containing bleach to clean the  
items around your bed.

When you leave the hospital, assume any belongings you bring home are  
contaminated. Do not mix clothes from the hospital with the family  
wash; wash with bleach. Regular laundry detergents do not kill C. diff.

If you are visiting someone in the hospital, be careful about eating  
in the cafeteria or a restaurant where the staff go in their scrubs or  
uniforms. These uniforms could be covered in invisible superbugs. More  
than 20 percent of nurses' uniforms had C. diff on them at the end of  
a workday, according to one study. Imagine sliding into a restaurant  
booth after a nurse has left the germ on the table or the seat. You  
could easily pick it up on your hands and then ingest it with your  
sandwich.

Poor hospital hygiene and lax practices such as wearing scrubs in  
public are putting all of us at risk. That's why I founded RID, the  
Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths, so that other families won't  
have to go through what Grace Voros' family suffered.

Betsy McCaughey is a former lieutenant governor of New York.





On Dec 12, 2008, at 1:27 AM, dlg...@windstream.net
dlg...@windstream.net 
  wrote:

 yes it is.  story was about Grace Voros, 85 who took a minor fall.   
 went to hospital for x-ray.  no broken bones, but contracted c. diff  
 and died.   article was in aarp bulletin for november 2008.  if  
 someone will tell me how to copy article and attach to email, will  
 do.  dorlis
  catatonya catato...@yahoo.com wrote:
 what is the germ?  is it c-diff?  My grandmother died from that in  
 August.  Evidently it's highly contagious.
  tonya

 dlg...@windstream.net wrote:
  just saw article in AARP magazine about a new germ that only  
 Clorox can kill it. it is popping up in hospitals all over. said  
 that if go to hospital, make sure all coming into your room wash  
 hands throughly with lots of soap and water. also bed rails, etc  
 should all be washed down. seems lately, we can get sicker