Australian Infection Control Association (AICA) have selected Soapstream for an oral presentation titled ‘Clean Hands for the Future’ – Sustainable Education and Hand Hygiene Methods Within the School Environment at their biannual conference in Perth Oct 2010.
Australian Infection Control Association (AIDA) conference
Soapstream new product launch anticipated in October 2010. Register interest now for rollout.
Some 60 schools have already registered their interest with the new system roll out due in October.
Due to the flu season being upon us the level of enquiry has picked up to 3 a day with many now waiting to see the new designs and costs which are anticipated to be around the $125 per tap.
This is a huge improvement on the integrated push tap model which was around $360 per tap. Register for a copy of the cost comparison and payback calculator.
Having a vandal proof hand hygiene system was only 50% of the answer to effective hand hygiene in schools so that is why we have developed a new system of education which is seen as a revolutionary approach to teaching children.
Effective hand hygiene systems and education programs in schools will bring about a generation of children whose second nature will be to wash their hands. These children will in turn go onto become nurses, doctors, healthcare workers and other professionals who will have natural, effective and automatic hand hygiene practices. This will not only ensure obvious health benefits to our society but will also have huge social and economical benefits as well, an ongoing benefit being a reduction in the number of hospital admissions.
The system is still to undergo Ethics Committee approval however is expected to be ready for release in October.
Soapstream’s new retrofitted system
The new system is seen as tamper proof with reduced access to the soap by would be vandals.
With the first generation of the system Soapstream being integrated into a water saving push tap, we found that many schools wanted to utilize their existing taps to save cost with the ability to later upgrade the taps at a later date whilst still retaining the Soapstream system.
So it was back to the drawing board to develop a new system to meet those school needs and to further increase the durability and vandal proof nature of the Soapstream system. Another vital feature that has been added is the ability of the new system to self clean after each user thus further reducing the transfer of bacteria.
A recent news article titled “Hand Hygiene Question” dated 9th October 2009, raised the question of “who is responsible for hand hygiene in our schools?” The following information may be of assistance.
The responsibility for hand hygiene policy and procedures in WA schools lays with the individual principals as is outlined in this release from The WA Department of Education and Training.
STUDENT HEALTH CARE ADVICE PAPER
HAND WASHING AND THE PROVISION OF SOAP IN SCHOOLS
The Department’s Student Health Care policy acknowledges that all public schools will endeavour to ensure that health care standards are met and that good health behaviour practices are promoted in schools. The promotion of good health practices is a shared responsibility between schools and parents.
To help maintain a healthy environment and to prevent, to the extent possible the spread of disease, schools should encourage hand washing and ensure that soap or another cleansing agent is provided. Whilst there is no specific policy or procedural statement which identifies minimum requirements for provision by schools of hand-washing materials or facilities for students, the Department expects that these strategies are in place in schools.
Students should wash their hands:
- before preparing or eating food;
- after visiting the toilet;
- after being exposed to respiratory or other body fluids;
- after playing sport; and
- at any other time when the hands are soiled.
Hand washing should include a minimum of 15 seconds of lathering the hands and fingers with soap before rinsing and drying.
Funding and Resources
The Department provides funding to individual schools through the school grant. This funding may be used for the provision of products for hand washing. Decisions about the strategies adopted, about materials or facilities provided, and about how they are made available for students are made by individual schools at the local level.
Source – WA Department of Education and Training website
Although people around the world wash their hands with water, very few wash their hands with soap at the critical occasions. More hand washing with soap means lower rates of infectious disease: Clean Hands Save Lives!
Initiated in 2008 by the Global Public-Private Partnership for Hand washing with Soap, Global Hand washing Day is endorsed by a wide array of governments, international institutions, civil society organizations, NGOs, private companies and individuals around the globe.
For more information go to the website
Number of schools that shut down this fall in the U.S is set to surpass the spring count.
The number of students staying home sick with the flu is multiplying nationwide and normally quiet school nurses’ offices suddenly look like big city emergency rooms, packed with students too ill to finish the day. Read more here
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Since most countries have stopped counting individual swine flu cases, the figure is considered an underestimate.
WHO said there were 4,999 total deaths through Oct. 18, most of them in the Western Hemisphere. The figure was up 264 from a week earlier.
The Human Swine Influenza virus is a new flu virus that is infecting people and spreading from person to person. Cases of Human Swine Influenza have been confirmed in countries throughout the world by the World Health Organization and there have now been confirmed cases of Human Swine Influenza in Australia. More