Hand Washing

[Eamonn]

Not so long ago I was having a friendly chat with the fellow who is the Camp Commissioner at our Summer Camp. He said that he was shocked at the number of Scouts who use the bathroom and leave without washing their hands. This is at a camp with hot and cold running water. So I can only imagine how bad it is at camps that don't have running water in the bathrooms.

He thought that the lack of hand washing was a factor in a lot of the upset stomachs, which campers were blaming on the camp food. I'm not sure if that is the case.

It might be a good idea if a small bottle of antibacterial soap was added to the equipment list for personal use and a couple of bottles were in each patrol Cook box for the cook to use before food prep.

Eamonn

[OldGreyEagle]

Eamonn do you mean soap soap or the newer "no water" hand sanitizer thats all the rage? One caveat on the waterless sanitizer, I can see its use in the latrine setting, but not for food prep. All the sanitizer will do is rearrange dirt on a mud covered hand.

 

Soap and water is the only hand prep acceptable prior to cooking which is what I am sure you were saying.

[evmori]

Eamonn,

We carry Purell at all times! This is great stuff for camping!

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[John-in-KC]

OGE,

 

Must be nice to be at a long term camp that still uses jamboree feeding method (ie, units draw bulk rations and cook in camp).

 

Our Council has had dining halls for 50 years....

 

That said, for the year-round program, you are certainly right!

 

John

 

 

[Fat Old Guy]

Boys not washing their hands? Horrors! All the boys that I know wash their hands before AND after they go to the bathroom and take a shower in the morning and before dinner. Of course, these boys are all on the planet Zebunon.

 

 

[acco40]

For our Sunday morning meal, our troop likes to cook "eggs in a bag." Fairly easy, likable and no mess to clean up. However, eggs and boys hygiene don't mix well. When instructing new scouts I always give them my egg speech. I gather all the newbies together and ask them where eggs come from. They all chime in "from chickens." Yes, very good. What part of a chicken? I get some confused looks, some mention hens, and then finally someone blurts out, "from their butt!" Yes! So after you wash your hands and then handle eggs, don't touch any other food! Put your cheese, onions, etc. in the bag BEFORE you touch your eggs.

 

This works much better than talking about salmonella. The boys don't quite comprehend the effects of salmonella poisoning but butts are something they can grasp!

[Eamonn]

What happens when you use pasteurized eggs with a food grade wax covering?

Eamonn

I love the line "Butts are something that they can grasp"(This message has been edited by Eamonn)

[packsaddle]

Most of the boys in this troop are fairly good about food hygiene. A wash before handling. And then after if handling things like meat or eggs. This topic is really important. Has anyone washed their hands in a public bathroom and then used their hands to open the door to leave? They may have wasted their time washing. Think about this next time you shake someone's hand and then hold a hot dog or hamburger in the hand you just shook with. So it is with the food. Washing is good any time but it is REALLY good just prior to eating.

 

The cooking process should take care of Salmonella or similar bacteria (theoretically, even if handling the eggs prior to the other items to be cooked - I enjoyed the butt-grasping comment too). But cooking does have to be complete for effectiveness. I like to think this is why a big thick steak is healthier than chopped meat. Mmmmmmm. Yep, I'm hungry and I'm headin' to the kitchen....

 

Edited part: You know, I'm thinking I had a relative named something like 'Salmonella'. Or was that 'Barbarella'? H'mmmm(This message has been edited by packsaddle)

[Fat Old Guy]

I'm a big fan of washing hands before cooking because I'm more concerned about what came from the Scouts butt than I am about the chicken's butt. The likelyhood of getting a salmonella infected egg is 1 in 20,000.

 

http://cityguide.news-press.com/fe/Dining/Stories/031015_eggs.asp

 

 

[acco40]

Eamonn and others, you did hear about the soul food restaurant that Sammy Davis Jr. and Ella Fitzgerald opened in the late '60s or early '70s didn't you? They had a marvelous location, great food but had a hard time attracting customers. After a few years of losing money it had to close. It seemed that nobody wanted to eat at Sam 'n Ella's.

[Eamonn]

Don't tell me it was next to...

Sam's Franks Disco, where I left my Harp.

Eamonn

[packsaddle]

OK, since you guys are doing your best to kill this thread, I'll make a contribution as well. They are adaptations by microbiologist Helen Davies, a highly regarded teacher and scientist. She has created some neat songs adapted from popular tunes. My favorites in part:

To the tune of 'Sounds of Silence';

Hello herpes our old friend.

Will be with us 'til the end.

'Cause the virus softly creeping,

Left its genes while we were sleeping.

etc.

 

But wait, there's more! My all time favorite to the tune of 'Yesterday';

Leprosy,

Bits and pieces falling off of me.

But it isn't the toxicity;

It's just neglect of injury.

 

Suddenly,

I'm not half the man I used to be.

Can't feel anything peripherally

From swollen nerves, hypersensitivity.

 

Why don't leprae grow in vitro? We cannot

say.

In vivo they grow very slow, once in 12 da ...

ay ... ay ... ays.

 

Hard to get,

But the stigma hasn't faded yet.

Don't keep an armadillo as a pet.

Clofazamine and Dapsone--don't forget.

 

Kind of grows on ya, doesn't it? Tee hee.

 

H'mmm, maybe the boys would like these...

[Proud Eagle]

I must say that I have never really noticed a problem with hand washing before food preparation. People normally remember that. Just to make certain they are usually reminded.

 

 

The problem is people not washing their hands before meals.

 

The biggest reason for this I have seen is the lack of soap in most camp latrines. If there is soap, it is a nasty looking old bar that appears to have recently been in the latrine, if you know what I mean.

 

The other problem is there are some latrines at some camps with no running water.

 

For camps with dining halls, there usually is no provision for washing hands immediately before meals.

 

Possible solutions to these problems:

Install a liquid soap dispenser at each latrine. Or, better yet, have each troop bring a bar of soap, a nylon stocking, a nail, and a hammer to create a handy latrine soap dispener.

 

Create a hand wash station using a bucket with a valve or cork installed.

 

Build hand wash stations (complete with running water and soap) outside all the main entrances to the dining hall.

 

If hand washing facilities/equipment are readily available, people are more likely to use them.

 

Another option my troop has sometimes used, is to have one of the adults bring a bottle of hand sanitizer to every meal, just in case someone forgot to wash their hands.

[willysjeep]

Mabey it seems a little wierd to hear, but antibacterial soap isn't necisairily the best for constant use. Neither are alcohol hand sanatizers. Basically, they do their job too well. Mothers who sterilize and sanitize everything for their children from birth are removing many inoffensive bacteria and fungi that serve to sort of innoculate children as they grow. When they don't have as good of a resistance to these normally pretty tame bacteria, coupled with the fact that no inoffensive bacteria (natural flora) are left on their skin to keep the harmful bacteria away wounds don't heal as well. Many experts recomend just plain old soap for everything. It removes dirt, does pretty darn well on dangerous bacteria, and doesn't strip off as many natural flora. Of course, antibacterial soap is great for first aid, but for constant use I use Ivory now. Besides, Ivory smells almost exactly like citronella oil for some reason. I am almost tempted to think that it might help repel mosquitos!

 

Mabey making a wash stand could be a good way of getting that "useful camp gadget" requirement taken care of. At my summer camp we just distribute food to the patrols to cook themselves. We have a latrine with a sink and cold running water. If each patrol made a wash stand for their dingin area they could help one member get a requirement done instead of making a token hat rack or other arbitrarily useful item just to fulfill a requirement. Even leaving a bucket or water jug to warm up in the sun (solar shower!) might make hand washing a little more common. Of course cold water doesn't bother me. After wrestling a crisco greased watermellon from about a dozen other assistant scoutmasters in a contest representing my troop I took a garden hose shower with a bar of LAVA soap to get the crisco out of my trunks and hair.

[kenk]

I once read an article about the tremendous number/variety of germs that can be found on a communal bar of soap. You have to understand that soap doesn't kill germs, it just help wash them off. So many of those germs end up in the lather on the bar of soap - and the nylon so many scouts use to hold the bar certainly does wonders for harboring these germs.

 

The odds are that with good handwashing and rinsing, most of those germs will be washed off anyway, but use of bar soap can allow a person to come into contact with "new" germs, if hands are not washed well enough - poor washing with bar soap might be worse than no washing at all.

 

Use of a liquid soap dispensor is much much more sanitary than use of bar soap.

 

Here is an interesting related web site:

 

http://tinyurl.com/2u82f