Preventing Fear While Waiting in Medical Waiting Rooms

With the rise of H1N1, more commonly known as the swine flu, more and more medical facilities are taking precautions to more aggressively prevent the spread of germs. Patients are now recommended to wear surgical type paper masks if they are experiencing any type of coughing or upper respiratory symptoms. Entering a medical facility and seeing several of these masks along with the faces of those who do not feel well, can immediately lead to a sense of fear.

Here is some perspective on the reality of illness:

Good hand washing habits have always been in effect in restaurants, schools, and medical facilities they are just now more heavily promoted to get the general public to do what they always should have been doing-washing their hands!

Many medical professionals even though seemingly around illness for eight plus hours a day do not seem to fall ill. The main reason is proper and nearly religious habits of hand washing not only at work but in their daily lives. If health professionals can avoid a majority of illness simply because of this, it would only make sense that we too can avoid many types of communicable disease by actively employing good hand washing techniques in everyday life situations.

Remember not to touch your mouth, nose, or eyes without the assistance of a tissue or making sure you've thoroughly washed your hands first.

The reality is that the regular flu actually kills more people per year in the United States than the swine flu has so far. People also die of taking Tylenol or Aspirin every year simply because their body did not agree with it. Those cases are not cases of overdose. These things are not widely published but credible resources can be found by performing some simple Google searches.

Health professionals, schools and community service personnel are all preparing for a full-blown "attack" of the swine flu because regularly healthy people seemed not to be able to fight it off in a few cases. There are many more who had swine flu who may not have realized it that were never seen, and those that had been seen by medical professionals and lived with symptoms improving in a 3-5 day time frame.

So realize that even though you see more masks in the waiting rooms and you know germs travel in close conditions and you know you have to sit in a room with people who are experiencing various symptoms, remember the realities of communicable disease. Remember that we are not alone and that good hand washing habits are key to avoidance.

Wash your hands after going out, before, and after eating, after using the restroom and more. I wash after I finish in every store where I run errands or use hand sanitizer on a regular basis. I also make it a habit to no longer rub my eyes, touch my nose or mouth without first cleaning my hands and try to teach my children to do the same. I keep hand sanitizer on each side of my vehicle for myself and my passengers and invite others to use the sanitizer at the same time I do. I also rub the excess on my steering wheel.

If nothing else, remember that fear only grips when you feel like you are not in control of a situation. You are in control of your habits, your mindset, and are in charge of gathering credible data to analyze for yourself. Swine flu is a risk, just like the regular flu, or a common cold. You can catch them if you don't employ good prevention techniques, including reducing stress (which fear causes), eating well balanced meals, exercising on a regular basis, and getting enough proper uninterrupted sleep.

I don't believe its paranoia to do this. Remember health personnel have done it a lot longer and these things have always been recommended. Next time you're in the waiting room remember the realities, take comfort in your faith if you subscribe to one and remember to keep washing your hands.