Ten Tips on How to Avoid Germs This Flu Season

N1H1 is the current name for the swine flu. We all live in fear of the dreaded disease. The nightly news reports updates us regularly on where it is and where it's going. Hearing of a case a few towns over some months ago got my attention. I never was a germophobe. Sure, I wash my hands after using the restroom. My home is moderately clean and that is good enough for me. What I don't like is the thought that the "flu" is always right around every corner. Not only that, there is just enough vaccine to go around. I never got the flu shot before and I probably won't now either. Call me crazy but injecting a bit of the dead flu to ensure I don't get the real deal gives me the willies. So, I have learned to navigate the world as safely as possible. My worldly travels are usually limited to hospitals, multiple doctors offices, labs and pharmacies.

If you ask me those are the places one should avoid if at all possible. That being said, our family are frequent fliers of the club med that does not boast of their waiters and massage therapists. We travel carrying our insurance cards and gain entrance with the obligatory co-pay that is due up front. The only conditions that are imposed on our membership are pre-existing conditions and we got those. So, how do we navigate the germiest places on earth. Not by hand gel alone. It's nice that most establishments now have the hand gel everywhere. I just don't like touching the public hand gel dispenser. If you think about it long enough neither will you. I don't care that the one million people that touched it before me will be evaporated from my skin when I spread the miracle gel on. It's just the thought of what those people were sick with and why were they at the emergency room anyway?

My second line of defense after hand washing is using my own gel that I carry in my purse. Number three is to always have my own pen and to use it everywhere. I never use a pen at the pharmacy, doctors offices or any hospital reception area ever! Fourth is to always have facial tissues in my purse. If I have to use the dreaded public rest room I use a tissue to open the door and to close the door. Fifth is to flush with my foot even though people get upset about this. I don't care even if I leave a bit of dirt on the handle. It is hospital dirt and it was not mine to begin with I am just redepositing it elsewhere. One of my sons has a very interesting public toilet ritual. First of all, this boy is a germaphobe. He would go a whole day in high school without using the restroom. Day after day this boy ran home to hit the head. He couldn't stand to use a public toilet and he still can't. He has invented the "hopper hammock". We all use those nice paper rings to lay on the seat but he has taken paper protection to a whole new level. He takes strips of toilet paper and crisscrosses it across the seat so that it looks like a snowflake. Then when he has to drop last nights burritos they drop and hold in the middle of the "hopper hammock". Then, he gently lowers the paper into the water. No back splash whatsoever.

I have yet to try this for myself as I am very regimented in my morning routine, thankfully. I probably would utilize this technique if push came to shove, so to speak. Nevertheless, sixth on my list of precautions is to pay by paper check when I need to part with a co-pay. I don't want other people handling my debit card. Usually, in a hospital they have to take it from you and swipe it themselves then you have to punch your numbers into the public code pad. Not sanitary at all. Number seven I bring my own food to an all day hospital event. Hospital cafeterias are a breeding ground for germs. Those paper hats and thin rubber gloves do not fool me. Everyone touches the bagels. People usually try to take one coffee cup but end up grabbing three and then they have to shove their bare hand in the middle to pry them apart. Not cool. I can't even begin to talk about the salad bar. It is just too much for me.

Number eight is to make sure you get a clean strip of paper liner on the exam table. Usually, you get to see it happen before your very eyes and that is very comforting to me. If I don't see it for myself I will do it myself. I am not above grabbing the end of the paper and whipping it off in a jiffy right in front of the nurse. I may get a look but I also get clean paper. Number nine is to always keep my socks on whenever I am in the hospital or doctors office for anything. Even if it is eighty degrees outside and I am wearing sandals in I carry socks in my purse. The floor is the nastiest place in a medical building. If youare a woman, the stirrups are a very good reason to always carry socks. Doctors adjust those things for every patient. You do not want to stick your bare feet on anything that was handled by a doctor who makes a living probing the insides of women. Not only that, there is jungle rot and fungus to consider. It could happen no matter how small the chance.

Number ten is to be smart about not getting sick. It is common sense to expect coworkers to stay home when they are sick. If you are in a managerial position you must tell your employees to stay home if they are sick. They will in the end cost you money by infecting other people. Find out how to take better care of yourself to ward off illness. If you are not getting enough sleep and you are not eating right you are setting yourself up for illness. You need to take care of your immune system before you assault it with some super bug. Take a multi vitamin and drink plenty of fluids. Ease up on the caffeine and try to center yourself with a calming activity everyday. Stress is a hazard to your immune system. Take care of yourself and take the minimal precautions to stay away from the flu bugs. If the economy is stressing you out buy some stock in hand sanitizer I hear it's a good money maker this year.