As we all know it’s that time of the year when it’s common for both children and adults to easily catch the Influenza virus.

Did you know? There are three main types of Influenza viruses: A, B and C. Influenza A and B causes outbreaks of seasonal flu, but influenza C do not (Duda, 2016). Influenza A is the most common type of virus. It’s likely susceptible for any of us to contract the influenza virus during this cold season. With this in mind, our boarding community has taken the opportunity to encourage students to take preventative measures. I will like to send many thanks to Boarding Nurse Aon for always taking the initiative to find ways to ensure proper care for all our students.

One of the easiest ways to prevent the spread of germs and viruses is to keep our hands clean. Maintaining hand hygiene is important because it helps us avoid getting sick and spreading germs to others. A lot of diseases are often spread because hands are not washed with soap and clean running water. While washing hands frequently throughout the day is recommended, it’s also acceptable to use hand sanitizer to help get rid of germs and bacteria. Since the beginning of Term 2, there have been a couple of influenza cases within our school community. It’s important for us as a boarding community to encourage students to be proactive about hand hygiene.

Nurse Aon has come up with a great way to encourage our students. She went out and purchased over 50 bottles of hand sanitizers. The idea behind this is so that each boarding apartment will have a hand sanitizer bottle at their disposal.

Besides buying the hand sanitizers, it is important to find a way to make it more appealing for students to want to use them. Ajarn Kathryn had the great idea of creating labels with germs on them to encourage students to use the hand sanitizers.

Since I have the opportunity to work with our Junior boarders, I went around and asked them what did they think about the hand sanitizers. They all had great things to say!

“It’s better for me to use the hand sanitizer because it smells good.” – Jasmine Grade 4

“I think that it’s a great idea that we have hand sanitizers in the boarding rooms because it will remind us to keep our hands clean.”- Dharma Grade 7

We all play a role in our personal health and it’s great to see that with a bit of encouragement our boarders are taking the initiative to be more proactive about taking care of their health.

H. (2016, November 09). What You Need to Know About Influenza B. Retrieved February 12, 2017, from https://www.verywell.com/what-is-influenza-b-770488