Sanitation: the universal disease fighter

In the west­ern part of Hon­duras is a gov­ern­ment hos­pi­tal that serves a moun­tain­ous region. Peo­ple walk for days to receive med­ical ser­vices. Preg­nant women from out­ly­ing areas spend weeks on the hos­pi­tal grounds wait­ing to deliver. Once labor starts they live too far away to arrive at the hos­pi­tal in time for the birth.

Vol­un­teers arrive in Santa Rosa de Copan at least twice a year to expand the ser­vices offered to this devel­op­ing region and to teach Hon­duran coun­ter­parts new tech­niques and share equip­ment. The Cen­tral Amer­i­can Med­ical Out­reach, known as CAMO, orga­nizes their efforts. CAMO also ware­houses a myr­iad of med­ical sup­plies for the community.

This week I am regroup­ing from my time in Santa Rosa de Copan. Last week I ate break­fast at 6:15 a.m. in order to be at the hos­pi­tal kitchen by 7 a.m. The Nutri­tion Team often worked through lunch and arrived back at the hotel between 5 and 6 p.m.

The food deliv­ery sys­tem for the entire hos­pi­tal was revised and the CAMO team taught the kitchen staff time man­age­ment and work effi­ciency. The new turquoise trays make the food look more appe­tiz­ing and the por­tion con­trol helps with costs and improves the nutri­tion of the patients.

The week was a labor of love for the vol­un­teers and a love of labor for the Hon­duran staff. They tried so hard to accept and resist change at the same time; in the end, order and san­i­ta­tion won out.

Part of the hos­pi­tal kitchen ren­o­va­tion included the instal­la­tion of a dish­washer, com­pli­ments of the gen­er­ous peo­ple who con­tribute to CAMO. A booster heater was donated and now the trays are heated to 180 degrees Faren­heit for 15 sec­onds to con­trol food borne illnesses.

Dur­ing a meet­ing with the hos­pi­tal direc­tor and the kitchen com­mit­tee, the CAMO Nutri­tion Team heard a uni­ver­sal theme. Hand wash­ing and san­i­ta­tion is the first line of defense to fight disease.

The food is now being served on san­i­tized trays. The direc­tor cau­tioned his staff to keep their hands and the hands of the patients clean. There are no uten­sils used at the hos­pi­tal. Din­ers scoop their food with their fin­gers onto a tor­tilla. This is how the major­ity eat at home. I com­pare it to eat­ing with chop­sticks; a cul­tural skill that con­fuses most of us not accus­tomed to the process.

Hand wash­ing prior to work­ing with or eat­ing food is a basic food safety prin­ci­pal. I won­der how many folks wash their hands before grab­bing the French fries at a fast food restau­rant. Some peo­ple mind­lessly munch on snacks in front of the tele­vi­sion with­out clean hands. A com­puter key­board has been proven to be as germy as a toi­let seat or a tele­phone yet many folks chow down between key strokes.

The Nutri­tion Team trav­eled 12 hours one way by car, plane and bus to a devel­op­ing coun­try to achieve san­i­ta­tion dur­ing din­ing. Per­haps the mes­sage should be stressed here at home. Wash your hands; the health you save may be your own.

Bob­bie Ran­dall is a cer­ti­fied dia­betes edu­ca­tor, reg­is­tered, licensed dietit­ian. She super­vises a dia­betes self-management train­ing pro­gram at Aultman-Orrville Hos­pi­tal, Orrville. Con­tact her at bobbie.randall@aultmanorrville.org or 330–684-4776.

Posted by Bobbie Randall on Mar 8 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Comments can be made below.