ACCREDITATION – Hand Hygiene & PET BIO – Noah and Nala

PET HIGHTLIGHT of the Week: Noah and Nala – Submitted by Jennifer Gourlay (NorWest)

This is Noah and Nala – 1.5 year old tuxedo kittens that are an adored addition to our family. They are both sweet, funny and patient, even tolerating my daughters dressing them up in hotdog and French fry costumes for Halloween. They love watching squirrels, chipmunks and birds from the safety of our screened porch at the cabin. You can follow their adventures on Instagram @noah.and.nala lol

Backstory: These two are 2^nd generation “Norwest Cat Rescue Program” cats. Their mom, Blake, was rescued by Craig Krochak from Blake Gardens and we kept the Norwest naming going with Noah 😊

Policy Highlight – Routine Practices/Hand Hygiene – see attached PDF for a Summary of our most recent Audit AND Level 1 WRHA Policy on Routine Practices

• Hand Hygiene Audits are performed twice per year at our site and results are shared with staff.
• Hand washing training is on the WRHA LMS system that all staff were expected to complete https://sharedhealthmb.ca/health-providers/digital-health/lms/ . If you have not done so, please take this training, it is very short and will be logged onto your profile as being completed.
• Routine practice protocols that outline hand hygiene and hand washing practices expectations for all staff can be found at https://sharedhealthmb.ca/files/routine-practices-protocol.pdf

Questions that may be asked by a SURVEYOR

• Have  you received any training on hand hygiene/hand washing?
• Describe what your practice is and your programs expectations regarding hand washing and infection prevention/control
• What PPE is available to you and do you know how to use it?

Hand Hygiene/Hand Washing Reminders

Good hand hygiene:

• Proper hand hygiene for direct service providers includes: • Appropriate hand condition (e.g., artificial nails should not be worn, finger nail length should be short, wounds should be covered (with bandages, changed often), and hand jewelry is removed)

Washing your hands with soap and water:

• Use a clean sink area • Warm running water (using hot water can lead to more drying of the hands and can lead to skin breakdown) • Use soap and water and work into a lather (scrub should be at least 15 seconds and cover all areas of hands and wrist) • Use a clean hand towel (or paper towel) to dry your hands

 Washing your hands with alcohol based hand sanitizer:

• Alcohol Based Hand Rub or waterless hand cleansers can be used when hands are not visibly soiled. Place a dime size amount of Alcohol Based Hand Rub on your hands • Rub it on all surfaces of your hands until it is dry

Shannon Milks, RD
Chronic Disease Coordinator
Pronouns: She/Her
NorWest Co-op Community Health Centre
Access NORWEST
785 Keewatin St.  Winnipeg, MB  R2X 3B9
Cell: 204.226.7706
Smilks2@norwestcoop.ca