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Mother Said “Wash Your Hands”
Physicians and public health officials agree that the single most important role you play in your own health is to wash your hands. Why is this old-fashioned idea coming to the forefront again—and what does it mean to you and trade shows?

Why is it important now?
There are a couple of obvious reasons why hygiene has taken on new importance:

• Travel is more global. Diseases that are more prevalent in one country or the world now get on the plane and sit next to you. When you travel to a foreign country, you take inoculations and other health precautions, but you don’t think about foreign germs on domestic flights.
• Lots of us tend to overmedicate ourselves. At the first sign of a sniff or sneeze, we pop an over-the-counter remedy or ask the doctor for help. It solves our immediate problem, but our body builds up immunities. At some point, the normal remedies don’t work, leaving us vulnerable to more serious illnesses.
• Medicine doesn’t always work. Researchers are scrambling to invent new medicines to combat the immunity problem, mutant diseases, previously undiagnosed illnesses, and new diseases. Look at the history of AIDS as an example of the “new” diseases which are all around us.

Here’s an exercise for the regular work week and/or to test at your next trade show: Each day count the number of times you shake hands, and the number of times you wash your hands. Bet it’s a scary relationship. At a show, you may shake literally hundreds of hands per day and you will have few opportunities to wash your hands.

What should you do now?
Be aware of the fact that germs travel both ways and are passed along quickly. Without being paranoid or obsessive, here are steps you can take to protect yourself and others:

• Wash your hands frequently. If soap, water and clean towels aren’t available, use a hand sanitizer that doesn’t require water. The travel size can be tucked into pocket or purse and used discreetly on a show floor.
• Use paper tissues and dispose of them properly in trash cans, not on the floor or in pockets.
• Avoid touching those “sticky” places under restaurant tables or the escalator hand rail.
• At the show, only accept food that is wrapped or freshly prepared. For example, don’t dip your hand into the bowl of M & M’s, but do accept the candy in a wrapper. At the buffet table, you don’t double dip your cracker into the veggie dip, but you can spear the cheese cube.
• Use common sense. Make sure you and your family is up-to-date with inoculations and general health matters. Some childhood diseases can be fatal to adults.

So, enjoy the show—and be sure to wash your hands!

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