Many of you know that I was director of Food & Nutrition Services for my first 15 years at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. What you may not know is that when I became a hospital administrator, one of the many departments I was responsible for was Environmental Services, aka Housekeeping, aka the department whose staff are among the true frontline heroes every day and who play an especially critical role during the corona crisis.I was a healthcare worker during the H1N1 swine flu season and have overseen a norovirus outbreak. The first outbreak did not prove as deadly as Covid-19 and the second was short lived. Neither was anything compared to infection control challenges experienced now. Instead of focusing on food safety during the coronavirus crisis, this blog will share what I’ve learned about cleaning hospital rooms.

 The dedicated housekeepers clean and sanitize every hospital, clinic and waiting room each day. They also perform what is referred to as “terminal cleaning,” an unfortunate term, especially in light of the current death toll. In this case, it refers to the cleaning protocol followed after one patient is discharged (hopefully to home) and before the next is admitted. I can only imagine how housekeepers have stepped up their game dealing with the influx of Covid-19 positive patients.

Which specific products they use aren’t all that important as you probably couldn’t buy them now even if you wanted to. And you don’t need UV lights, because the good news is that soap inactivates Covid-19. You probably have soap at home. For a clever mini chemistry lesson on how this works watch a one minute Superhero Soap Video from the American Heart Association.

Environmental Service Workers Show Us How

Becasue hospital healthcare workers clean thousands of rooms, they have it down to a science. They need to be quick but thorough. Quick, because of the need for rapid room turnover. There’s a critically ill patient waiting to be admitted to that room as soon as its available. Thorough, because it’s estimated that about 10% of Covid-19 transfers may be through surface contamination. The other 90%, is person to person. Through countless tests and trials, 17 High Touch Areas have been identified. Housekeepers are trained, tested and evaluated using these touchpoints. How? One way is by applying a solution that is invisible to the naked eye. After a room is cleaned, it can be “light checked” which reveals whether the surfaces are germ free. The light is similar to the black light flashlight used to teach kids how to wash their hands. Come to think of it, that’s a good lesson for adults right now too. You can get a such a flashlight in a Glow Germ Kit.

It’s the Process that’s Important

One way these high touch areas are identified is by simulation: observing patients and caregivers to see what they touch most often. Then, to be sure that these critical areas where germs are most likely present are cleaned effectively. I’ve listed the 17 areas on the Healthcare High Touchpoint Guide.  You may not have bed rails or nurse call buttons at home, but it is a good idea to know your own high touch surfaces.

I decided to learn mine by following my daily routines with sanitizing wipes in hand. I’m doing this one room, one area at a time.  And to wipe as I go. I am fortunate to have wipes because during Quarantine Week 1, a friend who has been appreciated in the past for arriving with a bunch of Roses and Baby’s Breath, delivered a Covid-19 Bouquet of TP and Sanitizer instead. Perfect!

 BTW: Did you know Clorox Wipes don’t contain bleach? They do have the requisite amount of alcohol as an active ingredient These wipes are recommended nonporous for non-food surfaces and solids.  This link is for future reference only because, like many sanitizing products, they are temporarily unavailable or reserved for critical need providers.

Here are My Touch Points. What are Yours?

These are the things I touched during the course of a typical weekday morning routine. and a few extra ones I wiped down while in the vicinity.

Opening up the Home

• Alarm Panel Buttons

• Outdoor Light Switch

• Front Door: Deadbolt Switch & Door Handle  

• Newspaper

• Doorbell

• Exterior Door Handle

• Window Blind Pull Cords: Eight 1st Floor Windows

 Morning Coffee & Vitamins:

•  Coffee Maker: Pot and Buttons

• Kitchen Faucet

• Sugar Shaker

• Vitamin Jars: Daily Calcium & Vitamin D: trying to stave off the inevitable osteo-porosis, penia…whatever.

Breakfast

• Step Stool

• Garage Door Handle

• Recycling Bin

• Refrigerator Door Handle

• Cabinet Hardware

• Microwave Buttons

• Oven Handle and Stove Top Knobs

 Breakfast Nook:

• Countertop Desk Lamp: Reading the Columbus Dispatch

• Reading Glasses (counts as touching your face) Frames & Temple Arms

Dishwasher Controls: Load Breakfast Dishes

Prevent Foot to Hand Cross Contamination

I start my day with Fruit & Fiber: Bran + 1 other kind of cereal + 2 kinds of berries + OJ. On this day, I emptied a box of Raisin Bran Crunch. My backups are stored on the top shelf of my condo sized kitchen. I’m 5’1” inches tall, in order to reach this high it’s necessary to have a stepstool stashed in every room and walk-in closet. I pulled out the folding stool stored between the fridge and wall… Wow, I would have definitely missed cleaning this! Floors are a common source of Covid-19 because when droplets fall they are tracked wherever shoes go. I realized that I probably touch this stool with my both hands and feet at least once a day.   And always after returning from grocery store when putting foods away. This needed cleaned with soap and water. I now have indoor/outdoor shoes and the outdoor shoes stay in the garage.

What are the Odds? Will I Have to Sanitize my Recycle Bin Every Week?

I pitched the cereal box liner into my pedal operated kitchen trash bin, then walked with the empty cereal box toward the door of my attached garage which houses my recycling bin. I recycle EVERYTHING. As I lifted its lid, I paused again. The lid was gross. I inherited the bin with my condo. And I cleaned it, sort of, just like I cleaned everything else when I moved in. But let me tell you that I’m not certain that this is that bin.

I first suspected that the bin returned to my driveway was not the same one I had rolled out in the morning when I noticed there were some papers stuck to its bottom. They were pages from a catalog I’d never ordered from. How does this happen? The following week on Tuesday Trash Pickup Day, I conducted a stakeout from the upstairs window of my home office. Here’s the report:  

• Garbage Truck:

  • Parks in the center of each group of eight condos, four on each side.

• Sanitation workers:

  • Pull all 8 containers together

  • Empty them into the truck one by one

  • Push one bin back to each drive (or in the vicinity thereof) but not necessarily the same driveway from which they came.

What are the odds of getting your own bin back? Mine are 1 in 8! Lesson Learned! Cleaning my bins would require warmer weather and a hose, a task for another day. Until then, my new process is to keep the recycle bin lid open and toss in without touching. And of course wash hands before and after emptying the garbage.

 Lessons Learned in the Wipe as You Go Process: What You Touch is as Important as Where Yout Touch

I’ve just finished my morning breakfast routine. It’s been less than 1 hour and I’m already well past 17 high touch areas. I think I counted about 20. I identified objects that needed wiped down that I would not have otherwise. The two major ones were the Stepstool and Recycling Bin. But others I may have bypassed were the Sugar Shaker, Cord Pulls, Vitamin Bottles and Desk Lamp. I frequently wipe down the front of the handles and drawer pulls.  … but I realized my fingers touch the backs of these as well. Now I remember to clean both front and back. Later in the day I did remember to wipe my Ear Buds before embarking on my late afternoon walk. And I paid special attention to my Battery Operated Wine Cork Remover during my evening ritual.

 What’s Left? What’s Next? What am I Dreading?

While all in all, this has been a fairly good use of quarantine time, there are places I’m dreading to tackle:

• The Bathroom. Especially my makeup drawer. Good thing I’m wearing less these days. Zoom meetings are forgiving. What do I do about Lipstick and Lip Balm? Tubes of the latter are distributed ubiquitously but strategically throughout my home. Wherever I sit, there’s a balm within reach.

• The Pantry: Where I have stored in ABC order, every spice known to man, from anise to za’atar. Also, my recipe box. Yes, still have one because some of mom’s recipe cards are filed there and I am using them more often these days. Another quarantine habit: resurrecting comfort food casseroles. I did have the good sense to install a motion sensor light in the pantry. It was a godsend even in the pre-corona era considering how many times I am in and out of it with sticky hands.

 Stay Safe, Stay Secluded, Stay Healthy. Wipe as you Go.

 And if there was ever a time to order a KeepSafe Food, Food Safety Kit for someone you love to “Protect their Plate,” now would be that time. And while some suppliers are hoarding or gouging, I’m giving away one free extra sanitizer with each kit.

Check out the KeepSafe Food Shopping Guide for the supplies recommended in this post that make your home less “touchable.”