Hospital Clean

The Sunday Scribblings prompt this week is Hospital.
Many things come to mind...The stories of my children being born, our many emergency visits, going to visit my step-dad in the hospital and being told he had passed... yet I choose- how germaphobic I get when visiting a hospital. I don't know why this topic hits me, but it does. I am conscious of germs in most places. The sneezers & coughers who don't cover their mouths. Telephone receivers. The bottom of every purse. Hotel bedspreads and remotes. Those shopping cart handles! I am tempted to wear my disposable hair coloring gloves while food shopping. After I've visited any store, before I reach for my seatbelt, I pump my anti-bacterial gel which I keep in a giant bottle in my car-doors cup holder. ( small one in my purse)
When my kids were little, I would pack up their little healthy lunches and ALWAYS include an individually wrapped handi-nap. (Remember those?) My husband thought they would get beat up at recess for washing up before lunch!
But... Hospitals... oh my! I don't touch Anything in there. I open doors with my shirt sleeve, and push it further with my foot. I use my elbow in ways god never intended us to. ( It's amazing how flexible our elbows are, mine can turn the paper towel dispensers handle! )
It's true what they say... muscle has memory, from my past years of doing kickboxing... I can balance on one foot while I either open or close a toilet seat lid and flush with my foot while in a round house position. (Sometimes quite a challenge in a teeny tiny stall). Those same muscles allow me to squat hovering over the germs for as long as eh eh hem it takes. Of course this beneficial technique is not limited to hospitals, but in hospitals... I stand on my toes first to get even further away from the porcelain de germs.
Okay... So now you aren't guessing anymore.. You are convinced I'm a wacko. It's okay. I'm aware that this all may be viewed as a little bit over the top. It is a fact however, that hospitals have more staff and bacterial infections than anywhere else! Too many times my boys have been in the ER. Broken bones and stitches seem to go hand and hand with boys. Too many times, I've been freaked out by how filthy this place is. Dried blood on my sons hospital bed and on the floor. People vomiting with only a curtain separating us from their airborne viruses. Splatters of Everything imaginable in the bathroom. It is a germaphobes nightmare! I truly think if you aren't sick when you go there, you will be when you leave. I think they should hand out plastic gloves and particle masks at the door.( If everyone wore those I wouldn't look like a nut wearing mine!)
Years ago, weren't hospitals known for cleanliness? Wasn't there even an expression "hospital clean"? I am happy to report my house is not hospital clean. When did this lack of cleanliness in hospitals happen? Probably the same time as HMOs.
There isn't enough time and money to hire enough people to keep hospitals "hospital clean". The last baby I had, it was my husband who had to empty my overflowing garbage bag everyday. Once I did see the janitor he and his big dirty gray mop. I think he was adding More germs to the filthy place. In my opinion, they should have Vats of bleach and have bus loads of janitors in those cdc space suits. Wouldn't you pay a little more for a clean hospital stay? I feel sorry for hospital workers who are exposed to these "super" germs daily. In general, I think our world is dirtier than it was when I was younger. This recent news of the deadly MRSA infectionis proof. ( notice steps 1& 2? How wacko am I? )
When I heard of an outbreak in a long Island school, I immediately told my son to bring home his gym clothes so I could wash them again. ( I know my family thought I was being a nut). The next day I received an email and a call from our district saying ALL kids should bring home their gym clothes and empty lockers. They are disinfecting the schools. ( How wacko am I? ) Many years ago I did substitute duty in the lunch room of an elementary school. After each lunch period I was handed a spray bottle and a few of those brown bathroom paper towels and told to wash down my 2 tables. I asked what was in the spray bottle. Do you know what they were cleaning those filthy germy tables with? WATER. NO Bleach. NO disinfectant. When I questioned this.. The head lunch lady said "The kids don't like the smell of the bleach" How wacko am I? after that I told my boys... If your food falls on the table... pretend it fell on the floor... Throw it away! There too... the same janitor the same dirty pail of water and gray mop. What can we do to make sure these essential institutions clean up their acts? What if we speak up when we think standards are substandard? Let's hear your views scribblers.... Hope a lot of you are wacko too.

* <3 Happy 27th Anniversary Honey <3