Why
Are Kids Packing Gels and Wipes for School?
One
in Five Parents Believes Children Lack Proper Hygiene Products
in School, SDA Survey Shows
SDA,
CDC Partnership Offers Program for Schools to Reduce
Absenteeism, Increase Student Interest in Clean Hands, Better
Hygiene
WASHINGTON,
July 28 /PRNewswire/ -- One-third of parents with school age
children are sending personal hygiene products along with their
kids to school, and one in five parents believe their children's
school lacks proper hygiene and sanitation supplies.
Those
are the results of the latest National Cleaning Survey released
by The Soap and Detergent Association (SDA,
http://www.cleaning101.com), the Home of the U.S. Cleaning
Products Industry(SM).
"Parents
and caregivers are taking a more proactive role in helping their
children stay healthy -- by sending along products like
sanitizers, gels and wipes in their kids' backpacks," said
Nancy Bock, SDA Vice President of Education. "Today's
new, waterless products make it easy and convenient for students
to have clean hands at school, anywhere, anytime."
Interestingly,
70 percent of parents do believe that classrooms are a primary
channel through which their children learn about proper hygiene,
SDA's survey shows. Furthermore, 70 percent of parents
also say that they themselves were influenced by educators when
they were children.
Good
School Hygiene -- It's A SNAP!
In
order to provide educators with better hygiene education tools,
SDA and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) have created a program for middle schools across the
country to make hand hygiene a priority for students, teachers,
school health personnel, administrators, and parents.
The
program, now in its third year, is called "
Healthy
Schools
, Healthy People, It's a SNAP!" SNAP -- the School
Network for Absenteeism Prevention -- is a hands-on initiative
for middle schools that is designed to help keep students in
school and learning by improving overall health through
promoting clean hands.
Why
Cleaning Matters
According
to the CDC, handwashing is the single most important thing
people can do to keep from getting sick and spreading illness.
Why?
*
Nearly 22 million school days are lost annually due to the
common cold.
*
52.2 million cases of the common cold affect Americans
under age 17 each year. (CDC. Fast stats A to Z: Common cold.
1996)
A
SNAP toolkit -- available at http://www.itsasnap.org -- includes
handwashing facts and tips on integrating hand hygiene into the
curriculum across disciplines from science to art.
Top
Students Honored for Hand Hygiene Program
Each
year, middle school SNAP participants are eligible to be
considered for the National Recognition Program. The
"Top Classroom" award includes an all-expense paid
trip for three to
Washington
,
D.C.
and recognition at a special reception.
In
2003, students from
Goodrich
Middle School
in
Lincoln
,
Nebraska
, were honored for their comprehensive handwashing campaign
including a DVD movie on proper handwashing techniques, a
computer slide presentation, T-shirts, bookmarks, and
multilingual posters on good hand hygiene. The Goodrich
campaign was then promoted school-wide and complemented by
school nurse demonstrations and awards for students with low
absenteeism.
In
2004,
Crownover
Middle School
in
Denton
,
Texas
, received the Top Classroom Award. Several different
departments joined together to implement their hand hygiene
program. Science and math students took cultures and recorded
data. Arts and skills-for-living students made posters in
English and Spanish. Theater, technology, and language
arts students collaborated on a hand hygiene video to premiere
at a PTA meeting.
The
SNAP program is available to middle schools throughout the
school year; the deadline for the National Recognition Program
is
March 1, 2005
. For information on how to participate in the 2005 SNAP
program, contact SNAP@cleaning101.com.
About
SDA's National Cleaning Survey: The survey questions were asked
of 557 American parents of children under the age of 15.
The independent consumer research study was completed in
April 2004, on behalf of The Soap and Detergent Association, by International
Communications Research (ICR). The survey has a margin
of error of plus or minus 4.15 percent.
SDA,
the Home of the U.S. Cleaning Products Industry(SM), represents
manufacturers of household, industrial, and institutional
cleaning products; their ingredients; and finished packaging;
and oleochemical producers. SDA members produce more than
90 percent of the cleaning products marketed in the
U.S.
SDA is located at
1500 K Street, NW, Suite 300
,
Washington
,
DC
20005
.
SOURCE
The Soap and Detergent Association
CO: Soap and Detergent Association; CDC; Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention; School
Network for Absenteeism Prevention
ST:
District of Columbia
SU: CHI SVY
Web site: http://www.itsasnap.org
http://www.prnewswire.com
