The World Health Organization declared May 5th as world Clean Your Hands day.

Health professionals are reminding you to save lives by washing your hands when entering a hospital or care home. Interlake Eastern Regional Health Authority education and infection prevention control manager Davenna Conrod says some observations were discovered.

"The infection prevention and control team in the Interlake Eastern Regional Health Authority has been paying attention to the environment in the emergency departments, and entrances of our personal care homes lately to watch public coming and going. We did some random observations. And we learned quite quickly that less than 1% actually stopped at our entrances or exits and cleaned their hands."

The shocking realization of this lack of visitors cleaning their hands is moving them to take further measures.

"Of course this was really concerning to us. And we've been looking at ways to help the public increase hand hygiene at the entrances and exits by looking at posters, making the sanitizers for hand hygiene a little more visible, putting up some other prompts, asking staff to make some reminders, and really helping raise those rates."

Conrod notes the dangers associated with unclean hands.

"Anybody coming in from the general public into a hospital or personal care home could be transporting things like influenza during influenza season in our patient populations. And of course our patient populations in hospitals are sick, and might not be well enough to fight off something like that."

She says outbreaks are often triggered by visitors with dirty hands spreading viruses. Conrod adds washing your hands is a definite must when both entering or leaving care homes or hospitals. Environmental audits are being taken onsite to determine what other measures can be made to make everyone aware of the need. She says four facilities have been targeted to be intensive observation sites, and then move on their conclusions to the other facilities in the region.