How to prevent the spread of germs

I have a 17.5 YO daughter who has severe disabilities.  A simple cold will land her in ICU with a breathing tube down her throat for a month.  We have been forced to be constantly aware of germs.

Now that the whole nation is being more aware of germs due to the coronovirus, here are my suggestions of how to avoid germs.

This is adapted from another blogpost I wrote called "What to do when your child with multiple disabilities gets sick"

Prevention
-Stay home.  Do not even visit family and friends, even if they are healthy.

-Go out only when absolutely necessary

-Put a sign on your door saying that you want ZERO visitors.  And follow your rule.  Do not even allow family and friends over, even if they are healthy.

-Do not go where you know people are sick (ie:  your sister's kids are sick, don't go visit)

-When anyone comes home from anywhere (school, store, etc...) wash hands or use hand sanitizer IMMEDIATELY.  Have a bottle readily available and kept in the same place somewhere near the door.  Or better yet, have everyone change clothes.  Or better yet, shower and change clothes.

-When you absolutely need to shop, go with a purpose, get in and get out.

-When you are out, use hand sanitizer before getting in your car

-Anything new you bring into the home (cans of food, etc) need to be sanitized

-Assume everything you touch outside of your home (gas pump, food at store, door handles) is contaminated.  Even at your place of work.

-Frequent hand-washing during the day.  Minimum of 20 seconds (Sing Happy Birthday twice)

-Watch a video about the 7 steps of washing your hands

-Wipe all high touch surfaces once a day with lysol wipes...doorknobs, phones, cupboard handles, etc...

-Try hard not to touch your face.

-Wipe the high-touch areas of your home at least once a day (doorways, doorknobs, keyboards, phones, lightswitches)

Once the sickness hits someone in the family
-Separate the sick and healthy people.  At the minimum contain the sick people to 1 room in the house.  Or even better, are there other solutions to separate the sick from the healthy?  Can the healthy people stay in a tent in the yard?  Can the sick person stay in your camping trailer?  etc.  Get creative.


-The sick person is not allowed to wander the house, they MUST stay in 1 room.  

-Healthy people do not enter the location where the sick person is.

-Close the ventilation (Heat/AC vents and cold air returns) in the room where the sick person is.  You can shove towels or things in the registers as well as closing them off.  Open the windows several times a day in the "sick room".

-Dissolve Emergen-C or Airbourne and give  multiple times per day to the rest of the family to boost immune system

-Use bleach in each load of dishes run through dishwasher or use disposable paper products

-Any dishes that need to be washed by hand, wash in soap and water, then soap for a minute in water with bleach, then rinse.

-Wash clothes in hot where possible and dry on High/Hot

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See my other post about Tips to Survive Staying Home

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What other suggestions do you have to prevent the spread of germs?  Please comment below!

Tips to survive staying home

I have a 17.5 YO daughter who has severe disabilities.  We spend every Oct-Apr (RSV season) at defcon 4 (on extreme precaution of germs).  She has had more hospitalizations than I care to count and I (Mom) stay with her isolated in the hospital the whole time, sometimes for months on end.

Now that the entire nation is at Defcon 5, I thought I would share some tips I have learned over the years to survive isolation...

(this post is adapted from my post "Tips for Parents to Survive while their child is in the hospital")

#1)You will need to find what works for you, don't feel like you have to do the things that I say.

#2) Rely on God.  Pray.  Spend time studying God's word daily.

#3) Breathe.  No seriously!  Focus on your breathing.  Slow your breathing.  Do relaxation exercises,  Deep breaths.  Cleansing Breaths (breathe out the bad energy/thoughts/stress).  And above all just remember to breathe.

#4)  Start a blog or journal to get out your feelings

#5)  Find a hobby you can do while at home.  Over the years I have done cross-stitch, digital scrapbooking, hand quilting, and reading.  Something to keep your mind and hands busy. Maybe you want to read a book that has been sitting on your nightstand for 3 years, hahaha.  Maybe you have 20 unfinished projects you can work on.  Maybe you can improve your yard or plant a garden.  Maybe you can work on family history.

#6)  Get up every morning and get ready.  Shower, do your hair, do your makeup.  Get dressed. It will help you feel better and have more patience. 

#7) Go on a walk or get some exercise every day.  Getting some exercise will help with your endorphins and mood.

#8)  Get some fresh air.  Open your windows and doors.  

#9) Which brings us to... get outside at least once a day.  Breathe some fresh air.  Look at nature. The air in your house will start feeling gross and germy...get outside!  You will feel so much better after doing it.

#10) Try to eat healthy. Stress can make your bowels bonkers, don't add to the problem by eating junk.  You really will feel better when you eat healthy.  

#11) Find something fun to look forward to.  Maybe you have a daily time that you facetime someone, maybe you make a special treat to share with your family.  Maybe you plan a game night.  Find things to do that are within your limitations.

#12) Focus on the present and find the blessings.  Do not think too much about the future.  Focus on the positive.  Maybe make a gratitude journal.

#13)  Split responsibilities if you have a spouse, kids or someone to help you.  This way the burden doesn't fall on one person.  Communicate about the responsibilities, do not assume your spouse knows what you want them to do.

#14) Find time to be alone each day.  Have a quiet time.  It gives you time to decompress, take a nap, have some time to recoup your expended energy.

#15) You can stress/cry/worry or you can laugh.  Try to laugh at the situation.

#16) Limit anything that is stressing you out...media, social media, people, etc

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See my other post about "How to Prevent the Spread of Germs"

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Those are my suggestions.  I would love to hear what helps you.  Please post below.