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How Should Your Senior Be Washing Her Hands?

As you and your senior work out more about how to handle the complications offered by the novel coronavirus that causes Covid-19, the advice you’re likely to hear most often is about washing hands. This is vital because it can remove the virus before it gets into the body if you’re careful to wash your hands often and avoid touching your face. Knowing the proper technique for washing your senior’s hands can be a crucial part of keeping her safer during this time.

Home Care Services in Thornton CO: Senior Handwashing

Soap and Water Are the Best Tools

You can get fancy with handwashing if you like, but honestly good old soap and water are the best and only tools you really need. Basic soap and water help to kill off and remove most germs that can cause bacterial and viral infections. What’s most important is getting a good lather from the soap so your senior can spread it around on her hands. It’s not important for the soap to be antibacterial or have lots of complicated ingredients. Simple, plain soap is highly effective.

Warm Water Is Great, but Not Required

There’s a lot of debate about how warm water is best for washing hands, but it’s really not important what the temperature is. The water is soap’s sidekick in this adventure. What’s most important is that your senior uses soap and that she spends more than just a few seconds lathering up her hands. If the soap is not lathering well it’s going to be more difficult to spread all over your senior’s hands, so add more water if necessary.

Friction Is Required

The friction is the most important factor after the soap. The friction helps the soap to break up the lipid layer surrounding many viruses, especially the coronavirus that causes Covid-19. That’s why people are encouraged to rub the soap into their hands for at least 20 seconds, if not a little bit longer. Singing silly songs can help to pass that time a bit.

Rinse Hands Well and Pat Them Dry

Afterward, make sure your senior rinses her hands well and then pats them dry. Rubbing with a towel can be rough after a little while, but patting helps to remove water without damaging fragile skin. Your senior’s hands are likely to get more dry than usual from all the washing, so it’s a good idea to use hand moisturizer throughout the day, too.

Senior care providers can help your senior to hone her handwashing technique. They can also help to remind her frequently during the day that it’s important to wash her hands again.