An elementary school in Georgia is giving "2 Thumbs Up for Healthy Hands," after the school recently earned national recognition for their handwashing awareness efforts.

Douglasville Dorsett Shoals Elementary was honored with the "Healthy Schools, Healthy People" award, given by a joint initiative of the American Cleaning Institute (ACI) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Representatives from both groups were on hand to recognize the students during a ceremony in late May.

In addition to the award, the school received a check for $5,000 and handwashing products to support good hand hygiene. The cash award and hand hygiene products were donated by: Arylessence, Inc., Colgate-Palmolive Company, Ecolab Inc., GOJO Industries, Inc., Henkel Consumer Goods Inc. and Water Journey Ltd.

The award announcement says the hand hygiene education efforts that earned the national award cut across a variety of classroom activities throughout the school, including handwashing posters that were made by the school’s Art Club. Fifth-graders read to kindergarteners and first-graders about washing with soap and water. The school’s physical education teacher, Nick Epstein, led a school-wide assembly about hand hygiene — all part of the “2 Thumbs Up for Healthy Hands” program.

Epstein said most people think of washing their hands as something basic, especially before meals. But he said what teachers are noticing is that many kids don’t take the time to perform that simple, preventative measure.

Shannon Hendrix, a registered nurse who serves as the health services coordinator for Dorsett Shoals and other local schools, said all 423 students at Dorsett Shoals were involved in the program that was aimed at making hand washing fun and educational.

 
Students from nearby Alexander High School came by to help  run four learning stations that taught different lessons on the importance of handwashing, including a “glow in the dark” station that enabled students to see how many germs were left on their hands after washing with soap and water.

“This is one of the best examples of a multi-discipline effort that we’ve ever seen in the Healthy Schools awards program,” said Nancy Bock, senior vice president of Education at the American Cleaning Institute. “From physical education to art to science, we saw hundreds of students learn first-hand about the importance of daily handwashing with soap and water.”

“Our students understand the importance of being at school each and every day," said Kacia Thompson, the school's principal. "This handwashing initiative was a great add-on to what we do for our attendance program.”

“CDC gives Dorsett Shoals Elementary two thumbs up for their school-wide campaign to keep hands clean and kids healthy,” said Anna Bowen, a medical epidemiologist at CDC. “We know that when kids learn handwashing in school, they also bring that knowledge home to their parents and siblings, so it helps the whole community.”
 
The Healthy Schools, Healthy People, It’s a SNAP Program — SNAP stands for School Network for Absenteeism Prevention — was established in 2003 to help improve hand hygiene habits to help prevent the spread of infectious disease and reduce school absenteeism.

To learn more about the program, click here.