Hand hygiene program earns award for Florida middle schoolers.

Students at DeLaura Middle School in Satellite Beach, Fla., were honored with the 2007 Top Classroom Award for their program about the importance of handwashing with soap and water. The students were recognized by the School Network for Absenteeism Prevention (SNAP), a collaboration between The Soap and Detergent Association and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). SNAP's six-year-old program, "Healthy Schools, Health People: It's a SNAP," encourages middle schools to help develop programs emphasizing hand hygiene for students, teachers, school health personnel, administrators and parents.

Teacher Jeanne Dery's pre-advanced language arts class created a video promoting personal hygiene through handwashing. It incorporated four different scenes: scientific research, a handwashing demonstration and two segments portraying students as villainous germs being pursued by the "germ police." The students also worked with local hotels to obtain sample bars of soap to give away to every student who viewed the video. In return, the students created a flyer promoting SNAP and handwashing for display in hotel restrooms and employee lounges.

Did You Complete the AccesslCrosstex International Hand Hygiene Survey?

At the end of the "Infection Control" column in the November 2007 issue of Access (see pages 22-28), we requested your professional point of view regarding hand hygiene in practice. If you haven't yet done so, please visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=BTCC5bgj7YVDpyyLzfwVMQ 3d 3d to complete the brief survey. Dental hygienists who answer the survey will receive a complimentary hand hygiene product from Crosstex International. For more information on Crosstex International, please go to their Web site at www.crosstex.com.

This edition of Extra was prepared by Meghan Washington.