Hands down: VGH hand hygiene monitors prevent illness

A passionate advocate for hand hygiene: Ten hours on her feet and Vipen Kaur is still smiling and offering hand sanitizer to all visitors and staff at the Centennial Pavilion main entrance.

You have to hand it to them. No, really, you do! Extend your hands to our VGH hand hygiene monitors, because they’re ready and equipped with hand sanitizer.

So far, 2012/13 is shaping up to be a worse than average year for norovirus. And, as if that weren’t enough, we’re also experiencing a more severe influenza season.  When norovirus cases began spreading on the VGH campus — and impeding our ability to admit and provide best care to patients — we knew we needed reinforcements. 

Thankfully, Integrated Protection Services (IPS), security services and our VCH WorkAbility team partnered with us: security officers and RNs willing and able assumed the role of hand hygiene monitors at high-traffic entrances and high-risk areas, including entrances to outbreak units.

One such monitor is Vipen Kaur, a security officer. Stationed at the VGH Centennial Pavilion main entrance, Vipen’s enthusiasm, ever-present smile and consistent message — “Clean your hands, please!” —have caught people’s attention. She’s even converted some skeptics.

“Ninety-nine percent of visitors are great,” says Vipen, “but some people get annoyed. The second time I see them, they’re less reluctant and by the third time I see them they’re smiling and cleaning their hands.”

No one is immune from Vipen’s plea to clean. Because we can pick up and spread viruses from any multitude of surfaces — think door knobs, elevator buttons, handrails, etc. — we all need to clean our hands before entering and leaving a building. Waiting until you reach a unit is too late. And, none of us wants to bring viruses home to our family and friends.  

For Vipen, reminding people to clean their hands is a mission. “In my heart,” she says, “I believe this is special work. I’m helping sick people and I’m helping to prevent others from becoming sick, and that energizes me.”

I think Vipen’s work is pretty special, too, and on behalf of our patients and staff, I’d like thank Vipen and her fellow hand hygiene monitors for helping us contain the norovirus outbreak at VGH.  At the time of writing, only one unit remains closed to admissions. With our continued vigilance and practice of hand hygiene, we can minimize the risk for us all, and especially for our patients.