This article points out the difficulty of getting people to wash their hands. It is done in a humorous way and includes the address where educational hand washing products are now available.

You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him wash his hands! That is just about the same logic the government is dealing with every flu season as it tries to convince the general public about the importance of hand washing. Even though the Center of Disease Control reminds us that the simple act of hand washing could stop many disease germs cold, no pun intended, many people ignore this simple solution.

So is it a matter of life and death if people don’t wash their hands? Unfortunately, this year's flu germ has caused a number of deaths and this same germ can be passed along on dirty hands. Even if not a life threatening sickness, the simple act of hand washing can help prevent many unpleasant illnesses which cause time lost at work as well absenteeism at school.

Getting adults and children to was their hands continues to be an up-hill battle. Now there is a source of help in the form of a variety of educational hand washing products made available on line at www.1st-in-handwashing.com. Two hand washing posters promote the act of hand washing in unique ways. One poster features a hand surrounded with the names of specific germs found on unwashed hands along with a description of the illnesses these germs can cause.

A second poster features a picture of a hand being attacked with monstrous looking cartoon germ characters. At the top of the picture it reads, “Germ Farm,” and on the bottom it says, “Scrub ‘Em.” For those people who wish to personally promote the act of hand washing there are tee-shirts and other products featuring the “Germ Farm” design.

The hand washing site was created by John Lundgren, a retired school teacher. Mr. Lundgren says that he is not germ phobic, but he is careful whom he shares his pop corn! You can read his humorous and unique study about a multitude of unwashed hands at an evening of opera at www.1st-in-handwashing.com .