Hands off

What was once an obsession is now a habit

If Sue Wells sneezes while driving, she pulls her car over to use her hand sanitizer. She keeps a bottle on her desk at work in Groton, in her kitchen and next to her bed.

"I'm almost obsessed," she said. "I don't want to get sick."

What once may have been considered obsessive, germaphobic behavior has now become commonplace, as these sanitizers pop up everywhere from grocery stores to gyms.

Dispensers have been installed in Iowa City taxi cabs and near security checkpoints in airports. Big bottles of the stuff can be seen in courtrooms and at the stations of cashiers and librarians.

"Sometimes you don't want to know what's there," said Jeanne Berardo, head of circulation at the New London Public Library, eyeing the surfaces and books around her. "We just hope it works."

The ubiquity of this clear germ-killing substance was fueled by swine flu fears, but it's become a permanent habit, where many of us grab a dollop of the stuff just about everywhere we go.

And it starts with children. In Groton, school officials anticipated sanitizers would be in demand during the last school year, so they put them in "anywhere where there wasn't a sink," said Superintendent Paul Kadri, in every classroom and hallway, and on the way in from the playground.

They're also looking into wipes to clean surfaces such as desks and keyboards more regularly, he said.

"Probably we'll all have chapped hands by the time the winter comes," Kadri said, "(but) it's helping all efforts with just the common cold to keep kids in class."

Mitchell College worked during the summer to install them in all the main cross-sections of campus, said Julie Liefield, vice president of student affairs and acting director of health and wellness.

That means entryways to buildings, in the library, health and wellness center, residence hall common areas and dining halls, and even campus safety vehicles that sometimes transport sick students.

"They used to tease me on campus because I came here as a big handwashing guru," Liefield said. "I don't think (students) are desensitized to it ... Students are saying, 'We use them a lot more now that they're available.'"

Even places of religious worship have stocked up on sanitizers. St. Michael Church in Pawcatuck makes the bottles available for those distributing communion and altar servers, and encourages their use.

The Rev. Dennis Perkins said he began using them even before the Roman Catholic Diocese of Norwich issued a directive for such practices, including suspending the sign of peace, where parishioners shake hands and taking communion from the cup.

"A few people have said they miss not having those things, but they understand," he said. "There are people whose health is compromised and it doesn't put them in an awkward situation."

But health professionals warn there is a place for sanitizers and they can be overused.

Robin Heard, nurse epidemiologist at William W. Backus Hospital, said there is no substitute for hand-washing if you can see or feel something on your hands.

She also said there are germs on our skin naturally that work for us.

"You don't want to be come obsessed with killing all germs because you're going to open yourself up to other problems," Heard said.

But if you're in a car going through a drive-through, handling money or food, or going to the grocery store, hand sanitizers can be very smart.

"That's awesome because how many hands have touched those carts?" she said. "Wherever I have seen them, it makes me very happy."

Heard said to use common sense when it comes to keeping hands clean.

"We touch our face, eyes nose and mouth without ever knowing it," she said. "It's just what we do."