WOODBURY — Yuck, ew, gross: the Nonnewaug hallways seem to be filled to the brim with coughing and sneezing.
Around this time of year, students and staff in almost any and every school community are bound to get sick.
When you walk into a school building you would expect it to be clean, for both students and the staff. Nonnewaug school nurse Sandy Snabaitis believes that our custodian’s play an important role in keeping our school clean during the cold and flu seasons.
“I believe the custodian’s work hard to keep NHS clean and sanitary,” Snabaitis said. “We spoke last week regarding the increased numbers of flu and Norovirus among students and teachers. The custodians are diligently wiping down and disinfecting surfaces, door handles, and desk tops to kill viruses and bacteria.”
We would all be getting sick if it weren’t for our nurse and our custodians, but how is Snabaitis taking care of us while making sure she doesn’t get sick or spread it to other students?
“Before entering the health office there is a hand sanitizer outside the door, a bottle of sanitizer on the desk to use prior to students signing in the health office Chromebook. Then we wipe down each cot, door handle, and hard surface after each use,” Snabaitis said. “I have two air purifiers running in the health office to improve air quality and remove contaminants. NHS also has an indoor ventilation system that also reduces viral concentrations and exposure.”
Even with these precautions, what can we do as individuals to prevent catching sickness throughout the school day?
The answer is simple: we need to constantly wash our hands.
My hands are always extremely dry due to washing them, but I always make sure to carry hand lotion with me. You can also make sure that you cough and sneeze into your elbow and not in your hands, because then your hands have those germs, and now you’re spreading them onto whatever you were doing before you were coughing or sneezing.
Another thing we can do to prevent getting ill and protect our overall well-being is taking daily multivitamins. I take two vitamins every day that help strengthen my immune system.
What some don’t realize is that people can have elderly loved ones at home that can’t be put at risk of getting sick.
My grandma lives with us, so I’m with her 24/7, and if there’s a chance that I might be sick, I have to stay upstairs away from her until it’s completely out of my system. That way she doesn’t catch it.
This year being sick more than three times, even though I’m only in three classes, the amount of work and catching up that had to be done was stressful and overwhelming. Although, I’m sure many other students have been sick a lot too.
At the end of the day, we thank our custodians, and our nurse, but their work can only take us so far. School is hard enough without being sick, so we need to do everything we can to keep ourselves clean and healthy.
This is the opinion of Sophia Caldarella, a senior reporter for the Chief Advocate.
