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Conference Conversions and Controversies

Will dinosaurs save our future?

I’m not sure why, but pretty much every kid in the world
goes through a “dinosaur phase”. The timing seems to be kid dependent in terms
of age, but without fail, there is a time where they eat, sleep and breathe
dinosaurs and it’s funny as heck when they start pronouncing some of the names
– tyrannosaurus,
triceratops,
and parasaurolophus. You
name it, they try to say it or worse, make you try to say it! My son went through the phase and at 8, still
waffles in his love of reading about, learning about and playing with
dinosaurs. He also likes to correct me
when I say the name wrong….not to worry, as a good parent and lover of microbes,
I shoot back trying to get him to say Trichophyton mentagrophytes or Acinetobacter baumannii. Yep, I’m mature.

A tribute to our mothers

Not ready to back down

Is snot our newest Superhero?

Do you have a Preventative Maintenance Plan?

Volcanic Soil vs Hantavirus

Who’s wasted?

#FF Spring Cleaning for the Brain

Post vacation woes…

I’m not going to gloat. I’m tanned. I’m refreshed. I devoured three books – only 1 of which is worth remembering and/or recommending (The Bite of Mango). The weather is above freezing, even if it is raining today. All in all, it was a great week’s vacation.

What’s your E. coli transmission rate?

#FF March Madness

Top 12 Super Villain Watch List

Do disinfectants pose health risks?

Do engineering and cleaning have anything in common?

Short Staff, Short Cuts

What does your nose tell you?

Triclosan has been banned!

Back in July 2012 I wrote a blog “Rub-a-Dub-Dub There’s a Rubber Duck in my Tub.” It was a book review of Slow Death by Rubber Duck: How the Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Life
Affects Our Health. The book describes in detail an experiment in which the author turned
himself into a human guinea pig. The
results were remarkable. In
fact so compelling that like the "Triclosan Challenge" in the book,
at home we changed the type of canned tuna we eat, we no longer use non-stick
cooking pans, we do not use any products that contain Triclosan and I can say I
have probably only had 2 bags of microwave popcorn since reading this book
several years ago.

#FF New Year Education Resolutions

In like a Lion, out like a Lamb

Welcome to 2017!

These are a few of your favorite things!

Pathogens Now Boarding!

Pig Health – A Balancing Act

Geeking out with a new Bug!

I love working in the science
field. I love to learn, ask questions
and try and understand the mysteries of living organisms – human or
animal. I love the thrill of discovery,
innovation and feeling like a pioneer in fields that interest me (infection prevention and biosecurity). Science has taught me how little I know and
how truly fascinating the world is. I
get paid to think hard and irritate the non-scientists I work with by
insistently asking questions and starting many sentences with “Ya-but….” It’s an awesome gig. I’ve embraced my geekiness, but admit there
are times when my geekiness can get embarrassing.

Lazy? Naïve? Complacent?

You can help fight antibiotic resistance!

Pigs are for eating not petting!

What’s your home hygiene grade?

Staying Healthy on Halloween

I love Halloween. I
love pumpkin carving. I love decorating
the lawn. I love seeing all the kids
dressed up. But most of all, I LOVE eating Halloween candy. I actually consider myself lucky when it
comes to this time of year. My husband
cannot eat products with dairy in them (aka chocolate) and my son generally
ignores his Halloween loot by the 2^nd day. That leaves lots of yummy treats for me!

Expend Energy to End Exposure

Mucky Hands Wreak Havoc!

Insufficient Information Inhibits Intellect

Okay, maybe I was stretching a bit to come up with
alliteration for this title. But I was
given “insufficient information” as the topic to correlate to the “I” in
“C.R.I.M.E.” Regardless of the
description, this comes down to what we do to ensure our staff are properly
armed with the tools they need to do their jobs. Whether you call it training, instructing or
educating it all relates to the fact that we CANNOT expect our staff to know
how to correctly use the products and tools to do their jobs unless we TEACH
them how to use them. In fact, if we teach everyone the where’s, what’s,
why’s and how’s to using disinfectants and cleaning
chemicals, we won’t have any stories of how we have seen them used and abused,
and should see an improvement in our HAIs and also our HCAHPS.

Recognize Rushing as Repugnant

Cleaning Compliance Confines Contagions

Welcome to Infection Control Week! Like us, many of you are probably launching a
series of events to highlight this important time of the year. The theme for our company is Disinfection
Delinquents: Crimes against Infection Prevention. The “CRIMEs” we will be focusing on are Compliance, Rushing, Insufficient
Information, Mucky Hands and Exposure.

The quest for the silver bullet

Don’t let your lab experiment go awry!

#FF The Last Quarter!

I truly cannot fathom how we have
flown through the last 9 months to be on the cusp of October! Fall used to be one of my favorite times of
the year. The weather is cool and crisp,
the fall colours are breathtaking and of course Thanksgiving and
Halloween. Now fall signifies the start
of hockey season and I’m not your typically hockey loving Canadian. I HATE
sitting in the cold arenas and this weekend we have 2 practices and a
game….that’s a whole lot of cold!

Do you have improvement blindness?

Got those Back to School Blues?

Is your pet making you sick?

Vacation Alert!

The Art of Topping Up

Green – the new official Olympic pool colour?

Let down of Olympic proportions….

I’m sure many of you are caught up in the hype of the Summer
Olympics. Who doesn’t like spending 16
days watching athletes compete and cheer on our countries? I’m a fan, but not a super fan. Unless of course I’m around during the
Equestrian events - then I’m glued to the TV! As my husband can attest, if I am
watching the Show Jumping events I am counting strides and leaning forward at
the same time the rider is!

Something Powerful

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