Hospitals...hmmmm

My eyes are being opened...

Hospitals are full of germs! This may seem like a "DUH" statement, but they really are. The other day I was at my EBCE site in the Pediatric Department, but there was only one patient, so the nurses had me clean the playroom. I thought to myself, "Ah, how refreshing! This place is making an honest effort to improve sanitary conditions in spite of all the sick kids running around all over the place. That makes me happy." So I was all ready and prepared for an in-depth cleaning experience...then the woman handed me a little container of disinfecting wipes and said, "OK, wipe everything off."
WHAT??? So I wiped off the tables and chairs and then we started on the toys. Oh my gosh. So these toys are not just little round balls with smooth surfaces:easy to clean. These were cool toys, with all kinds of crevices and jagged edges. There is no possible way to get down inside of those crevices! There were germs everywhere and nothing could be done about it! Oh and don't get me started on the toy food. Kids put that stuff all over their mouths...it's food...that's how you play with 'pretend' food. You 'pretend' eat it. The nurse seemed oddly surprised at this fact. Hmmm
I suggested that we soak the toys, at least the food, in Clorox, but that didn't end up happening. They were more concerned about having the toys in the right spots and having all the pieces together...I think the kids will play with anything they have; getting rid of the germs is more important to me, but hey, I am not in charge.
Also, this should be done everyday...I would think that would just be an automatic thing. This is a hospital. Especially because it is a children's department, proper disinfecting should be done every day. The nurses definately do not do this everyday...the lady told me, "I've been waiting on a slow day to clean it all up." Oh man...
My dad said, "Of course they don't care about cleaning it that well, or that often. The more germs they have, the more sick kids there are, which means more business for them." haha I think that is taking it a little too far, but there is definately a problem.

Oh and also, the whole Elevator Courtsey thing has gone even more downhill. It seems like no one understands the concept of patience and manners anymore. Those people waitin to get on the elevator-they are on it before the door is even finished opening up. The people trying to get off don't even have time to think about getting out before a herd of busy hospital-y people trample them. Ahhh it's nuts!
Oh course not everyone does this, but it is unreal to me the amount of people who do.