HEALTH NOTES

Hokitika Guardian, 22 November 1930, Page 6

HEALTH NOTES

i;44t ' —■ DOMESTIC" HYGIENE. ' SPRING CLEANING. (Contributed by the Department of Health). Now is the time when busy competent housewives join the ranks of public health workers by making an energetic assault upon unhygienic conditions in the home, or doubly ensure that they will not exist, by carrying out a general spring cleaning. This is an excellent time honoured custom fortunately more honoured in the observance than in the breach. Every home is a healthier and a better place to live in for such cleansing. However, an ideal housewife has a weekly spring cleaning, and then her home is always hygienic. This yearly clofcxn up iis quite an important event in domestic administration and if the housewives efforts are supplemented by those of a loyal husband not above a little domestic labour expended on odd jobs for which he is specially qualified, great things may be achieved in improving the conditions of the home. call of the bowling green, tennis court, golf links, sale-yard or cricket pitch should not blind him as to the needs of a little domestic carpentery or landscape gardening and similar husbandry duties and privileges. • The following remarks touch on a few aspects of home hygiene. . .. ;

Dusting

Great care should be exercised in cleaning a house to prevent, the dissemination of dust, a great enemy of mankind for we have all felt at times the unpleasant effect of dust in the eyes,- nasal passages and throat; Wool sorters disease, or anthrax pneumonia, is an example of infection caused by the inhalation of animal dust. It is' of no value to stir up the dust in a room, simply brushing it off one piece and letting it settle in another. For this reason dry sweeping and dusting should not be employed. Carpets should be cleansed with carpet sweepers or vacuum cleaners, and if necessary to use a broom the carpet should be taken out of the building, or, if this is impracticable, the windows of the room should be thrown wide open so that there will be a circulation of air to blow the dust out. A person using a brooni in this way shoxild have a piece of cheesecloth tied over her face to prevent as far as possible the inhalation of dust. Polished floors should be cleaned with woollen floor dusters. The dust sticks to these woollen brooms and is not, scattered about the room as when a corn or hair broom is employed. If the floor is very dirty a hair broomshould first be used with a sweeping compound, such as sawdust or paper moistened with a little water. The dust sticks, to the sawdust and is thus prevented from being blown about the room. ; : 1 - „ Floors and Waste Products.

Modern floors of living rooms should be varnished-or waxed and polished so as to prevent a hard glistening surface.. Only the best quality'of varnish should he used, as the cheaper -. grades are Sticky and gather dust. The cracks of old .floors, should he- filled, after which the floors should be planed or sandpapered, and then varnished or waxed. Kitchen and bathroom floors and halls where' marble is used should be well scrubbed using plenty of soap and water, . Cement floors should be painted; as otherwise they give off a fine dust. Linoleum should be carefully laid, the floor first being thoroughly cleaned, a cement paste put on the floor and the linoleum then carefully fitted in place. Heavy weights should be placed along the seems. If the' 1 linoleum is put down in this way no water will get beneath its surface, and it makes a very satisfactory covering for certain floors, and can be easily cleaned with a little soap and water.

Tt is essential that lavatories, kitchen sinks and washbasins should be kept scrupulously clean by being flushed periodically with plenty of hot water and by the use of disinfectants. Great care should be" exercised to prevent the entrance of waste products, such as grease, hair combings, etc., from entering the waste pipes. Waste-pipes are not constructed to conduct household refuse and domestic accessories to the sewer. The gully which receives the waste Irorn the scullery sink is apt to get clogged by the solidification of grease. To prevent this, special gullies known as grease-traps are employed. : The outlet of the trap dips below the surface of the ljctfuid, and, as grease floats, an unobstructed egress for the liquid is maintained. The grease should be removed, or broken into small pieces and washed into the drain by a flush of cold water.

Sunlight and Fre&lj Air

Sunlight and fresh air are grolifc purifyers for natures many forces are constantly at work to destroy infection and thereby limit the spi-ead of comthunicable diseases. Few microbes, especially the dangerous ones, can live in the direct bright , sunlight many hours. Therefore blankets, mattresses and other bedding should he periodically taken outside and given a good airing and sunbath. Dryness is another natural condition that is destructive to many of the minute forms of life with which we ha-ve to contend. The combination of dryness and sunlight is quite as good, if not better, than the ordinary fumigating processes which are commonly used in practid'xl disinfection against surface contamination.

Finally a dean, well kept and hygienic home is pleasant and safe to live in, while a dirty and unsanitary home •is a disgrace to its occupants and a .source of danger to the health of the community.