Cintas Shares Insights from Dr. William Sawyer for National Handwashing Awareness Week
CINCINNATI – To kickoff National Handwashing Awareness Week which takes place December 4-10, Cintas Corporation (Nasdaq: CTAS) sat down with hand hygiene expert and founder of Henry the Hand Foundation, Dr. William Sawyer, to discuss the 4 Principles of Hand Awareness.
“These 4 principles are to teach children and adults a life skill of good hand hygiene behavior,” explained Dr. Sawyer, who has spent over 35 years as a family medicine doctor. “Handwashing can help reduce the spread of infectious disease and improve people's health if we can just spread the word of its importance and not germs.”
Endorsed by the American Medical Association and American Academy of Family Physicians, the 4 Principles of Hand Awareness from Henry the Hand Foundation include:
- Wash your hands when they are dirty and before eating.
- DO NOT cough into your hands.
- DO NOT sneeze into your hands.
- DO NOT put your fingers into your eyes, nose or mouth.
Dr. Sawyer’s science-based hand hygiene behavior modification program focuses on hand hygiene, respiratory etiquette and infection prevention awareness. The recommendations can help students, employees, travelers, shoppers and others stay healthy this flu season and throughout the year.
“It’s important to learn and practice good handwashing habits and ensure you have proper handwashing supplies at all times,” said Julia Messinger, Marketing Manager – Facility Services, Cintas. “Implementing a coordinated cleaning program can also help reduce the spread of germs throughout a facility.”
Henry the Hand Foundation originated following the 1999 flu vaccine shortage in Cincinnati and was formed with the goal of keeping the community safe. Dr. Sawyer established National Handwashing Awareness Week which has been celebrated and promoted within schools and beyond.
To learn more about Henry the Hand Foundation, visit henrythehand.org. For more information about Cintas facility services, visit cintas.com/facilityservices.
About Cintas Corporation
Cintas Corporation helps more than one million businesses of all types and sizes get Ready™ to open their doors with confidence every day by providing products and services that help keep their customers’ facilities and employees clean, safe, and looking their best. With offerings including uniforms, mats, mops, restroom supplies, first aid and safety products, safety training, fire extinguishers, sprinkler systems and alarm service, Cintas helps customers get Ready for the Workday®. The company is also the creator of the Total Clean Program™ — a first-of-its-kind service that includes scheduled delivery of essential cleaning supplies, hygienically clean laundering, and sanitizing and disinfecting products and services. Headquartered in Cincinnati, Cintas is a publicly held Fortune 500 company traded over the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol CTAS and is a component of both the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index and Nasdaq-100 Index.
About Dr. Will Sawyer/ Henry the Hand Foundation
Henry the Hand Foundation is a “grass roots” non-profit organization stretching their resources to share Henry’s Hand awareness message with children and adults across the globe. Henry and Dr. Will are asking you to “give us a hand” to help “spread the word not the germs!” We encourage parents and health professionals to “Adopt a School” (daycare, Head Start program, pre-school or school) in their community to act as ambassadors for Henry’s Infection Prevention Program to allow them to take a leadership role in teaching infection prevention to benefit their health.