by Jackie Pollack
On February 11th, Sophomore Josh Chang reached out to the administrative office of Irvington to promote the implementation of hand sanitizer dispensers throughout the high school.
He advocated that the use of antibacterial serums would decrease the potential risk of catching the flu or cold and overall enhance the health of each student at IHS.
In a well-written letter addressed to Ms. GM and Dr. Harrison, Chang addressed the benefits which hand sanitizers offer to students. Besides the fact that they are inexpensive and effective, argued Chang, they would greatly reduce the number of student absences in relation to illnesses.
Chang wrote: “In a study published in the American Journal of Infection that involved 6,000 students across 16 schools in Delaware, Ohio, Tennessee and California, [‘]The overall reduction in absenteeism due to infection in the schools included in this study was 19.8% for schools that used an alcohol gel hand sanitizer compared with the control schools.[‘]”
Chang notes that hand sanitizers would further benefit the parents of students, who have to stay home from work to care for their sick children and also help to prevent teacher absences.
In response, Ms. GM wrote that she would suggest this idea at an up-coming meeting with the administrative office.
With the coronavirus globally picking up speed, Chang followed up two weeks later with a subsequent email writing “the CDC currently recommends hand sanitizer as an effective way to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. If an outbreak of the coronavirus came to our community undetected, a culture of frequent hand sanitizer use could help to keep the virus in check and protect vulnerable groups before more drastic measures could be put in place.”
As a result of Chang’s persuasiveness and advocacy, the district installed hand sanitizing dispensers throughout the high school campus. Though these sanitizers were not alcohol based, they are still effective to fight off germs.
However, Chang did not stop there. To spread more awareness about the positive impacts of hand hygiene, he encouraged the student council to recognize the new dispensers over the morning announcements. Additionally, Chang created and hung posters around the school promoting sanitation and healthy habits.
Chang wrote, “I am certainly looking forward to seeing even more progress in the future—we can help people stay healthy!”
