Be sure to buy a lot of paper towels

Paper towels and happy birthday — these are two important keys to keeping your office safer during the current swine flu “concerns.” Here is a memo that I sent to the Culpeper Chamber of Commerce staff last week:

Just a reminder — it is easy to forget that we have visitors from everywhere coming thru our center. Please be mindful of a few things:

- Keep your distance from anyone that appears ill — at least three feet. Avoid being in their “breathing space.”

- You open doors by door handles that others have used. Remember not to touch your face with your hands after touching the door handles or surfaces that others have touched. Your keyboard and phone are also areas to be aware of to keep clean.

- Wash your hands several times a day with soap and water — it takes a “happy birthday” song length to properly clean your hands. Yes — we may need more paper towels. A good investment.

- Keep the rest of us updated on any recommendations that you may have. These are just a few suggestions in the longer list of recommendations found at the websites noted below. To your health!

Of course five minutes after they received the email memo from me, I heard a congregation of all of them standing at my door singing “happy birthday” washing their hands; mission accomplished and a very funny response.

These recommendations came from a presentation that I heard by Claudia Vento of the Rappahannock-Rapidan Medical Reserve Corps. Pandemic flu is no light matter and we should be aware of the necessary precautions for our businesses.

The mission of the RRMRC is to serve the counties of Culpeper, Fauquier, Madison, Orange, and Rappahannock (also known as Planning District 9) by establishing teams of volunteers to strengthen the public health infrastructure and improve emergency preparedness and response, according to the RRMRC Operations and Management Manual 03-15-08.

This group is very active in being prepared for a wide range of emergencies. Professionals and specialists are offered training to supplement their skills for deployment in the context of the RRMRC mission.

Ms. Vento is tireless in being available for our community to offer preparation training for our businesses and community groups.

She made a presentation to the Culpeper Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors at our April 28 meeting with very short notice.

Thank you, Claudia, for all that you do for our businesses.

Ms. Vento gave us a few websites that are helpful for us to keep updated about emergency preparedness issues:

- cdc.gov/swineflu

- vdh.state.va.us

- pandemicflu.gov

Remember — happy birthday, plenty of soap and water, and an ample supply of paper towels are some of the basics.

It may be a good time to exaggerate efforts and use additional steps to keep the work place clean. Take a few moments to educate your staff and co-workers.

Everyone likes to sing happy birthday. Singing it well is another story!