Uncle Buddy’s Blog- January 2012 Camp Redwood

Dear Parents and Families

In the morning when we leave our homes, we all go off to our jobs or school. As we go about our business we end up doing a lot of walking. Where do we walk? We walk in parking lots, sidewalks, driveways, ball fields, streets, roads, etc. After the day is over we all go home and walk into our homes, some people wipe their shoes off on a door mat and many others do not.

If you knew how many germs cling to the bottom of your shoes, you’d never believe it! The number is in the billions. These germs get into the rugs on the floors and your furniture. Families then live and play in their home and are exposed to all of these germs. Most children also have a tendency to put their fingers in their mouths, ears, eyes, etc. and then end up sick or saying “Mom, I don’t feel good.” Of course most of the germs are killed by our immune system, but some are not and that means a visit to the Doctor’s office.

A young woman with two young children visited a Doctor’s Office many times suffering from illnesses. After the constant visits for her and her children to the Doctor, she decided to do something about it. As you may know “necessity is the mother of invention”. To make a long story short, after several years of research, experiments and a large capital investment, she developed the first antimicrobial treated doormat called “Dr. DOORMAT”. When you swipe your feet two times on the doormat it destroys approximately 99% of the microorganisms that were on your shoes. Just swiping your feet on the mat will help keep your home healthy. Think of it as the first step toward a healthy home.

The Dr. Doormats are available at www.drdoormat.com. If you want to find this item in a store and it’s currently not available, you should ask a store manager to stock it! Check it out at www.drdoormat.com. Just this week Good Morning America posted it on their web site and included it in their steals and deals section and it was included in an article in the Chicago Tribune.

Uncle Buddy…stay healthy

P.S. Please forgive my shameless promotion. The women and her children mentioned above happen to be my daughter and grand children. They hardly ever have to visit the doctor anymore, so the door mat has been working great!

Hi, this is Uncle Buddy! Welcome to Uncle Buddy’s Corner. This is the first of many informative pieces to come from Camp Redwood. I hope to be able to give you and your parents some useful information about health- Good HEALTH!!

As I have gotten older, I have begun to realize that the most important thing that god gave me was good health. When we are young we think that being in good health is the way it will always be. Most of us never stop to think that our health has the potential to be in poor condition. Thus, we proceed to do things and eat things that are not conducive to good health. When I previously said good-bye to someone who visited me I’d say, “so long and good luck”. I have since changed my good-byes to, “so long and good HEALTH!”

Having taught physical education for many years, I would receive many notes from parents explaining that their children couldn’t participate in gym that day because their children weren’t feeling well. This bothered me because I felt everyone, parents included, should have a chance to do something physical everyday for good health.

It got to the point that I picked up the phone one day and called my eldest daughters husband, Jeff. He is an MD, but he is also a Senior Research Scientist at the National Institute of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland. When I got him on the phone, I asked Jeff “what is the best way to prevent kids from getting sick and how much would it cost? Please answer in layman’s English, not 15 syllable words.” His reply was instant and short, “have children and their parents wash their hands with hot soapy water on a regular basis and as often as they can.” My reply was “that’s it!” Jeff responded with “that’s it, and by the way it won’t cost a dime.” It almost floored me! My next question was “how come?”

His reply was, if you or any parent stops to think about how many objects you touch when you wake up in the morning and throughout the day, you touch doors, door handles, door knobs, banisters, telephones, computer keys, toilet seats, stuff stuck in your shoes, and other equipment that’s been on the floors, outside in the ball fields, etc., the list goes on and on. While you do this, your hands are coming into contact with millions and millions of germs and people don’t even know about it, or realize its happening. This contact amplifies the potential for problems in children who are run down and not getting enough sleep or eating proper food. This weakens their immune system and allows the germs to get into their bodies and make them ill.
There are several ways that “bugs” get into your bodies. If you cut yourself and are careless and don’t sanitize the cut and then don’t band aid it for example, this is how germs enter into your blood stream. The primary ways they also enter your body are through your nose, mouth, ears, and eyes. To prevent from getting sick, simply keep from putting your fingers in your mouth and remember to wash your hands often!

Stay tuned for my next blog post with more information on your health!

GOOD HEALTH,

Uncle Buddy