# Sickness Etiquette



## weedygarden (Apr 27, 2011)

I subscribe to a homesteading forum. Today's topic was about sickness etiquette. I thought it was a good topic to consider, now and in a SHTF situation.

http://homesteadcommunitypost.ning....logPost:138900&xgs=1&xg_source=msg_share_post



> We are now heading into the infamous cold season! There will be lots of viruses going around and you want to try to avoid them as much as possible and the answer is NOT getting the flu shot! I know a lot of people that get the flu shot and they still get the flu. It is not the answer folks, just a bunch more chemicals that you don't need in your blood stream.
> 
> This is a very sensitive topic because people do not like to think about sickness nor about being responsible for spreading the sickness to others. As believers in Christ, we ought to be mindful of this. People just like to get together and have a good time of fellowship. They do not want to stay home or keep their kids home when one or more members of the family are infected with a virus.
> 
> ...


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## notyermomma (Feb 11, 2014)

This is timely for me because I came home early from work today with The Crud. We're extra militant about sending sick employees home because we have a few coworkers who are immunocompromized. And as a social services agency we serve a lot of people who *might* be or are otherwise vulnerable because of limited access to health care, etc.

It's also worth pointing out that sickness is more complicated than just keeping your kids at home and whipping up sympathy casseroles. Socially, some illnesses are more equal than others and so we never even know if a neighbor or even a loved one is at death's door because people don't discuss it. And from the faith perspective above, a lot of cultures practice variations on faith healing such that the sick might not want to come forward - the implication being that if they're sick, it's their fault for not being devout enough. I've seen it happen.


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## tsrwivey (Dec 31, 2010)

People would not get sick so frequently if they'd just stop touching their face. Your hands don't have to be clean (except if they're touching food) if you keep them off your face. Germs on your hands don't make you sick, germs inside your body do.

Anyone that knowingly brings lice to my house will NEVER be invited back. EVER. For any reason. We won't be hanging out anywhere else either. When Jesus said to forgive, He'd never had to deal with resistant lice. 

Most day cares, church childcare, & schools have rules about illness. If your church doesn't, have that fixed. 

Personally, I have no problem telling people to keep or take their sick kid home. None whatsoever. If they're going to be so rude as to subject the very young, the very old, & the medically fragile to potentially life threatening germs, I'm going to defend them & I'm going to do it in such a way that they won't want that repeated.


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## Cotton (Oct 12, 2013)

I agree with all the above, my OP… it goes back to our diet. According to Kings College (outside London) who has been evaluating the nutritional value of meats, fruits, dairy and veggies around the world since the late 1940’s, as of 1992 all of North American cropland was 87% mineral depleted. Other areas of the world are worse. Several Nobel Prizes have been awarded linking today’s rampant poor health problems to mineral depletion in our soils, and hence our food. If your food comes from a store it’s little more than filler.

10 years ago I found a way to replenish my soil here on the farm, crushed volcanic rock. Man has lived by volcanoes for millennia for his health and the life expectancy of his family, livestock and crops. The richest soil in the world is around volcanoes!

I haven’t had a cold or flu or crud in the past 8 years… just sayin’. When your body is healthy it can quickly knock out attacking viruses. When extended family members did contract the flu or crud I quickly knocked it out with herbs. My dad, 81 always gets the crud, every winter until this past one. Last fall he started taking my poke salet root tincture for his severe arthritis, a wonderful anti-inflammatory. For the first time in the past 15 years he didn’t get the crud. It’s also a great anti-viral.


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## Grimm (Sep 5, 2012)

tsrwivey said:


> People would not get sick so frequently if they'd just stop touching their face. Your hands don't have to be clean (except if they're touching food) if you keep them off your face. Germs on your hands don't make you sick, germs inside your body do.
> 
> Anyone that knowingly brings lice to my house will NEVER be invited back. EVER. For any reason. We won't be hanging out anywhere else either. When Jesus said to forgive, He'd never had to deal with resistant lice.
> 
> ...


Roo's Preschool has a rule that any child with a fever of 99 will be sent home not if and or buts about it. Any signs of illness and they are sent home asap.

Roo had a case of the dairy runs while at school and they sent her home. It was a Wed so I didn't have to keep her home the rest of the week (she only goes Tues and Wed). It only lasted the rest of the day but I did everything to make her feel better.

When the whole family had that nasty head cold for 2 weeks and Roo gave herself pink eye I kept her home the entire 2 weeks (until all medications were complete and gone). No runs to the store or leaving the house. None of the other kids at her school got sick because I kept her home.

I thought it was common sense to stay away from others when you or someone in your family was sick. I guess no one cares about being reinfected.


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## weedygarden (Apr 27, 2011)

*Random thoughts*

When I first saw the post, I had just watched a video a guy had made where he was snuffling (sucking in instead of blowing his nose) and snorting. What he really needed to do was to blow his nose before he started his little video. He never had me for his teacher. 

I think about SHTF situations and runny noses. Before there were tissues, there were handkerchiefs, or hankies. I have a few bandanas, but there is nothing sexy about them. I want to figure out about getting or making some.

So many people send their children to school when they are not well. Often children are medicated, sent to school, and then when the meds wear off, the parents get called to come pick them up.

In Japan, people wear masks when they are not well, and maybe when they want to stay well. I wish that would be more common in America.

I flew on a plane from Puerto Rico to Florida. Sitting in the seat beside me was a woman who hacked and coughed, and carried on the whole flight. I was absolutely convinced that I was going to be sick within a day or two of that flight. That goodness, I did not.


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## Grimm (Sep 5, 2012)

As far as making more hankies, just keep a few yards of cotton fabric on hand. The average size for a ladies hanky is 18"x18" and the average bandana is 22"x22" with the oversized ones being 27"x27" or 35"x35".

Just cut out the size you want and hand hem the square with a rolled hem.

Years back the dollar store carried standard white mens hankies and lovely embroidered ladies hankies. They came 3 to a pack for a dollar! I bought a bunch but it has been years since I saw the unopened packs. I can't find them at the dollar store anymore. Time to get a few yards of fabric to make a bunch or find them cheap online.


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## jnrdesertrats (Jul 3, 2010)

In my exprience many parents send thier kids to school sick because they cannot afford to stay home with them.


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## backlash (Nov 11, 2008)

OK who besides me is scratching their head.
:laugh:


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## weedygarden (Apr 27, 2011)

jnrdesertrats said:


> In my exprience many parents send thier kids to school sick because they cannot afford to stay home with them.


I think you are correct. Some people have a better ability to keep their children home from school when they are sick than others. Some just are not as concerned.

I also think some people send their children to school because they have pressing work matters to take care of.

Some people have support systems that provide options for them when a child is sick, be it grandma, grandpa, aunt, uncle, cousin, good friend.

Another thing is that some people use up their sick and vacation days ASAP, not thinking or considering the possibility of needing them for an emergency. In the school system I worked in, sick days were accumulated for years. I had a colleague who had 180 + days when he retired. That was the equivalent of a school year of sick days. Other people are always looking for ways they can take some days off, never having any spare days left, so if there were to be an emergency, oh well. These were also the same people who would come to work at the last possible moment, and would run out asap.


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## TheLazyL (Jun 5, 2012)

jnrdesertrats said:


> In my exprience many parents send thier kids to school sick because they cannot afford to stay home with them.


Have a co-worker who is trying to get her life back together.

The last time she caught her husband cheating ended in divorce.

Because the Ex couldn't or wouldn't pay child support she had to file for bankruptcy.

Finding a rental for her and her 3 children, that she could afford was difficult.

Work "buys back" any unused sick or vacation time. She tried her best not to use any to gain a little extra money enabling her to break even.

There was a few times she came to work not feeling well. She warned us all and she stayed in her office. What choice did she have? We understood her situation and cooperated.

Of course after her day ended her office got hosed down with Lysol.


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## weedygarden (Apr 27, 2011)

TheLazyL said:


> Of course after her day ended her office got hosed down with Lysol.


More than once I sprayed a full can of Lysol in my classroom, closed the door and went home.

Another very important thing is *handwashing*. Door knobs and telephones are known culprits for sharing germs. My former students would get chapped hands because I had them wash their hands: before breakfast, after breakfast, after using the restroom, before lunch, after lunch, after recess, before snack and after snack, when they coughed or sneezed. Some of my students began bringing lotion to school to use after handwashing, although I often had that by the sink for them as well. I had a check list that I used to keep track of handwashing because many do not want to ever wash their hands unless held accountable.


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## Grimm (Sep 5, 2012)

When my mom was working (teacher) if a student were sick she sent them to the nurse. 9 times out of 10 the nurse sent the kid home. My mom didn't want to get sick so she made sure the sick kids weren't around.

She only used her sick days when I was young and sick and when she broke her ankle in the teachers lounge 15 years ago.


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## Starcreek (Feb 4, 2015)

Cotton said:


> When extended family members did contract the flu or crud I quickly knocked it out with herbs. My dad, 81 always gets the crud, every winter until this past one. Last fall he started taking my poke salet root tincture for his severe arthritis, a wonderful anti-inflammatory. For the first time in the past 15 years he didn't get the crud. It's also a great anti-viral.


Cotton, how do you make a tincture from poke root?

I use elderberry syrup as a flu remedy, but I'd like to know about the poke recipe, because we have a lot of it around here.


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## bacpacker (Jul 15, 2011)

Cotton I would also like to know where you got the crushed volcanic rock?


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## weedygarden (Apr 27, 2011)

Grimm said:


> When my mom was working (teacher) if a student were sick she sent them to the nurse. 9 times out of 10 the nurse sent the kid home. My mom didn't want to get sick so she made sure the sick kids weren't around.
> 
> She only used her sick days when I was young and sick and when she broke her ankle in the teachers lounge 15 years ago.


There is a guideline about children having to have a temperature before they can be sent home. They can cough and sneeze and blow their noses all day and not be sent home, as long as they do not have a temperature.

When I retired, I had years worth of sick days I had never used. I used sick days when I had migraines or when I was crawling due to back problems, and was rarely sick. Preparing for a substitute is SO much work, it was not worth it.


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## Grimm (Sep 5, 2012)

weedygarden said:


> There is a guideline about children having to have a temperature before they can be sent home. They can cough and sneeze and blow their noses all day and not be sent home, as long as they do not have a temperature.
> 
> When I retired, I had years worth of sick days I had never used. I used sick days when I had migraines or when I was crawling due to back problems, and was rarely sick. Preparing for a substitute is SO much work, it was not worth it.


I know at my mom's district the health policy was a fever over 98.9, vomiting, fainting or explosive diarrhea.

I applied from the health office position at her district after K and I got married. I had the training it required. They ended up giving the job to one of the moms who worked as the playground supervisor. She quit the following year because she couldn't handle the volume of kids trying to get sent home sick.


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## Cotton (Oct 12, 2013)

Starcreek said:


> Cotton, how do you make a tincture from poke root?
> 
> I use elderberry syrup as a flu remedy, but I'd like to know about the poke recipe, because we have a lot of it around here.


http://www.herbshealing.com/herbal_ezine/September05/healingwise.htm

_Once you've dug up the root (and parked the Jeep), the next step -- if you've decided to give pokeweed a try -- is drawing out those medicinal properties. The best way to do that is to make a tincture (alcohol extract). Wash the root, chop it into small pieces, fill a jar with the plant material, and then add enough 100-proof alcohol to cover the roots. Leave it on your counter for six weeks, then strain out the roots. The resulting milky liquid is remarkably mild-looking and -tasting, considering the punch it packs.

Poke is so powerful that it's taken by the drop. Begin with one to three drops (using a dropper, of course). Wait 24 hours. If that doesn't seem to help, add one drop per day to the dosage (and that's drops, not droppersful!).

Individuals show widely varying tolerance for poke. Some people can't handle more than three or five drops per day, while others can take 25 or 50 drops with no adverse effects. The side effects of poke include mental unclarity, spaciness and out-of-body feelings. If you notice such feelings, it means you've found your tolerance level, so back off to a lower dosage. If you take way too much (such as mistaking droppersful for drops, which some people have done!), you may encounter more severe side effects, such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhea._

My level is 8 drops per day, 4 in the morning and 4 in late afternoon. It's wonderful for my arthritic knees. Dad takes 12 to 14 drops... Some people can't take it at all. Poke is a toxic plant so you have to be careful with it. I wear gloves when processing the root. That said it's a wonderful medicinal.


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## Cotton (Oct 12, 2013)

bacpacker said:


> Cotton I would also like to know where you got the crushed volcanic rock?


A small family business in Utah, they have an ancient mountain of it. They been mining, crushing and selling it since the 1950's. It's certified for the organic production of plants and animals. Company name... Azomite.

I buy it on 50 bag pallets, 2200lbs at a time. Shipping can be more than the cost of the product.


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## weedygarden (Apr 27, 2011)

Grimm said:


> I know at my mom's district the health policy was a fever over 98.9, vomiting, fainting or explosive diarrhea.
> 
> I applied from the health office position at her district after K and I got married. I had the training it required. They ended up giving the job to one of the moms who worked as the playground supervisor. She quit the following year because she couldn't handle the volume of kids trying to get sent home sick.


I have worked in situations where when a child says they do not feel well, the first course of action, as directed to the staff by administration, is to tell the child to get a drink of water. No kidding. That was a part of making sure that teachers take care of everything and no one else in a school will have to.

We were also directed to have children lay down in our classrooms. I kept a couple small fleece blankets and small pillow for that. At times children would get it all out by themselves, and I would simply ask them if they were okay. You know that younger children are not that into laying down and napping, so if they felt the need to do that, it wouldn't last long if they were actually not sick, or if they were, they would be comfortable, sometimes falling asleep.


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## Grimm (Sep 5, 2012)

weedygarden said:


> I have worked in situations where when a child says they do not feel well, the first course of action, as directed to the staff by administration, is to tell the child to get a drink of water. No kidding. That was a part of making sure that teachers take care of everything and no one else in a school will have to.
> 
> We were also directed to have children lay down in our classrooms. I kept a couple small fleece blankets and small pillow for that. At times children would get it all out by themselves, and I would simply ask them if they were okay. You know that younger children are not that into laying down and napping, so if they felt the need to do that, it wouldn't last long if they were actually not sick, or if they were, they would be comfortable, sometimes falling asleep.


My how things have changed. I remember my days in school they always sent you to the nurse. She would take your temperature then if you didn't have a fever she'd have you lay down for a short time before sending you back to class. If you had a fever your parents would be called then you'd be picked up and taken home.

But then I haven't been in school for almost 20 years.


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## VoorTrekker (Oct 7, 2012)

Grimm said:


> ...As far as making more hankies, just keep a few yards of cotton fabric on hand. The average size for a ladies hanky is 18"x18" and the average bandana is 22"x22" with the oversized ones being 27"x27" or 35"x35".
> 
> Just cut out the size you want and hand hem the square with a rolled hem....


Used hankies are a disgusting chore to clean. My grandma would just toss them in the trashcan and buy me more hankies. At least I made a hanky last a week.

Now I use tissue and toss it in the burning barrel or the trash. No salty water soaking and picking out mucous matter before general laundry.


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## txcatlady (Sep 26, 2013)

When my kids at school felt like throwing up, I sent them to restrooms but told them not to flush and let me see it. I then determined if they were sick and needed to go to nurse, or if they ran too much after lunch or sinus drainage. The nurse would send them back unless they had a fever. It was almost a joke. We had our bag of band aids and gloves. I stopped bleeding, nose bleeds and cleaned up blood and puke regularly as the janitors got sick at puke or couldn't be found. I also cleaned up some piles that fell out of their clothes. Girls came to me for personal products as I showed them where they were in my office and where the hydrogen peroxide was if their clothes were spotted. I also pulled teeth. Even the nurse sent them to the gym to me. Sometimes I let them lay on bleachers after being sent back. All kids loved PE and didn't want to sit out.


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## weedygarden (Apr 27, 2011)

Grimm said:


> My how things have changed. I remember my days in school they always sent you to the nurse. She would take your temperature then if you didn't have a fever she'd have you lay down for a short time before sending you back to class. If you had a fever your parents would be called then you'd be picked up and taken home.
> 
> But then I haven't been in school for almost 20 years.


It really depends upon the administration. Some keep pushing everything at teachers.

I have had situations where administrators have a well developed health room. Others cannot be bothered. "Have them drink water and lay down." This is just wrong, IMHO.

This is not medical, but an example of what an administrators did.
I once had a child whose background was horrible. I wasn't told this, but I believe his mother had an affair with a married man and my student was the result. His father was married to someone else and had children by his wife that were older and younger than my student. This student was absolutely out of control. He would not settle down. I could not teach with him in my classroom. He ran around the classroom and did what he could to distract students. I took him to the office, had him sit in a chair, and briefly told the administration that he would not settle down and I could not teach. I was told I could not leave him in the office. Okay, I took him back to class, but it did not get better. I took him back to the administration in a little bit and said something to the effect that either he was going to have to be out of the room, or I was going to leave for the day. Admin got it and kept him. I went back to class and the child got up and ran out the school door and ran for blocks with administration chasing him, more than half a mile. I said to my assistant, "Watch, we are going to get blamed for this." She said, "I was thinking the same thing." We were not. That administrator was so narcissistic, but so wonderful, if you asked her, and no one else did anything right. I found out that this child was put in a large dog cage when he went on mandatory visits with his father and left in there for hours. He needed help that I could not give him.


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## Grimm (Sep 5, 2012)

weedygarden said:


> It really depends upon the administration. Some keep pushing everything at teachers.
> 
> I have had situations where administrators have a well developed health room. Others cannot be bothered. "Have them drink water and lay down." This is just wrong, IMHO.
> 
> ...


My mom had a cardboard voting booth in her class room she used to "house" the trouble makers. She'd stick them in there (with a desk and chair) and told them to do their work. If they didn't she just failed them for that activity/class work.

As they started pushing no child left behind my mom just started embarrassing the troublemakers in class so they'd bury their heads and do the work. The type of teasing like 'don't pick your nose' or if they need to do "xyz- whatever they are doing" they can go to the office and explain why they need to to the vp. More often than not the students thought my mom was the fun teacher and tried not to screw around in her class.


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## notyermomma (Feb 11, 2014)

Most of the time when I got sick, my parents would just give me a long angry lecture about being lazy and sorry for myself and send me off to school anyway. Once in high school I got the flu and had a temp of over 104. Because my brain was boiling I was hallucinating and seeing demons all over tbe bouse. They responded by ditching me and going to the movies.


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## TheLazyL (Jun 5, 2012)

notyermomma said:


> Most of the time when I got sick, my parents... responded by ditching me and going to the movies.


Those weren't parents.


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## weedygarden (Apr 27, 2011)

VoorTrekker said:


> Used hankies are a disgusting chore to clean. My grandma would just toss them in the trashcan and buy me more hankies. At least I made a hanky last a week.
> 
> Now I use tissue and toss it in the burning barrel or the trash. No salty water soaking and picking out mucous matter before general laundry.


I get that. I have used tissues for decades. I always buy them by the case at Sam's and like to have a box by my bed and my favorite seat in the living room.

I want to have alternatives if there are no more tissues. I want to have alternatives to offer to those who suck it back in instead of blowing it out. I want to have alternatives to offer those who I can't look at because they need to blow their nose.


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## Wellrounded (Sep 25, 2011)

Hubby uses hankies. I've always had someone in the household that uses them. I don't have a problem with them at all.


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