[humanser] Question about cane sanitation for hospital use

[Kaiti Shelton]

Hi all,

My goal is to become a board-certified music therapist and work in a
pediatric hospital.  I recently visited a family member in the
hospital who was quite ill, and it made me think of some important
considerations which will follow me into my career.  Seeing this
relative involved trips to the MICU (Medical Intensive Care Unit) and
the Hematology and Oncology floor.  In both cases I had to scrub up
and wear a gown and gloves to go see the person because what they had
was contageous.

I did not take the cane back into ICU with me because we were supposed
to leave all unnecessary items out.  While the argument of whether or
not a cane is a necessary item is totally different, suffice it to say
that with everything going on I didn't argue with my parents and used
sighted guide with my brother while they held onto my cane outside the
ICU.  A few days later I saw the person again on the hematology and
oncology floor, and did bring my cane along.  This time I scrubbed up
then washed again after leaving, but realized then that I had never
done anything with my cane and potentially dragged outside germs in
and exposed myself to ones in the room on my way out.  Especially
since I'll be working with children, and quite possibly in isolated
areas like the ICU, Preop, and Postop, I think the clenliness of my
cane is something I need to consider.

I already do wipe it down regularly when I'm working with kids or the
elderly, but in some situations such as in a hospital a Clorox wipe
just won't cut it.  The type of infection I was around is even
antibiotic resistant, and you never know what patients might have.  My
mom used to be an oral surgeon's assistant and she preaches to me all
the time about taking universal procausions.  They used AIDS as th
example in their office and the doc would tell them it wasn't the
person who told you about a diagnosis you had to worry about-it was
the one who didn't, or didn't know they had something communical to
begin with.  So, that is why it's so important to treat everyone as if
they have AIDS or something else similarly contageous.

I'm raching out to everyone I can to puzzle this out, because it's
likely my professors just won't know what to do about it.  Most people
have suggestd putting some sort of covering over it.  One person
suggested having someone sew me cane covers out of the same material
scrubs are made out of so it could be washed and reused.  Another also
suggested that, but acknowledged something different would need to be
figured out for the more intensive care situations where the gowns are
immediately thrown away rather than saved for washing.  Someone else
suggested keeping a few extra tips around so I could swap those out,
E.G to prevent tracking of things spilled on the floor or general
grime into rooms where it wouldn't be best to do so.  Someone else
suggested finding some way to put covers over the tips that would
still allow for sensitivity, while allowing me to change them more
quickly.

I figured most of you probably don't need to venture deep into the
belly of a hospital much, but if you do or have ideas I would be
interested in hearing them.  --
Kaiti Shelton
University of Dayton-Music Therapy
President, Ohio Association of Blind Students 2013-Present
Secretary, The National Federation of the Blind Performing Arts
Division 2015-2016

"You can live the life you want; blindness is not what holds you back!"