In doing my research for another article, I noted that a significant amount of Reiki is done in hospitals by volunteers working on cancer patients. Most of the bigger programs have Reiki practitioners who are 'official volunteer status', which means, there is documentation to prove that 'they have had their shots' and that they understand basic infectious disease control precautions.
I thought about it over the past few days. You know, in my Reiki classes when I trained, we never even washed our hands!
Did you know in the O.R. we have three classes of cases? Clean, clean-contaminated, and dirty, depending on the part of the body we are planning to work. In the event of someone with something that may be contagious to a following patient, the entire room undergoes a 'terminal clean'. We are hyper vigilant about infection, for a good reason. (The most infectious disease is the prion, the cause of Creuzfelt-Jakob and Mad-cow disease spongiform encephalitis. After a brain biopsy, we dispose of all instruments used on the case.)
So I thought, you know, there are some well-meaning Light Workers out there, who may or may not have physical contact with their clients, and they ought to know the basis on this infectious disease stuff so they can make their own decisions with this information.
Basically, there are three topics to discuss:
1) Things that are catchy to you and to your other clients
2) How to keep yourself and others from spreading anything infectious
3) Things you can carry to someone with a weakened immune system, and possibly kill them
Here are some things that are 'catchy' between people:
PARASITES:
1. lice
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001843/
2. scabies
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001833/
3. bed bugs
http://www.orkin.com/other/bed-bugs/
4. ringworm
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002411/
DISEASES SPREAD BY TOUCHING A PERSON OR SURFACE--contact transmission:
MRSA
VRE
C. Difficile
'Pink Eye' conjunctivitis
E Coli O157:H7
DISEASES SPREAD BY BREATHING--respiratory transmission--droplet or airborne:
tuberculosis
varicella
measles
meningitis
How disease is spread, in summary by the Australians--a very nice list of what is what and how it is spread:
http://www.dh.sa.gov.au/pehs/ygw/waysspread-pehs-sahealth-2009.pdf
Here is a thorough description of types of disease transmission and its prevention by Respiratory Therapists:
http://www.johnynami.com/transmissionofdisease.pdf
For example, the most personal protective equipment is necessary for blood-borne transmission, such as Hepatitis C or HIV, and these are worn:
gloves
gowns
bonnets
shoe covers
face shields
goggles
surgical masks (respirators if respiratory transmission)
Here are some steps to protect your patients and yourself:
contact precautions--in general always have good hand hygine:
wash your hands with soap before working with a patient. Use soap and water, scrub for thirty seconds (hint-sing the alphabet song), with friction, and use a paper towel to dry your hands completely. (Air blowers actually spread microbes up to four feet in the vicinity!)
contact precautions--known infectious agent:
use disposable sheets, gowns, gloves for yourself and patient.
disinfect all surfaces after each patient
follow hospital guidelines if in a medical facility
respiratory precautions--you or your client is 'coming down with something':
wear a surgical mask, and offer one to your patient if they are sneezing/have the flu
disinfect all surfaces after each patient
wash hands often and effectively
By the way, in the hospital they use positive pressure ventilation rooms and negative pressure ones, depending if the germs need to stay out (immunocompromised) or in (respiratory spread of disease)
Yes, you can infect your client:
who is at risk:
immunosuppression-having had measles, chemo, or radiation
neutropenic patient (disease or chemo)
cancer
organ transplant
bone marrow transplant
And here is what can happen:
chicken pox can be fatal. If you have not had Chicken Pox or been vaccinated you should not work with this client on the off-chance you could catch chicken pox and transmit it to them before you know you have chicken pox.
pseudomonas, commonly found in the nose, can result in overwhelming systemic infection
influenza is particularly hard to fight in the elderly and the very young (the extremes of age)
Because of the known risk of transmission of these diseases, a typical health care worker is immunized against the following diseases, and must prove active immunity and up-to-date records to work:
Hepatitis B
Influenza
Measles
Mumps
Rubella
Tetanus
Diptheria
Pertussis
N. meningitidis
Varicella
If the best of intent leads to someone getting sicker without your knowing it, through Reiki or Energy Medicine that comes from you, is it worth it?
Why not take the steps to inform yourself, those you work with, and instill basic disease-prevention practice into your Energy work?
Namaste,
Reiki Doc
