Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Staying healthy in prison

Prison is full of germs. There's just no way around it when you have 900 staff and offenders crammed in a space the size of a small commune. People get all sorts of crazy diseases besides the general ones you associate with sharing things like dirty needles. I got mono one time and was out for two weeks! All the clerks were sure that I had died haha. Just today one of the clerks said they had Whooping Cough. Yikes!
So, what is a prison librarian to do to stay healthy in a germ-filled environment? Well, first of all, I say some germs are good for you because it strengthens your immune system so there's no need to go crazy with hand sanitizer and Virex. Just follow these simple tips to stay healthy in prison:
1. Work out and eat healthy. This is important no matter where you work and you will feel so much better.
2. Don't let anyone use your pen. You don't know where their hands have been AND you probably won't ever get it back if you let it out of your sight.
3. Wash your hands prior to eating lunch and after handling library books. Books are dirty. You don't want to eat that.
4. Take sick time when you are sick, but try and keep a week or two in the bank justincase you come down with something really nasty. There's nothing worse than needing to take sick time and not getting paid or having to use your vacation time.
5. Drink lots of water. Hydration flushes out germs.
6. No touching in prison. This rule is helpful for so many situations!
7. Don't have sex with offenders. See rule #6.
During your first year or so you will probably be more sick than you will be after that. This is because your body is getting used to the new germ situation. But stick it out, take vitamin C and you should be feeling fine in no time.

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