A healthy home on a shoestring

No doubt, you’ve heard the fears: Our houses are teeming with germs poised to strike. The quality of the air inside our houses is worse than the polluted air outside. Mold can destroy our health. Pull up your carpets and lay down tile or wood floors because carpeting harbors allergens. Experts from every corner of the nation constantly are weighing in on how to make our homes healthier. What really matters here in the Treasure Valley, and what’s not worth the time it takes to fret? Idaho Health asked a few experts.

Carpets

Don’t bother pulling up your carpet, unless your taste and budget lead you to another flooring choice. Vacuum it. If people are coughing and sneezing in their homes, the likeliest cause is cats, Dr. Joseph Callanan, of The Allergy Group, said. Cats and dogs are the most popular pets nationwide, but cats have the dubious honor of being the No. 1 trigger for indoor allergies. Get allergy treatments.

Mold?

Except in a few cases (such as plumbing leaks, home construction problems or the like), worries about mold are unfounded because the high desert air of the Treasure Valley is too dry, Callanan said. Mold prefers damp. But radon, a radioactive gas found in rocks and dirt in every county in Idaho, is worth checking, especially in basements or crawlspaces.

Keep it clean

Tom Schmalz is program manager for environmental health at the Central District Health Department, which, among other things, inspects every burger joint, convenience store and restaurant in Ada, Boise, Elmore and Valley counties. The inspectors’ mission is to help restaurants cut down on the germs that cause vomiting, diarrhea and other unpleasant intestinal symptoms. Here are a few easy ways Schmalz says you can keep your own kitchen clean:

1. Wash your hands. Yeah, you’ve heard it before, probably from your mother, but the message didn’t stick. Some studies show that up to 50 percent of us don’t wash our hands after using the bathroom.

2. Prevent cross-contamination. Keep raw meat, which can harbor salmonella or other germs, separate from salad fixings or other ready-to-eat food. Never put cooked food on a plate that had raw food on it unless the plate or dish is washed with hot, soapy water and rinsed. Store raw meat in the refrigerator below ready-to-eat food or in a leak-proof container. It is best to cut up meat, and veggies or fruit on separate cutting boards. Barring that, thoroughly wash the area where you cut up a chicken, for example, with hot, soapy water and rinse it with hot water. A weak bleach solution, one tablespoon for each gallon of water, also can do the trick.


3. Wipe down kitchen drawer knobs and other surfaces with hot, soapy water occasionally.

4. Keep hand soap at the kitchen sink to encourage your family to wash their hands between tasks.