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A Message from Betsy McCaughey, Ph.D.


 

RID is a nationwide educational campaign to empower patients and caregivers to stop the scourge of healthcare acquired infections.

RID uses newspaper articles, academic presentations, radio and television to bring its lifesaving information to YOU. Please pore over this website and find the facts most helpful to you.

And remember: Patients and grieving families used to be told that infection is the cost of doing the business of medicine. RID has already changed that. Now it is universally recognized that most infections are preventable and unacceptable.

Whether you are preparing for childbirth, elective surgery, hip or knee replacement or another procedure, RID’s 15 Steps can help reduce your risk of a healthcare infection. Please download a copy from the website and review it a week before you check into the hospital. If done ahead of time, you will be able to bathe several times with chlorhexidine soap to remove germs from your skin and ask your doctor to test you for MRSA, a super bug staph infection that is difficult to treat because of its resistance to antibiotics.

If you are choosing a nursing facility for a loved one or for yourself, RID’s 10 Steps brochure is for you. Moving into the wrong nursing home can be dangerous to your health. Nursing homes tend to have higher infection rates than hospitals. The difference between a quality facility and a poorly operated one can determine whether your have a peaceful experience or endure terrible healthcare setbacks. RID’s 10 Steps will help you make the right choice and avoid those dangers.

RID has had a track record of success for over 15 years. When RID was established in 2005, not one state required hospitals to disclose their infection rates. Today, 37 states do and we will continue working with the remaining states until everyone makes this information readily available. The hand sanitizers you see installed on walls throughout hospitals is just one sign of RID’s impact on combating the spread of infection.

Patients with cancer, heart disease and other illnesses cannot access breakthrough therapies if infection makes going to the hospital too risky. All the benefits of medical science, from joint replacement to chemotherapy, depend on being able to prevent infection.

RID has only one goal – to save lives!

 

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The Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization - Contributions are tax-deductible - research@hospitalinfection.org

Phone: 203-485-0093 / 917-748-0227