WHEREAS, protecting the health of Nevadans includes providing every citizen with access to safe and effective healthcare, and according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2006, more than 1 billion Americans visited their doctors’ offices, emergency rooms, and hospital outpatient departments; and

WHEREAS, healthcare acquired infections are a serious problem in healthcare facilities in the United States; in 2005, an estimated two million patients developed a hospital-related infection and there were 90,000 infection associated deaths in the United States; and

WHEREAS, in 2008 alone, outbreaks of Hepatitis C infection have been identified in three states through three different medical practice areas including outpatient surgery, cardiac stress testing, and hemodialysis due to unsafe practices of practitioners involving potentially 52,000 patients; and

WHEREAS, host-related risk factors such as age, nutritional status, diabetes, smoking, obesity, infection at a remote body site, colonization with microorganisms, altered immune response, and length of preoperative stay increase the likelihood of developing hospital-acquired infections, and, patients who smoke have three times the risk of developing a surgical site infection as non-smokers; and

WHEREAS, persons infected with antimicrobial-resistant organisms are more likely to have longer hospital stays and require treatment with second- or third-choice drugs that may be less effective, more toxic, and/or more expensive; healthcare-associated infections increase morbidity and mortality and add a significant financial burden to the cost of healthcare; and

WHEREAS, hand hygiene is the number one way to prevent the spread of both community and healthcare associated infections; Infection Prevention and Control Professionals are devoted to patient and healthcare worker safety and are committed to reducing the risk and occurrence of healthcare-associated infections;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, JIM GIBBONS, GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, do hereby proclaim October 19 - 25, 2008, as