I've had many new experiences and spent time in different places ever since becoming a mother. For example, as a 20 something single woman, I rarely frequented playgrounds, museams, or...well...hospitals. Parenting has changed that Besides my own hospital stays for two c-sections, both of my children have unfortunately needed to go to the ER. In fact just last month I was there with my younger son after he swallowed a paper clip. I have to admit, I did worry about the cleanliness of the hospital. Although everything appeared clean, I remembered holding my older son when he was an infant while watching a hospital staff member clean up another child's vomit with a towel and no detergent. I would like to believer that incident was a fluke. Fluke or not though, it does appear that you can get sick from hospitals.

New York State is giving $1.2 million to NY hospitals to help control hospital acquired infections according to the Albany Watch. "Each year, hospital patients across the country contract an estimated 1.7 [million] infections, resulting in some 99,000 deaths, according to state Health Commissioner Richard Daines.

"Prevention efforts will target some of the most dangerous hospital-acquired infections, such as MRSA, which is caused by a staph infection; Clostridium difficile, which causes intestinal problems; bloodstream infections; and ventilator-associated pneumonias."

Certainly preventing infection seems like the obvious answer. Bloggers are agreeing. According to Newyorkinjurylawblog.com "We read study after study criticizing the the health care field for sickness, injuries and death occurring in hospitals. Perhaps the most dangerous risk you face in a hospital is contracting a post-surgical infection. Bacteria in the hospital setting is already mostly immune to the typical anti-biotics used to treat it, and it tends to be very aggressive. The best way to protect yourself is not to contract the infection in the first place. "

This can be very serious. In a hospital in Madrid, Spain a bacterial outbreak killed 18 people. According to Acinetobacter Alert, "The deaths were caused by Acinetobacter baumannii, a highly virulent hospital-acquired infection that has strains that are resistant to most drugs, the daily reported.

The situation was so bad at the hospital that the intensive care unit had to be destroyed so that a new, non-contaminated structure could be built, the report said".

This can also happen closer to home. According to the Star-Telegram.com,

"An estimated 2 million Americans annually get one of a variety of drug-resistant infections, leading to about 90,000 deaths, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate.

"Of those afflicted, 87 percent catch the infection at a healthcare facility, the CDC says.

"But those are only estimates. Because there is no nationwide or even state-by-state database, nobody knows for sure how many people are infected, where they got infected and which healthcare facilities have the worst infection rates.".

New York State is not just trying to reduce infections in individual hospitals; they are encouraging hospitals to collaborate on reduction of infections across the State. In fact, hospitals are required to collaborate with at least five other hospitals in order to be eligible for funding.

Alex also blogs at Formula Fed and Flexible Parenting