(Photo: Zed Science Facebook page)

By Josh Hall and Sheldon Spackman

Getting Creative

Local science teacher makes his own hand sanitizer amid COVID-19 pandemic

Mar 17, 2020 | 8:00 PM

As many Albertans take steps to ensure they have enough hand wipes and sanitizers on-hand, one Red Deer teacher has taken matters into his own hands, so to speak.

Jason Zackowski is a chemistry teacher at Lindsay Thurber High School and head of the school’s science department.

With cleaning supplies in higher demand because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Zackowski says he began making his own hand sanitizer to ensure his school would have some available for students.

“That was before the government shut down schools,” he recalls. “I had no prior knowledge that was going to happen. We were tasked as teachers with having these kids come to school and I had nothing, no sanitizer, anything for all these kids.”

Zackowski says making his own hand sanitizer was also a way of lightening the mood during a serious situation.

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“Hand sanitizer is made using alcohol, and I used an ethanol alcohol,” he explains. “Aloe vera (and) a little bit of glycerin. Then I added some lemon juice for the fragrance.

“Most hand sanitizer has between 60-95 per cent alcohol, so my mixture was about 75 per cent alcohol, and then 25 per cent rest of the stuff.”

Zackowski says less than 60 per cent alcohol would be ineffective, while more than 95 per cent would be hard on your hands.

“That’s why I added the aloe vera and the glycerin, which basically just keep your hands moisturized,” says Zackowski. “As the alcohol evaporates, it will dry out your skin, so the other stuff stops that from happening. It’s not as nice on your hands as the store-bought stuff, but I also didn’t have a factory to make it in.”

Zackowski says others may be able to make their own hand sanitizer if they have the proper ingredients.

“You could use isopropyl alcohol, which is easy to get,” he points out. “Glycerin you can buy from Walmart, aloe vera you can buy everywhere. You can easily search up this recipe on the internet, and I think some people have done that and have actually bought out aloe vera in cities, maybe even Red Deer.”

However, Zackowski says not to panic if you’ve run out of hand sanitizer as he reinforces that hand washing is still the best defense against coronavirus.

“I believe Health Canada said wash your hands like you have just chopped jalapenos and now you’re going to put your contacts in your eyes,” he says. “That was a good way to think about the length of time or sing happy birthday twice.

“The one I told my students, which they seemed to really enjoy, was singing Rick Astley’s ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ – sing the main chorus line.”

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