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The Government Should Provide PPE for Childcare Staff

  • 1.  The Government Should Provide PPE for Childcare Staff

    Posted 04-01-2020 01:08 PM
    State and local governments as well as health officials have decided to close University and Public Schools for the rest of the school year or at least through the end of April due reduce the risk of spreading the corona virus.  Public school teachers and staff are being paid to work from home, or getting paid to be at home due to safety concerns even though they are not working.  Most states at this point have been put on some type of lock down, with orders for the public to "Stay at Home" and not participate in group gatherings and to social distance from everyone.

    At the same time, those same state and local officials are telling childcare centers that they need to stay open so that "essential workers" can still go to work.  The term "essential workers" is pretty broad based at this point, which means that not only would a center have families and children coming to them that work in the healthcare industry, but additional families and children that are exposed to the general public in places such as grocery stores, hardware stores, restaurant delivery services etc.  If there was so much concern about public schools and public venues being a risk to people getting the virus, why then was that same level of concern or respect not shown to childcare centers, young children and the staff and teachers that work in these locations.

    All healthcare workers and first responders have been told that they need Personal Protection Equipment to decrease their risk of getting the virus and as we know there is a shortage of this equipment nation wide.  However the guidance for childcare centers from the CDC and local health authorities, including childcare licensing, has been to limit access into the center, take temperatures, hand wash, clean surfaces, and limit group sizes to 10 and limit the students interactions with each other.  From what planet do these people live on.  Childcare Centers have the exact same level of exposure during the day that public schools and hospitals have due to the nature of the business.  There is close human contact throughout the day because we are taking care of interacting with kids.  If these same kids parents, work in environments where they are potentially exposed to the corona virus, then common sense would say, that those people are increasing the risk, that the virus will be introduced into the center, even if the parent never steps foot inside the center.  The children can easily carry it in after hugging or kissing their parent good bye, or by the virus being on the surface of other items brought into the center by the child.

    Therefore if the government is going to ask that we stay open, they need to provide us with the proper protection and mandate that this protection be used while attending to the students, just like in the other high exposure settings.

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    Tim Kaminski
    Director/Owner
    Gingerbread Kids Academy
    Richmond TX
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  • 2.  RE: The Government Should Provide PPE for Childcare Staff

    Posted 04-01-2020 01:45 PM
    Well said.  I agree!

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    Angela Mapes
    Kiddie Karrasel Academy, Inc.
    Le Claire IA
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  • 3.  RE: The Government Should Provide PPE for Childcare Staff

    Posted 04-02-2020 01:44 AM
    Well said! 💯

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    Florence Basilio
    Member
    Naeyc
    Ewa Beach HI
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  • 4.  RE: The Government Should Provide PPE for Childcare Staff

    Posted 04-03-2020 04:02 AM
    You bring up alot of valid points. To add on what your saying;

    1)How am I, as an educator, suppose to tell a child to stay 6 feet apart from their peers? I'm afraid that some children may suffer emotional trauma because of everything going on and some educators may not know how to handle it or might be too nervous to handle this situation.

    2) What if all the educators in the daycare center do not feel comfortable going to work for all the reasons you listed above? Should they choose between: health, paying bills and protecting their families?

    4)There's been doctors, nurse and medical staff that got coronavirus, while using protection at work and these employees were required to learn proper hand-washing, glove and mask protection to even get the job. How would we truly protect ourselves if were still at risk with protective equipment? 

    What should we do in this situation? 








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    Stephanie Louis
    Assistant Director
    Everett MA
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  • 5.  RE: The Government Should Provide PPE for Childcare Staff

    Posted 04-03-2020 09:28 AM
    Hi Stephanie-
    I agree these are very worrisome times for child care directors. I am also a director in MA and am planning to make contact with one of the emergency child care sites that is open near me to ask them some questions prior to re-opening. Things like:
    -what changes have they made in their procedures to keep children and staff safe
    -have any of their staff members become ill during their emergency opening, if so, how did they handle it
    -how are the staff handling working under these conditions
    -what are they doing differently to support staff
    -what are they doing to support the children
    I am also making plans to have as much PPE on site as we can gather prior to our opening
    Let's hope we can all learn from each other to make this a safe situation for all!

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    Judy doCurral
    Holliston Community Children's Center
    Holliston MA
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  • 6.  RE: The Government Should Provide PPE for Childcare Staff

    Posted 04-03-2020 12:51 PM
    Dear Educators,
    I just read that certain preschools will reopen as Emergency Care for Our Essential Workers in New Jersey.
    I think that even though, there is a great need for preschools to open in this time of crisis. We really should not open the doors just like that without having these teachers contract the CV19 without extreme and vital training in how to address these important issues. The virus is not just a minor "Cold" if contracted it can have deadly outcomes to you and your family as well. Sorry, to say but opening preschools is not a panacea for all preschools when they resume to open. We must have a stringent protocol in place before having educators step into the unknown territory of this pandemic.We as a Society must first fix what is broken, our Health Coverage, Adult Education, and many more issues that plague our incomes. My question is this, if the hospitals and health workers are strapped in getting what they need to protect their families , how in the world are we as educators are going to get the needed supplies to protect not only our children but the children in which we teach!

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    Milagros Neu
    Pre-K Teacher
    World Of ABC Preschool
    Maplewood NJ
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  • 7.  RE: The Government Should Provide PPE for Childcare Staff

    Posted 04-05-2020 11:00 AM
    Stephanie, I am not sure if this helps, but I thought I should share what my center does. First I have to explain that I work at the center that provide childcare for medically fragile children, called Priscribed Pediatric Extended Care (PPEC). Some states have PPEC, but not well known to general public. We are considered as a medical facility, has at least one nurses in a classroom and a nurse's tech who has ECE background. We are considered essential so we are open. Although we are medical facility, our resources are limited to daily use, in case of outbreak in the center. Here is what we do now. I hope you can get an idea what you can do.

    1. Screen employees, parents and children in the foyer which is blocked from classroom and hallway with door.  Screening has to be done by others, not self. Temperature over 99.1 with forehead thermometer (there is a kind you don't have to tough the forehead to read temp) can't stay and 48 hours fever free to come back. Questioning about sore throat, cough, exposure to COVID last 14 days, travel in the last 14 days. Record them and name of the person screen with signature too. When someone gets positive CDC will ask, who had contact with who and what type of contact. So recording will make this easier for the director. Director should avoid contact with children so the director can be present without quarantine. Only essential workers' children are allowed to come to keep numbers low. 

    2. No visitors or therapists are allowed to come in the building.

    3. Employees wear masks at all times in the area children are and wear gloves when toutching children. Wash hands between helping each child. To pick up child, employee wears a hospital gown (the ones regular doctor has). Assign one gown for each child and wash gowns daily. Take off gowns inside out to store for the day. 

    4. Only assigned nurse and nurse's tech are allowed to access to the assigned children. No other staffs are allowed to help. Again, keep the record so CDC can determine who needs to be quarantine.

    5. Let children spend as much times outside. It's almost impossible to keep them separate, but outdoor is better than indoor. Sanitize outdoor toys after use. 

    6. To do activity at table, assign seats a part, provide materials individually. 

    7. Don't leave toys on the shelves. Give each child a tray, pick toys for the day and keep the toys in their tray. Sanitize daily or during a nap time.

    8. No family style meal times. Let each child has their food. Assign their seat apart. 

    9. Crest a quarantine room, in case a child becomes ill. Empty the room so sanitizing after is easier. The room should have a door.  Stock up with sanitizing materials, gloves, N95 mask for the designated employee, hospital grade washable PPE gown, phone, child's emergency record, termometer etc.

    10. One employee is assigned for extra cleaning throughout a day. The employee is not allowed to help with children at all. 

    I know childcare center has minimum resources for PPE. The nurse I work with told me, paint suits or coverall can be used for PPE gown. Face shield for weldering can be used too. Handmade mask with maxipad as a filter, if no N95 mask is not available. Of course it's best for government to provide right kind of PPE, but if doctors and nurses have to create their own PPE in some areas, we might have to do so too. I hope this helps...



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    Kazumi Francis
    Priscribed Pediatric Extended Care Tech
    Caring Hearts
    Crestview FL
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  • 8.  RE: The Government Should Provide PPE for Childcare Staff

    Posted 04-06-2020 02:12 PM
    What great tips! Thank you for providing a guideline that works to care for your medically fragile children. We are planning on reopening once we get a plan of operations in place and your tips will really help.

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    Tara Gray
    Director
    Cornerstone Children's Center
    Berkeley CA
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  • 9.  RE: The Government Should Provide PPE for Childcare Staff

    Posted 04-04-2020 09:19 AM
    Well-said. Those centers that have been labeled as "essential" should have facemasks and gloves available. They do not necessarily need to be N95 masks but I am concerned because young children do not understand distancing. They run up to you and hug you and want to give you a kiss. I am not sure how this is supposed to work for centers and their employees to remain safe.

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    Nora Krieger, PhD
    Associate Professor Emerita/Past Chair NJEEPRE
    Bloomfield College/NJ Educators Exploring the Practices of Reggio Emilia
    Highland Park, NJ
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  • 10.  RE: The Government Should Provide PPE for Childcare Staff

    Posted 04-05-2020 03:47 PM
    I am a program director in CA. We are under Pandemic and it makes no sense to me why we are consider essential workers - when we are humans and are afraid of our own health and the safety of our families. We are the frontline workers in this crisis too, however - we deserve the respect of everyone else in the education system. We are the foundation of education, yet we are as usual disregarded and overlooked and consider "babysitters" we need to put a stop to this and be a united front to make legislators understand that we are important. A preschool child is no less than a school age child. Whey are we being mandated to stay open when large school districts aren't, makes no logical sense to me. Thank you for this support group! we need It under these horrible circumstances.

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    Laura Benavente
    Program Director
    Providence Saint Johns Early Childhood Directions
    Santa Monica CA
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  • 11.  RE: The Government Should Provide PPE for Childcare Staff

    Posted 04-05-2020 03:54 PM
    I understand why you are considered an essential worker but the call is more about care than education for the medical folks, police, and firefighters who are doing their job, walking into the fire, so to speak. The problem is that I hear that those working in the centers are not being provided with masks and gloves. The other issue is that the children probably do not understand why they cannot be hugged, etc. during this time.

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    Nora Krieger, PhD
    Associate Professor Emerita/Past Chair NJEEPRE
    Bloomfield College/NJ Educators Exploring the Practices of Reggio Emilia
    Highland Park, NJ
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  • 12.  RE: The Government Should Provide PPE for Childcare Staff

    Posted 04-06-2020 02:09 PM
    Great points and I totally agree. One thing to keep in mind is that teachers in the public school system are unionized and childcare teachers are not. That is why you saw a systematic closing of public schools for grades K-12. I understand the need for care for all children, but if grade schools(think children ages Kindergarten to 5th grade) are closing as part of the shelter in place, the children in those age groups are no more capable of caring for themselves alone at home than the little ones we serve. In both cases, a parent must be home with them. Also in both cases is their exposure risks.

    Our center is looking to reopen once we have a safe plan of operations. It would mean a lot of changes and we can only serve a number of families, but we are willing to try. I am very grateful for the support and helpful tips I have received through this medium.

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    Tara Gray
    Director
    Cornerstone Children's Center
    Berkeley CA
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