An Ounce of Prevention: Deterring Emergencies in Child Care Settings and Schools

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An Ounce of PreventionDeterring Emergencies in
Child Care Settings and Schools

• Bethany Geldmaker, PNP, Ph.D.
• Virginia Department of Health
• Director, Early Childhood Health, Healthy Child
  Care Virginia

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Learning Objectives

• Define a child care emergency
• Identify three categories of potential child care
  emergencies
• Describe actions to take in working with child
  care emergencies

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Definition of Child Care

• Any setting that houses children out of home,
  whether for care or education
• Before and after school programs
• Public/private schools
• Child care facility, faith based, or family day
  homes
• Parks and recreation (e.g.-YMCA)

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Definitions of Child CareEmergencies

• It is an illness or injury that may threaten a
  childs life OR
• Cause permanent harm if action is not taken
  right away.

• What it is not
• a health problem that needs a doctors advice or
  help but does not require the speed, special
  equipment, and training of emergency providers.

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Non Emergency Situations

• Situations that are not emergencies may be
  handled through basic first aid or can wait for
  the parent to immediately pick up and transport
  their child to the doctor or clinic office.

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Psychology Before a Disaster

• A disaster will not happen..
• A disaster will not happen to me..
• A disaster will not be that bad.
• If it happens and it is that bad, there is
  nothing I can do about it.

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Types of Emergencies

• Injury
• Illness
• Environmental hazard

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Child Care Emergencies Injury

• Bicycle - helmets
• Automobile car seats
• Falls playground safety
• Poisonings environmental safety

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Child Care Emergencies Injury

• Choking - CPR
• Near drowning water and environmental safety
• Electric shock
• Burns

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Child Care Emergencies Injury

• Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS)
• Smoke inhalation
• Drug overdose
• Weapons (e.g.-firearms)

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Child Care Emergencies Illness

• Asthma
• Seizures
• Meningitis
• Communicable diseases (e.g.- RSV)
• Vaccine preventable diseases ( i.e.-tetanus,
  pertussis, hepatitis)
• Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

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Child Care Emergencies Environmental Hazards

• Hazardous material incident
• Lead poisoning
• Fire
• Weather related
• Technological
• Bioterrorism

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Symptoms of a Potential Emergency

• Bleeding that does not stop
• Rhythmic jerking
• A large,deep burn or cut
• Very loose or knocked out teeth
• Increasing trouble breathing

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Symptoms of a Potential Emergency

• Acting strangely, becoming more withdrawn, less
  alert, decreasing responsiveness
• Any loss of consciousness, confusion, bad
  headache, or vomiting after hitting head

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Symptoms of a Potential Emergency

• Fever over 104?F in an infant
• Slurred or unintelligible speech (based on
  childs level of development)
• Skin or lips that look blue, purple, or gray

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Response to an Emergency

• STAY CALM!!
• Assess the situation
• What type of care is needed (e.g.-CPR)
• What level of emergency response is required

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Response to an Emergency

• Activate child care center emergency preparedness
  plan
• who remains with the ill/injured child
• who assumes responsibility for the rest of the
  children in the room/center

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Response to an Emergency

• Communication
• who assumes responsibility for calling 911
• who contacts the childs family
• who works with the remaining staff and children

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Working with the Child Care Facility Following an
Emergency

• Recovery
• Resources
• Evaluation

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Working with the Child Care Facility Following an
Emergency

• Recovery-
• How and what needs to be communicated with staff,
  children, and families
• How to debrief those who witnessed the event
• Dealing with stress after the event

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Working with the Child Care Facility Following an
Emergency

• Resources
• Mental health consultant
• Social worker
• Critical incident team
• Faith based support

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Working with the Child Care Facility Following an
Emergency Evaluation

• What were the lessons learned?
• Center policies
• Documentation
• Coordination/response of outside resources

• How prepared was the center for the emergency?
• Center debriefing
• Were numbers posted
• Contact numbers for parents

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Ways to Help inChild Care Settings

• CPR training
• Awareness of the location of facilities that work
  with children
• Awareness of children with special needs in the
  agency, school, or home
• Education around policy development for
  emergencies, first aid, and safety

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Summary

• Definition of an emergency in a child care center
• Types of child care emergencies
• Symptoms in a child with a potential emergency
• How to respond to an emergency
• Debriefing, recovery, and evaluation of
• the event

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An Ounce of PreventionQuestions
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Internet Resources

• www.redcross.org
• www.ericps.crc.uiuc.udu/cchp/factsheet/disasters.h
  tml
• www.aap.org (Caring for Our Children, Preparing
  for Illness, Model Child Care Health Policies)
• www.cdc.gov (The ABCs of Safe and Healthy Child
  Care plus great fact sheets)

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Resources

• It Pays To Prepare-- an emergency preparedness
  guide for child care providers www.vahealth.org
  (Early Childhood Health)