Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Cathy’s Corner

Last week we had a child get her fingers pinched in the bathroom door jam. It was severe enough that she was taken to the hospital. Fortunately, major surgery was not needed except for sewing/gluing. It was an accident and there was a DOD couple (volunteers for the day) teaching in that room. They were awesome and handled the situation very calmly. We have since ordered door hinge guards that will be installed on all of the bathroom doors in the preschool building in order to try and prevent this from happening again. In an attempt to try and prevent accidents that we have had with our classroom doors in the preschool building, we are looking at corner guards for the top doors or bolting the classroom doors to make them one door and installing a rolling shelf for the entry. I have ordered a rolling shelf as a prototype to see if it will work for us. So, in the next few weeks and months, we will be making every effort to ensure safety issues with the doors.

I have to commend our staff, the teachers and the Euless Police/EMTs as everyone acted quickly but calmly. The child was brought out to the welcome area and was assessed by one of our Associates who called our security and medical personnel that were on call. The parents were called and fortunately had their cell phones on vibrate and came quickly from the service. Within a matter of minutes the situation was assessed, the parents contacted, the ambulance called and the child and parents were on their way to the hospital. We took care of rounding up their other children and making sure they were going to be cared for as well. Several of us ended up at the hospital Sunday afternoon to check on the family. Since then, I’ve talked with mom a couple of times. There will be no need for plastic surgery which was very good news. So, thank you to everyone who was involved and for their professionalism and quick response.

I’m sure all of us have heard of someone getting the flu right now. From what I’ve been told, it isn’t time for the seasonal flu so we can assume it is H1N1. We are making every effort to disinfect classrooms, furniture, toys, beds, play equipment and everything that you or a child will come in contact with. Please encourage the children to use the anti bacterial soap before entering the classroom and use it several times during the morning. If a child has a cough, seems feverish or you suspect they are ill, please let your Coordinator or Associate know. We will be taking no chances but sending children home who appear to be sick. If everyone cooperates and keeps sick children home and follows our procedures, we can greatly reduce the number of cases of sick children and teachers this year.

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