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Child Care Information
This page is targeted to child care providers, and organizations and individuals who work with them. The information includes links to tools for your own education, as well as materials you can use to train others, ranging from simple fact sheets to more technical resources to additional resources on general environmental health.
Asthma
Federal Government Resources
- EPA Indoor Air/Asthma pages: www.epa.gov/iaq, www.epa.gov/iaqtribal
- EPA Asma en Espanol: www.epa.gov/iaq/espanol/asma.html
- EPA Office of Children’s Health Protection: www.epa.gov/childcare
- Centers for Disease Control (CDC): www.cdc.gov/nceh/ehs/CapacityBuilding/topics/children.htm , www.cdc.gov/nceh/ehs/CapacityBuilding/products.htm
- National Institutes of Health: www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/prof/lung/index.htm
- Asthma Community Network (co-sponsored by EPA) - A virtual network on best practices for asthma that provides links to resources from hundreds of asthma programs in the nationally: www.asthmacommunitynetwork.org
Guidance for Child Care Providers
- Asthma Education for Childcare and Preschool Staff, California Department of Public Health - Addressing clinical asthma management and environmental triggers, this is a comprehensive, multimedia training course and resource guide developed for people who work with asthmatic children in preschools, childcare centers, and family childcare homes: http://www.californiabreathing.org/about-us/projects-initiatives/184-asthma-education-for-childcare-and-preschool-staff
- Direct link to chapters, videos, and other resources: http://www.californiabreathing.org/resources/cb-pubs-new/pdf-childcare-education#
- Direct link to chapters, videos, and other resources: http://www.californiabreathing.org/resources/cb-pubs-new/pdf-childcare-education#
- Indoor Air Repair Kit, Allergy and Asthma Network/Mothers of Asthmatics - For home, school and play: http://www.aanma.org/publication/indoor-air-repair-kit/
- Bleach Exposure in Child Care Settings: Strategies for Elimination or Reduction Report - Provides report and information about resources to achieve infection control without harsh chemicals: http://www.rampasthma.org/2011/03/9258/
- Indoor Air Quality Issues for Child Care Facilities, Arizona Department of Environmental Quality: http://www.azdeq.gov/ceh/download/indoorair.pdf (48 pp, 2.83MB, About PDF)
- Best Practices to Prevent Environmental Asthma Triggers in Child Care, Minnesota Department of Health - Provides excellent guidance on triggers, ventilation, maintenance practices, and other information: http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/eh/indoorair/childcare/index.html
- Pediatric/Adult Asthma Coalition of New Jersey - Many resources including materials in other languages: http://www.pacnj.org/childcare.html
- Florida Asthma Prevention and Control Program’s Asthma-Friendly Childcare Centers - Includes their recognition program: http://www.doh.state.fl.us/environment/medicine/Asthma/childcare.html
- Asthma Education for Childcare Staff, Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago - Materials in both English and Spanish. Note: The original online versions may recommend that bleach be used for cleaning mold. However, bleach is not a cleaner and is not needed for removing mold. Mold exposure may result in health problems for some people whether the mold growth is “dead or alive”: http://www.lungchicago.org/asthma-friendly-childcare
- Advancing Environmental Health in Child Care Settings: A Checklist for Child Care Practitioners and Public Health Inspectors, Canadian Partnership for Children’s Health and Environment: http://www.healthyenvironmentforkids.ca/sites/healthyenvironmentforkids.ca/files/CPCHE-AdvEnvHealthChildCare-lowres.pdf (70 pp, ??K, About PDF)
- “Building the capacity of child care providers to care for children with asthma” - This 12-minute multimedia presentation by Krista Ward describes the experience of the Breathe California Golden Gate Public Health Partnership in providing asthma education and training to child care staff in the San Francisco Bay Area. The presentation is of particular interest to program managers and others organizers: https://apha.confex.com/apha/136am/webprogram/Paper179685.html
- Asthma Education Curriculum for Child Care Providers, North Carolina Division of Public Health Asthma Program and Asthma Alliance of North Carolina - A comprehensive asthma management curriculum: http://www.asthma.ncdhhs.gov/docs/AsthmaEducationCurriculumForChildCareProviders.pdf (262 pp, 5.5MB, About PDF)
- Effective Measures for the Reduction of Indoor Asthma Triggers - An archived webcast presented by Lois Wessel of the Association of Clinicians for the Underserved. This presentation describes the special challenges of addressing asthma triggers in very low income populations: http://www.cdnetwork.org/NewCDN/LibraryView.aspx?ID=cdn302
Poison Protection
- Poison Help Widget - An online tool about poison prevention designed to add an interactive feature to your website, blog, Facebook or Twitter page: http://poisonhelp.hrsa.gov/what-can-you-do/badges-and-widgets/index.html
- Poison Help Resources, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA): http://poisonhelp.hrsa.gov/resources/index.html
- HRSA's Free Materials: http://poisonhelp.hrsa.gov/resources/materials/index.html
- HRSA's Poison Prevention Planner: http://poisonhelp.hrsa.gov/uploads/nppw_2011_full_planner_final_v3.pdf (23 pp, 476K, About PDF)
- CDC's “Up and Away” Campaign: www.upandaway.org
Summer Safety Tips
- Sunburn:Wear hats and opaque long-sleeved shirts and pants while outdoors. Use sunglasses with UV protection. Stay in the shade where possible. Try to stay out of the sun between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Use sunscreen with SPF of 16 or higher, and reapply every 3 to 4 hours or immediately after swimming or exercising.
- Exercise:Drink water before, during and after exertion. Stay in the shade and avoid exercising in the middle of the day. Pace yourself and take frequent breaks. Take extra care if the temperature is above 80 and avoid exercising at all if the temperature is in the 90s, or it is humid. Call 911 or other emergency services immediately if you have stopped sweating or have other signs of heatstroke, such as a fast heart rate, dizziness or confusion, high body temperature, or extreme lethargy.
- Insect bites and stings: Wear clothing that covers the skin, and when needed, apply insect repellant containing DEET to clothing, shoes and exposed skin. For children, use products with no more than 10 percent DEET and do not apply to hands. In cases of bites or stings, remove the stinger (if applicable) and use ice to reduce pain, itching and swelling. For ticks, use tweezers and pull straight away from the skin to remove. Wash the area and apply an antiseptic. If a rash, fever, headache or fatigue develops, call your doctor.
- Water safety: Drowning is one of the leading causes of death and injury for children under five. Never leave a child unattended near a pool or other body of water for even a minute, even if the child knows how to swim. All pools are required to be fenced and to have a self-latching gate. If you are outside the fence, check to make sure the gate and latch are functioning.
- Poison oak:Know what poison oak looks like and avoid it when outdoors. The leaves grow in clusters of three. They are green or red in the spring and summer, and orange or brown in the fall. If you come into contact with the leaves, flush exposed areas with cold water for 20 minutes. Wash everything exposed - clothing, shoes, even your dog. If a rash develops, using a topical steroid cream for 10-14 days can reduce itching. Cut children’s fingernails and encourage them to not scratch the rash.
Reference: http://xnet.kp.org/newscenter/pressreleases/ncal/2010/052110summersafety.html
Playing Smart
- National Joint Use Toolkit - How can you make it easier for your community to access local school facilities like gyms, fields, basketball courts, and playgrounds? Schools often keep these spaces locked after hours because of concerns about security, liability, maintenance, and other costs. But cities and towns around the country are resolving these issues through joint use agreements– written contracts spelling out terms that allow public agencies and nonprofits to share the costs and responsibilities. Playing Smart, a nuts-and-bolts toolkit, is designed to help school staff and other community leaders craft and implement joint use agreements. To download, go to: http://changelabsolutions.org/publications/playing-smart
Other Educational Information
- Common Core State Standards: www.corestandards.org
- SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortia: www.smarterbalanced.org
- Frameworks for K-12 Science Education: http://www7.nationalacademies.org/bose/Standards_Framework_Homepage.html
- Next Generation Science Standards: www.nextgenscience.org
- Missouri Education Standards: http://dese.mo.gov/divimprove/curriculum/GLE/
- Terms and Acronyms: http://dese.mo.gov/se/fs/termsandacronyms.html
- Children in Nature Challenge: http://childreninnature.mo.gov/
