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This month’s email from the Public Health – Seattle & King County (PHSKC) Child Care Health Program (CCHP) includes the following topics:
Health & Safety Information for Child Care Providers
Information to Share with Staff & Families
Continuing Education, Training & Financial Opportunities
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Sun Safety & Sunscreen
As sunnier and warmer days approach, please review our webpage on air quality, outdoor safety, and weather. Here are some reminders:
Anyone can get a sunburn, and even on cloudy or overcast days the sun’s harmful rays can still pass through clouds and cause skin damage. Instead of relying on how the weather looks or feels, check the Ultraviolet (UV) Index in your area. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends that sunscreen be applied when the UV Index is 3 (moderate) or above.
Review our Sun Protection Guidelines for Child Care and Early Learning Programs (also available in Amharic, Oromo, Russian, Somali, Spanish, and Ukrainian) for more information on:
- The importance of sun protection.
- What kind of sunscreen to use.
- When sunscreen should be applied and WAC rules about sunscreen.
Use sunscreen for children 6 months and older. Sunscreen should:
- Have both UV-A and UV-B protection.
- Have an SPF of at least 15.
- Be applied 20-30 minutes before outdoor activity and reapplied every 2 hours.
As a reminder, child cares need to get written authorization from parents or guardians before applying sunscreen to children in care. You can find these forms, including translations, on the CCHP sun safety webpage.
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Somali and Spanish In-Language Webpages
Did you know all the CCHP resources that are Somali- and Spanish-translated are listed on their own dedicated webpages? You can go straight to the Spanish in-language page, or the Somali in-language page on the main CCHP website at www.kingcounty.gov/childcare. Hopefully, this makes finding materials in these two languages easier.
 You’ll also find these translated resources within each topic area – such as Cleaning, Nutrition, Emergency Preparedness, Disease Prevention – where materials in additional languages are available, as well.
Reporting Illness to the Public Health Communicable Disease Program
At some point, even if you’ve taken steps to prevent it, illness will happen in your program. If you aren’t sure whether to report it, here are some clear guidelines.
- Even if the illness in your program is not on the DOH list, the CD-Imms team is here to help! You can call them if there’s any concern about an outbreak or illness transmission amongst children in your program. The CD-Imms reporting line (206-296-4774) is available 24 hours a day.
- A few reminders:
- Call for any gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms, even if it’s not a known norovirus case. For GI symptoms, the outbreak threshold to call is if two or more people show the same symptoms in 48 hours.
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For varicella (chickenpox), the outbreak threshold is one case in your program. (It’s not on the DOH list, but child care and early learning WACs require that all vaccine-preventable diseases, including varicella, be reported.)
- When in doubt, call!
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Information for Staff & Families |
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Remind Families Now to Schedule Summer Medical Appointments
Summer is starting, but now is the time to remind families to schedule appointments with their child’s health care provider for those end-of-summer, beginning-of-the school year medical needs. Pediatric offices will get very busy with the rush of families needing their children to get required immunizations, care plans completed, and medications refilled before the next school year begins. Families should check with their child’s healthcare provider to see if their office has any deadlines for completing paperwork. Reminding families to make an appointment now can ensure children have all their required documents to start child care or school on time in the fall.
For families transitioning to kindergarten:
- Recommend they check in with their new school about care plan and immunization requirements.
- Use WA State DOH’s preschool letter templates to remind them of required immunizations: English| Spanish
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Continuing Education, Training & Financial Opportunities |
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Free Sun Shades and Water Activity Tables for Family Child Cares in King County
Outdoor play is essential to early learning but can be unsafe during high temperatures. Young children are impacted by extreme heat differently than adults because their smaller bodies heat up faster, and they can’t release heat via sweating as much as adults. Shaded areas support quality play, increased play time, and learning.
To help keep children cool this summer, free sun shades and water activity tables are being offered to licensed family home child cares (FCCs) and family, friend, and neighbor (FFN) caregivers in King County. (Center-based child care sites are NOT eligible.) This project is a collaboration between Public Health - Seattle & King County, King County's Department of Natural Resources and Parks, and the Best Starts for Kids Initiative. We may not be able to fulfill all requests.
A few notes:
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Family home child cares and family, friend, and neighbor care providers are eligible.
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Funding is limited. Priority will be given to sites with the highest afternoon heat and higher ratings in other disparity indexes.
- If a provider received sun shades last year, they are not eligible for more sun shades but they can still apply for a water activity table this year.
Visit the CCHP’s air quality, outdoor safety and weather webpage to find sun safety and extreme heat guidance for child cares.
 Photo by Aleyda Chavez Guzman
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