Prepare for unexpected, preschool leader urges churches

Posted: 11/10/06

Prepare for unexpected,
preschool leader urges churches

By George Henson

Staff Writer

GRAND PRAIRIE—Church preschools and mothers’ day out centers must plan for the unexpected so when a crisis arises, protocols already are in place, a veteran preschool leader said at Dallas Baptist Association’s Institute for Childcare Excellence, held at First Baptist Church in Grand Prairie.

Judy Lewis, who has been director of the child development center at Cliff Temple Baptist Church in Dallas five years and has worked in preschool leadership 35 years, said churches need to be proactive in their approach.

“Disasters can come just like that. They are not planned. We may think it can’t happen to us—and especially not on a Sunday morning—but it can,” she said.

Every plan for dealing with unexpected situations needs to have at least three components, Lewis counseled—evacuation, transportation and rejoining children with their parents.

Preschoolers and children may need to leave the rooms they normally are in for a variety of reasons, such as fire, tornados and terrorist attacks among others, she said. That relocation point needs to be spelled out to parents and other people who have a need to know.

If children are going to be relocated to a basement room in another building, for example, the local fire department needs to know that relocation point so that time will not be wasted trying to locate where the children have gone.

The transportation of children to an alternate location can be especially troublesome logistically, Lewis said.

“I have a 10-passenger van and 200 children in my daycare. I have to have a plan for all those children,” she said.

The final facet is how to get children and their parents back together after the crisis is over.

One thing a plan does is give the adults involved a rubric that can allow them to feel the situation is under control, which is what the children in their classrooms need, she said.

“If we as adults are panicked, what is going to happen to them? They are going to panic, too,” Lewis pointed out. A plan can help keep everyone calmer, she said.

Lewis also pointed out that whatever the danger, children are more at risk. In an aerosol chemical emergency, aerosols rapidly descend to children’s levels. Also, children have smaller lungs and so have more rapid respirations, causing them to inhale more of the gas. Children have thinner skin, she said, so they are also more susceptible to caustic skin agents. Even e-coli or flu outbreaks are worse for children, because they have fewer body fluid reserves.

“‘Children are little adults.’ We hear that all the time, but nothing could be more false. We have to get rid of those thoughts. Children are far more vulnerable to almost every danger and must be protected,” she said.

Lewis divided the dangers that might call for emergency action into two types—man-made and natural. Man-made crises include domestic violence, shootings or terrorist attacks. Tornados, winter storms, excessive heat, earthquakes and fires are examples of natural events for which plans should be in place, she said.

As an example, Lewis said her site went into a lockdown mode just a few weeks before, when an armored-car robbery and a domestic disturbance led to a shooting, with an at-large suspect in the area sought by police.

During that time, teachers manning the locked doors kept in contact with one another using the walkie-talkies already in place for such an event. Each teacher had an evacuation roster of students in attendance that day on a clipboard, so they knew exactly for whom they were responsible.

Also, each teacher has a backpack with crucial supplies, such as diapers, sanitary wipes, flashlights and other emergency items, that is kept packed and ready to go near the classroom door, she noted.

It is important for the items to be placed in something like a backpack so that teachers can put it on their back and have both hands free to help children, she said.

Child-care providers not only should have a plan, but also rehearse emergency drills from time to time, she noted.

“If you don’t practice your drills, you’re asking for trouble,” she said.

Teachers and other adults should know what the plans are and what their responsibilities are in each situation, she added.

“If you don’t have an employee handbook to help your employees know what to do in a difficult situation, you need one,” Lewis said.

Also, each teacher should know if any children are diabetic or have other medical problems that require regular medication—particularly if students remain beyond regular school hours. It also is important not only to have home and work telephone numbers for parents, but also cell phone numbers as well, she said.

“Take time now to prepare your centers, because it can save you a whole lot of time in the future,” she said.