Emergency Preparedness: Natural and Human-Generated Diseases

Emergency Preparedness: Natural and Human-Generated Diseases

                On August 30^th, 2010, a severe tornado swept through a large city called Chester, Pennsylvania. It was a pretty dangerous tornado that caused massive damage not only to homes, but buildings, cars, and anything that was not nailed down flew around as well.

                It all started early that Monday afternoon, while the kids were down for a nap. There at Kings Christian Daycare, during naptime the teachers and aids alternate for their lunch breaks. No mater what order breaks are taken; there is always one teacher in the classroom with the children while they’re napping. The forecast for the day called for heavy thunderstorms but still remain humid. About 1:45pm, the heavy rain starts pouring out of nowhere. It was raining so hard on the roof that a few children woke up freighted.  The rain never seemed to calm down before it became extremely windy. Warnings started pouring in via the internet where the director was working about a possible tornado within the hour. At that time, the director called all staff and told them they need to return back to work immediately and then alerted the teachers in the classrooms. Once all teachers were back, she called an emergency meeting to discuss procedures that needed to happen within the next forty-five minutes.

                Some complications would be, it may be hours or even days before the children are reunited with their parents depending on how bad the after damage is, some family members may die in the midst of the tornado, and children may not even have homes to go back to.

To be able to handle this situation, I would require all of my staff to have the following items on hands during this whole situation: emergency cards, attendance sheet, allergy list, first aid kit, and 2diapers/pull ups for each child and 1 pack of wipes. Being prepared is very important especially in the time of an emergency. This saves time on looking for items that are tucked away or misplaced somewhere, allows you to focus more time on the children, and prevents you from endangering yourself when objects are being dissolved. I would also recommend that my staff is trained in CPR and First Aid.

The plan I would have posted and have the teachers aware of is, to move all children from their individual classrooms and into the hallways and have them sit under tables. I would have at least 1 teacher sit with each group of children to comfort and safety reasons.

I would communicate with the families of the children in my care by having a few emergency cell phones on hand and chargers ready; keep the school’s website as long as the weather allowed the power to remain active. After the storm has ceased, I would give each teacher a cell phone and have them begin calling their parents alerting them of the whereabouts of their children and that everything is okay and at what particular location and time they can pick their child up.

A fire that starts within the center is very common for most centers that cook their own food. At a childcare center, the cook was making hotdogs for lunch when somebody came in and requested her attention. Unbeknownst to her, she left the hand towel on the hot stove. Next thing you know the whole kitchen is engulfed in flames.

To prevent a fire from happening, I would tell all staff that prior to leaving any pot or pan unattended, to turn off the stove or oven until they returned to the kitchen. Also, make it a habit of placing the hand towel back hanging on the towel rack rather than leaving it lying around. If the fire were to occur, which it had; I would create an escape plan and make sure all my teachers knew what to do in case of an emergency, have working smoke detectors in every classroom and throughout the halls of the building, and make sure all teachers had their first aid bags that includes the medical equipment and emergency contact information for each child.

The main dangers posed by the fire at the daycare center are: children getting smoke in their lungs as they inhale, can receive second or third degree burns, or some children allergic to smoke causing them to have and asthma attack. This situation would affect everybody in the building; the staff, the children, and possibly tenants who have neighboring stores from connecting walls.

For evacuating the kids from the center, I would have each class buddy up and move as expeditiously as possible out and away from the building, staying as low to the ground as possible. I would make sure all doors were closed to stop the spread of the fire. While the teachers are evacuating the kids from the center I would be on the phone calling 911 and requesting fire trucks, police, and a medical vehicle to do check ups. Once all the children are outside, the teachers would be expected to count all the students, mark attendance, and also check and make sure everybody has a partner. Fire drills are practiced once a month at different times of the day so that nobody becomes familiar with something that can be life threatening.

I would communicate with each and every parent either through email, physically calling their phone, or putting a breaking news/update on the center’s website. If damages were not that bad and the smoke damage was confined to one room of the building I would allow the staff and children to re-enter the building once everybody had been checked out by the emergency personnel on duty.