Protecting children when disaster strikes

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Thirty-one children were saved last week by quick-thinking staff who gathered them into the only safe place in their Montgomery, Ala., day care center as high winds turned the building into a pretzel of torn metal.

The staff knew what to do because they had been drilled on the facility’s disaster plan. Now the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies is working to be sure all day care centers are as well prepared.

The Arlington-based group has launched a nationwide effort to train day care providers, inform parents and partner with government agencies to develop plans to shelter or transport young children in the wake disasters such as storms, chemical emergencies or a terrorist attack.

The centerpiece of the initiative is a disaster planning guide covering every type of child care facility in the nation.

“We recognized that child care is virtually “invisible” when it comes to emergency planning,” said the association’s president, Linda Smith.

Smith’s organization worked extensively with providers and referral agencies in the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina.

Her group began a review of what kinds of information was available to providers and parents that could guide their actions and planning for a catastrophe.

“That’s when we realized there were no detailed plans or procedures as to what to do in the event of a disaster,” Smith said.

NACCRRA began to hold meetings and conferences with those who had experienced the issue first hand.

These included child care workers from Oklahoma City, areas that had experienced floods, tornadoes and even earthquakes — and New York City where a day care center in the World Trade Center was evacuated.

The experiences of the day care workers became the foundation for a disaster planning guide that is now being distributed nationwide. Smith’s group is also training day care workers and other trainers.

Local child care centers are following their lead with their own plans.

“We have a detailed plan that includes when to shelter in place, when to transport our children and where and how far to move them,” said Jacques Rondeau of the Rosemount Center in Mount Pleasant.

Rosemount staff, who care for infants to 5-year-olds, have multiple sources of information coming in to help them stay abreast of developments.

There are Internet connections, cable TV and cell phones for each worker plus both analog and digital phone lines in case one system goes out as happened after Sept. 11.

Detailed records of contact info and medical histories for the children are maintained plus both electronic and paper copies of the disaster planning manual.

“I consider this to be an important part of what we do,” said Rondeau.

Have information about area nonprofits? Contact Frank Sietzen at fsietzen@yahoo.com.