COAD Programs: Early Care and Education: Health and safety in child care – information and training for providers

Goals: Families want child care that is safe, healthy, affordable and accessible. Providers want to ensure that their services offer what parents want. Health and safety not only provides quality care for children, it becomes a marketing and business tool for providers to have a successful career.

For families to purchase child care, they want spaces that are clean, neat, child inviting, and safe. They want the children to have plenty of room to move and enough toys to share. They want a provider that is healthy, and committed to providing quality care to the children. Good health and safety practices are the foundation of a quality program.

Licensed and Certified Providers in Ohio are required to have basic training in health and safety practices. They must be well trained in health and safety, good nutrition, child care rules, good business practices, etc. So where is a provider to look for all of this training and information? -- their local Child Care Resource & Referral office, COAD Child Care Resource Network of course!

Call 1-800-577-2276 in Ohio; or email us at ece@coadinc.org to reach a trained specialist who can help you:
• Receive COAD’s ECE newsletter and /or calendar of training for providers
• Access training on First Aid, CPR, Communicable Disease Management; Child Abuse Recognition and Prevention; Nutrition for Children; Appropriate activities for children, Child Development topics, and others
• Find and sign up for the training you need and want
• Borrow items from a library of items on healthy, safe environments for any age child
• Get help finding assistance to care for a child with special needs
• Find and learn Ohio child care licensing and health and safety rules

Healthy Child Care Ohio - A service provided by COAD’s Early Care and Education Division

Goal: To link child care providers with nurses and education to manage health issues for children when they are in the care of someone other than their parent.

Healthy Child Care Ohio is a statewide initiative to link health care and child care providers. COAD partners with the Ohio Child Care Resource & Referral Association (OCCRRA); Ohio Department of Health, Ohio University Osteopathic Hospital, Akron Children’s Hospital, and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital to provide this service for the region. Registered Nurse Consultants are available to assist child care providers by telephone, via email, and/or on-site. Nurse consultants also provide training on Asthma and Allergy Essentials for Child Care Providers, Administering Medications, Communicable Disease Management, Child Abuse Recognition and Prevention, First Aid and CPR, and customized health-related topics for child care providers working in centers and homes.

Services Include:

Answers to Health Issues:
Our child care consultants are nurses trained specifically to work in child care settings. They can help you with specific health-related concerns and they can attend parent or staff meetings.

Consultation for Specific Topics like:
• Immunizations
• Medication Administration
• Nutrition
• Child Health Insurance Program
• Communicable Diseases
• Child Abuse identification and reporting
• Licensing and compliance
• Asthma management
• Caring for children with special needs

Provider training on Health Related Issues:
• Reducing the Risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
• Managing Asthma in child care
• Medication Administration in child care

Why contact a Health Consultant?
You need training in administering medication to children with special medical needs.
You need advice on how to talk to parents about a communicable disease.
You fear one of the children in care is living in an abusive home.
Your parents have questions about immunizations or health insurance.
You are about to enroll infants and would like training on SIDS prevention.

For more information about Healthy Child Care, contact www.occrra.org

HEALTHY CHILD CARE OHIO - Nutrition Education Services: A service provided by COAD’s Early Care and Education Division

Goal: To provide FREE nutrition education and one-on-one consultation services by a Registered Dietician to child care providers on a variety of nutrition related topics.

What is a consultation? How long does it take? To schedule an appointment for a nutrition consultation or training, contact nutrition@coadinc.org or call 1-800-577-2276. A nutrition consultant will arrange an appointment to come to your home or center. Depending on the topic, the consultant may spend 30 or 60 minutes with you, or longer if needed, to present information and handouts on the topic you request. In addition, consultations are available by telephone and via email. Brochures, sample menus, nutrition guides and other items can be mailed to you. One and two hour training workshops are available on a variety of topics. Contact us to schedule your next training!

7 Reasons to Contact your Nutrition consultant:
• You are providing care to a child that has been diagnosed with a specific nutritional need or diet modification
• You have a child in care that refuses most foods
• You think a child in your care is underfed
• You need help planning healthy, age appropriate menus
• You care for a child whose religion requires a special diet
• You want to learn how to prevent obesity in children
• You have a child in care whose family can’t afford to buy groceries
• You have a license violation on the meals and snacks served
• You or your staff need training on proper nutrition; healthy eating and exercise; obesity prevention; picky eaters; age appropriate meals and snacks, etc.

How do I reach my nutrition consultant? Through your local Child Care Resource & Referral office of course: nutrition@coadinc.org or 1-800-577-2276.

OHIO CHILD CARE RULES – http://jfs.ohio.gov/cdc/providers.stm

Did you know that in Ohio, an individual can care for up to six children in their home without being regulated by anyone?
Families seeking child care want to know that their children are in a safe and healthy environment. Ohio Department of Job & Family Services, Bureau of Child Care and Development sets basic health and safety standards for all types of child care programs, and rules are written on how programs must operate safe and healthy programs.

COAD Child Care Resource Network can provide you FREE referrals to programs that are licensed, or otherwise regulated to provide child care. We can help you learn how to choose the quality of care you prefer.
To read the rules, go to http://jfs.ohio.gov/cdc/providers.stm
Or contact a COAD ECE counselor at 1-800-577-2276 who will refer you to a local child care licensing specialist.

Click HERE to sign up as a Children's Advocate

COAD Programs: Early Care and Education: Health and safety in child care – information and training for providers