Health & Wellness

If your child has allergies or a chronic illness, please list these on the Health History form and discuss them in detail with the Director and your child's teacher. 

If at any time your child develops an allergy, please let us know immediately. 

If your child has an epi-pen for severe allergic reactions, a medication authorization will need to be filled out. If staff need to use the epi-pen on your child, we will notify you AFTER usage and calling 911. 

All classrooms have a list of all allergies for the entire center in their classroom to ensure everyone is aware of allergies.

Soap, water, ice, and/or band-aid will be used to treat minor injuries. For all minor injuries the family is verbally informed, and an accident report is written requiring a family signature upon communication of the accident. We also try to input the information into the tablet as well. If your child has an accident report, it must be signed, left with the teacher, and the parent has the option to take a carbon copy. If your child is injured at the center and you do not receive an accident report to sign, please contact the center director as soon as possible. 

A head injury will be treated as a serious injury/emergency, which means we will look/watch for signs of brain injury/concussion and parents will be notified immediately. 

*All injuries that occur at the center are recorded in our medical logbook. Injuries not occurring at the center (at home, etc), which are noticed will also be documented in the medical logbook. 

When an enrolled child or an employee of the center has a reportable disease, it is our legal responsibility to notify the families in care, the local Health Department, and WI DCF as required of an exposure while maintaining confidentiality as necessary. 

Parents are urged to notify the center when their child is known to have or have been exposed to a communicable disease. 

Please see the Wi Communicable Disease chart for more specifics. There is also one located in the entry of the center.  

Our goal is to provide childcare for well children. We conduct a health check, as soon as possible, when each child enters the center each day. The center has the right to refuse a child who appears to be ill. We are not doctors, but we do look for skin rashes, elevated temperatures, itchy scalps, lethargy, and changes from usual behavior. These are quick checks to protect the well-being of all children and staff in the program; we owe this to all the children in care and their families who have chosen a state-licensed care.

Staff should be alerted to anything out of the ordinary with your child, including irregularities in eating habits and mood. If your child has had a rough night or previous day, please assess them before bringing them to the center. If you ever have any doubts about whether your child should be in care, please do not hesitate to call and ask. Staff are more than willing to help you make that decision before you drop off your child for the day.  

Our center is a member of the CACFP. We can make reasonable accommodations for dietary needs. 

If your child has a milk allergy or intolerance, or other food allergy or intolerance, please list it on your child's enrollment paperwork and speak to the Director and your child's teacher. 

If your family is vegetarian, vegan, or pescatarian, please list this on your child's paperwork and speak to the Director and your child's teacher. The center can make some accommodations within reason. 

The CACFP has paperwork that needs to be filled out, so we can make reasonable accommodations. All special dietary needs are listed in every classroom and in our kitchen, so that everyone is aware of them.

Parents have a duty to disclose medical, physical, or behavioral needs at the time of enrollment. All children are still expected to maintain the standards of the center programs to the best of their ability. 

We reserve the right to determine whether or not a child will benefit or is benefiting from the program and whether the program can be adapted to meet a child’s needs. 

Due to the group format of our programs, we are unable to provide one-on-one care. Group settings are not beneficial for all children and families, and in situations where one-on-one care would be more beneficial our center will recommend finding alternate care and try to assist with resources when possible.

While we understand that parents need to be at work or in class, please understand our need to enforce our policies to protect all children and staff from unnecessary exposure to communicable diseases and illnesses. We follow the guidelines developed by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Public Health Association as well as those outlined by the Washington County Public Health Department and WI DCF. 

Young children, especially infants, are at a higher risk of complications from minor illnesses, as their immune system is not yet fully developed. DO NOT bring a sick child to the center. It will hinder the quality of care we are able to provide to others and will spread to other children and the staff. Parents who repeatedly fail to follow policies related to keeping children at home when ill, risk care being terminated by the center. 

If your child becomes ill while in care, parents have 1 hour to pick their child up. If we are not able to reach you, we will reach out to other authorized pickup persons listed.

Most illnesses require children to be out for 24 hours following an illness of when it ends or when medications began. The illness itself and your child's recovery determines how long a child needs to be out of care. 

Please do not mask symptoms and send your sick child to care.

Pick up a copy of our Illness Exclusion guidelines at the center for more information on specific illnesses.

We can administer medication for mild cough not requiring exclusion from care, hives, or prescriptions only when proper Medication Authorization forms have been completed.  We will NOT administer the first dose of any medication, except with physician’s written permission for life-threatening situations, such as the use of an epi-pen. Medications will only be given by persons who have received FIRST AID training or who have been trained in/received detailed information of administration of the medication. We will monitor children for signs of allergic reactions after administering medication. 

All medications should be handed to a staff member with specific instructions for administration listed on the appropriate form. Medications should never be left in the child’s cubby or backpack, nor with the child to administer on their own.  

Children on medications should be on medication for 24 hours BEFORE returning to care to allow the medication to take effect.

The WI DCF rule is they have 'to be able to comfortably participate in activities'. Sometimes, this may mean a child needs to be out of care longer than 24 hours to feel better and be able to comfortably participate in activities again. 

The director may determine that a child who does not appear to be fully recovered from an illness cannot be readmitted to the center without a statement from a physician stating that the child is able to return and participate in the activities of the center or is no longer infectious. 

Our center is not licensed to care for ill children. We are not aware of a center in our county or neighboring counties that is licensed for sick care.

When children are ill, they need extra care and attention, requiring more care than our staff can safely provide to your child or the others. 

If your child has unique needs that require a more specific type of accommodation, a meeting must be scheduled with the Director a minimum of 2 weeks prior to attending program. Please make sure to list this on enrollment and follow up paperwork and to discuss this with your child's teacher. This allows us to identify the most effective ways of serving you and your child. We will make every reasonable accommodation to encourage full and active participation of all children in our program based on their individual capabilities and needs. We want to make sure we are providing your child with the very best care, and this includes following as closely as possible any IEP's, Birth to 3, or other assessments or plans in place when possible.

If your child requires medication for any special needs, please make sure to see the medication section for more information.

Enrolled children who are identified as whom may benefit from additional support may be referred to outside community services for additional support. The center assumes no responsibility for the costs associated with these referrals.