Page 37 - Creating a Community of Resiliency

Preparedness and Response Readiness: Providers
Emergencies Experienced by Early Care and Education Providers
Providers described a wide range of emergencies when asked what types of emergencies and natural disasters they have experienced while they had children in their care . One of the most common experiences discussed was a lockdown situation. Providers in three of the focus groups indicated they had experienced a situation that eventually resulted in a lockdown circumstance; that is, providers had to keep the children inside the child care location until it was determined that the environment was safe to release the children. Other experiences described included earthquakes, fires close to the vicinity of the child care site, medication overdose, accidents, and a power outage.
Lockdown Situation
“We had an armed robber on campus. But we were connected to security by radios. When we found out about the robber, we ran outside to tell the staff. There too many directions going on; too many people speaking and trying to figure out what to do. We spent a lot of time talking instead of developing a phrase or code.”
 English-speaking, center-based provider
“When we lived in Valencia, the prison backed up to the center. When prisoners would escape, they
would inform us and we’d go on lockdown.”
 English-speaking, center-based provider
“I worked in the federal building for 14 years. I was working child care in the building for
September 11 and we’d had 2 bomb threats....The second bomb resulted in a lockdown.”
 English-speaking, center-based provider
“There was a drive-by shooting in front of the daycare, across the street. I heard gun shots and almost immediately the street was full of police and FBI agents....In this case we couldn’t evacuate.”
 Spanish-speaking, family child care provider Earthquake
“During an earthquake, I gathered the children together, put the infants in a crib with wheels, and evacuated the children.”
 Chinese-speaking family child care provider
Fire
“There was a fire near my child care. The smoke was really bad, so we took the kids and the contact list to call the parents and we moved to a nearby park. This was the area assigned as the meeting place in case of an emergency. And we called the parents and my next door neighbors were very helpful because they knew I had a day care. They helped us move to a safe area. And the police also came and helped us.”
 Spanish-speaking, family child care provider
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