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Training Childcare Providers
NEW UPDATES!
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What is HECCP?
Although children are spending up to 40 hours week in child care centers, across the nation there has been an overall failure to protect young children from environmental health hazards in licensed and unlicensed childcare and preschools. CEHN identified preschools and child care settings as a missed opportunity to address children’s environmental health. In response, a program called Healthy Environments for Child Care Facilities and Preschools (HECCP) was launched.
The goal of HECCP is to train and educate child care providers and administrators on creating healthier and
safe environments. The child care providers learned to:
The first pilot was held in California’s Alameda and Contra Costa counties. The HECCP program soon expanded to the Atlanta area in 2006, and also received support to expand further into Washington, DC, in 2007.
California Childcare Education Project
In May 2006 CEHN completed
environmental health training for child care providers in Contra Costa
and Alameda Counties, California. The purpose of the
training was to educate child care providers, or those responsible for
administering the child care program in each county to: (1) identify
environmental hazards, (2) remove/alleviate environmental hazards, (3)
identify resources and contacts, (4) provide a Child Care Inspection
Checklist. As the first prototype for such training this effort
provided an opportunity to identify critical knowledge gaps for this
very important setting in the lives of children.
The Children’s Environmental Health Network prepared the following fact sheets and provided them for use by the attendees:
A verbal presentation addressed morbidity and mortality, environmental influences, mitigation, and resources and contacts. It covered the following topics:
A number of educational materials obtained from EPA’s Office of Children’s Health Protection, were provided to each of the three host organizations. The materials emphasize particular points (e.g., read the labels and use this magnifying book mark from EPA to help you.) LaVonne Switzer of EPA agreed to serve as a point of contact for the child care providers to obtain more copies of the materials. A Child Care Inspection Checklist was provided to each attendee to use in their facility. Each attendee was also asked to complete an evaluation form.
The Children’s Environmental Health Network gratefully acknowledges support from the San Francisco Foundation and California Wellness to design and deliver this training.
District of Columbia Childcare Education Project
The HECCP Program received support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in late 2007 to expand HECCP to Washington, DC. Priority will be placed on targeting child care centers serving lower income and minority communities that are disproportionately impacted by environmental pollutants. Collaborators include the George Washington University’s Mid-Atlantic Center for Children’s Health and the Environment (MACCHE) and the DC Department of Health. Trainings are expected to start spring 2008.
Georgia Childcare Education Project
Due to the success of the California pilot program, collaboration began in October 2006 to expand the program to the Atlanta region with tailored education modules to address local environmental hazards. The education modules include:
Child care resource and referral agencies, Head Start programs, and preschools were organized to receive education through the fourteen Georgia Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies serving as partners. The education modules were peer-reviewed, the training curriculum was approved by the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning, and trainings began in winter 2008.
RADON TEST KITS: This project strongly encourages radon testing. In addition to the free radon tests made available through the trainings, child care providers, administrators and families can order discounted radon test kits at http://www.radon.com/sub/cehn/
3/18/08
