With the provincial government’s re-opening plan moving into its second phase in some regions of the province – including Hastings-Prince Edward – some places will be re-opening Friday, but North Hastings Children’s Services is not quite ready to be one of those places.
Childcare centres are on the list of places that can re-open Friday, but the Executive Director of NHCS Jessica Anderson says they need more time to prepare. Shes tells the MyBancroftNow.com newsroom they got the guidelines from the province on Tuesday. She explains they have been preparing for emergency childcare measures for “quite some time” the guidelines given to them by the province throw a new wrinkle in their plans – increased staffing. “We’ll have to train educators on the proper use of (personal protective equipment) and how we will keep contact limited,” she explains. Scheduling will also be modified to reduce contact between staff, rooms and, and children. There will also need be to staff at the front door to screen people before they enter the building.
Some of the guidelines set by the province include children and staff being limited to groups of 10 or fewer, thorough cleaning of the building before opening and throughout the day while open, removing toys that are likely to spread germs and putting in place a plan for what to do if a staff member or child is exposed to COVID-19. There are also strict guidelines in place for who can enter the building and for how children are picked up and dropped off.
Anderson says the preparation work has already been done to meet Public Health requirements. “We’re already regularity inspected by public health,” she says. It’s the increased staffing that will make things difficult. “We don’t want to pass that cost over to the parents,” Anderson says of the increased cost that will come from having additional staff members. She says over 95-percent of the daily fee for children is related to staffing.
“Logistically we wouldn’t be able to implement these guidelines without assistance from the government,” Anderson says. She says they’re awaiting guidance right now from Hastings County who are going back-and-forth with the Ministry of Education to try and figure out how this will work financially.
“We’re going to be in touch with all the parents that have children enrolled with us,” she adds. Right now, Anderson doesn’t have a date for when NHCS will be able to re-open.
