Medical & Illness Policies

Knowing when a child is too ill to be at Children’s Discovery Academy, or needs to be removed, has always been a challenging part of our job. We all want to keep as much illness out of Children’s Discovery as possible but also respect a parent’s need to be at work. We met with a local pediatrician to set up specific guidelines we all can follow concerning illness. Some of these areas are discussed below:

Children Should Not Attend If They:

Have a fever of 100° axillary or more within the last 24 hours without fever-reducing medicine.

Have had diarrhea or vomiting within the last 24 hours.

Have red or mattery eyes, and have not had prescription eye drops for at least 24 hours.

Have had any undiagnosed skin rash.  We must have doctor’s written note stating the irritation is not contagious.

Children Will Be Removed If They:

Run a fever of 100° axillary or more.

Have 3 loose stools or diarrhea within a 24 hour period.

Have vomited or have had diarrhea which is uncontrolled.

Have any symptoms of pink eye (red mattery eyes) or impetigo (skin irritation).

If your child is showing any of the above symptoms, he/she must not return until the above conditions are no longer present and/or a doctor signs a form stating your child is not contagious and is ready to return to group daycare.

First Aid and CPR

Basic First Aid and CPR will be administered by a staff member as deemed necessary.  All staff are trained in Multi-Media pediatric First Aid and CPR.  In the event emergency care is required due to an accident or injury, the parents will be notified immediately.  Local paramedic units will be called if necessary to take your child to Children’s Hospital for treatment (unless another hospital is specified on the child’s enrollment application). Additionally, all staff have SUIDS (sudden unexplained infant death) and AHT (abusive head trauma) training.

Illness Policy

Parents are asked to inform Children’s Discovery within 24 hours, exclusive of weekends and holidays, when a child is diagnosed by a child’s source of medical or dental care of having a contagious reportable disease (such as whooping cough, measles, mumps, chicken pox, diphtheria, or scarlet fever).  Children’s Discovery will post a sign informing parents of contagious diseases as previously mentioned.  If your child should show symptoms of illness while at Children’s Discovery, he/she will be removed from the group and given a quiet space.  The parents will be contacted and asked to take their child home as soon as possible.  If parents cannot be reached, an emergency contact will be called to pick up your child.

Medication Regulations

The State of Minnesota requires that all prescription medications, which are administered through Children’s Discovery Academy, must have written instructions by a physician or dentist, and a written authorization to administer medication must be given by a parent.  In order to satisfy the compliance, all medications must be kept in their original containers bearing the original label with legible information stating:

Prescription Number

Name of Drug

Strength and Quantity of Drug

Expiration Date of any Time-Dated Drug

Directions for Use

Child’s Name

Date of Original Issue

Name and Address of Licensed Pharmacy Issuing Medication

We can only issue prescription drugs that meet the above requirements, and are required to be given during the time of day your child is in attendance.  All written instructions must include a starting and ending date for Children’s Discovery Academy to administer the drug.  With each new or repeated occurrence of an illness, a new prescription must be prescribed and a new Medical Permission Slip must be filled out.  Children’s Discovery Academy staff will not administer medicines that are past their expiration dates.

Prescription Medication

If your child is on a prescription medication, the medical permission slip does not have to be signed by the doctor (the prescription itself takes care of that item), but it must be filled out in entirety by the parents.

Over-the-Counter Medication

Over-the-counter medications must be accompanied with a written doctor’s note.