Minimum Standards for Tribal Child Care: A Health and Safety Guide
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Section III:
Infection Control
Caregiver Health
Principle
Policies addressing caregiver health are important for ensuring a healthy and safe child care environment.
Why This Is Important
- Caregivers can spread disease to children, and children can spread disease to caregivers.
- Caregivers who are physically and emotionally healthy are likely to provide a higher quality of care to children than those who are ill.
- Certain diseases that children may acquire and transmit to others, such as cytomegalovirus (CMV), rubella, and parvovirus, may pose additional risks for caregivers who are pregnant.
- Other diseases such as toxoplasmosis and listeria that can be transmitted through contact with food, feces, and animals may also pose a risk to pregnant caregivers.
Standards
- Policies should be developed for maintaining and addressing issues related to caregiver health. The policies should include:
- Guidelines for exclusion for illness and the subsequent return to work;
- Information on the major occupational health hazards for caregivers; and
- Stress management techniques.
- A policy should be in place to ensure that all caregivers are physically and emotionally able to care for children. The policy may include an option to request that a caregiver provide a statement of physical fitness to care for young children from his/her doctor or other primary health care professional.
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