What Do Home Daycare Providers Do?

I had a boss who's 2 yr old daughter had a tv fall on her while at a home day care and broke her leg.
They called her parents and the parents took her to the hospital ER.
The nice thing about where my son went to day care was it was a commercial care place that was across the street from the fire department (with a full compliment of paramedics).
The firemen would visit regularly (kids were THRILLED) and it was very kind of them to use their ladders once in awhile to get toys off the roof.
The location and relationship between the day care and fire department just gave me a wonderful feeling that I don't think I would have had from any other day care arrangement.

This has happend in the past. Child required stitches. Mom was out of town and Dad was in charge that week. I callem my MIL (she helps out in these situations and lives right around the corner). Called Dad, took the child to his regular Dr.. We actually arrived 20 mins before Dad, stitches were done. Dad however passed out from the stress (LOL) took the little guy back to my house and all was fine. Luckily this is the one and only time in 20 yrs. something like this happened. As an in home provider I explain to the parents I will treat their child while in my care the same as I would my own and provide the same fast action I would for my own children. All parents have a document signed with their Dr. that if an emergency occurs I can act in their place until they are present.

I feel blessed that this has not occurred...& I fear it will. :)

In my case, I would go with the child & have a neighbor stay with the rest. I do not have carseats for any of the kids, nor do I want them.

My gameplan is outlined in my policy handbook. I have lived in this location for 20+ years, & am comfortable with my neighbors. This issue is something which I discuss at 1st Meet. It is usually met with resistance, because the parent feels the neighbors are strangers.....& they are to the parents, but not to me nor the kids who see them everyday!

I think when I was a kid in an in home daycare the plan was to send the child alone with the paramedics and have the parent meet them at the hospital. Not ideal, but there is no way to get that many kids to the hospital safely and even if you could the caretaker would be too busy watching all of them to be able to help out the injured child anyway.

As an inhome provider I have a contract as well as 2 back up provider who only lives 3,a nd 5 miles away. Depending of the severity of the injury I would either call 911 and then get my provider over to the house and ride along and call the parents asap, or get my backup over asap, call the parents and drive them to the hospital or clinic. I live 6 miles from a top rated hospital as well as the 2 hospital clinics.

worst case scenario if my back ups did not anwser I might not have a choice to ride with the child, but I have enough car seats and room for all children in my care, and I would have to follow the ambulance.

Personally caring for too many children when you can't transport them in emergencies is not an option for me. I provide all car seats, so that the parents don't have to worry about it, in the instance that we go on a field trip, or if emergency cases were to happen.

I can honestly say that I have never heard an emergency plan like yours. A non-parent would not be allowed in the ER room with the child in most city hospitals even if the child was severely injured.

I think that most everyone's plan states that the ambulance will take the child and it is the parents responsibility to be at the hospital to meet the ambulance or someone that is their representative.

An ambulance will not allow anyone to ride along. I have never seen that even with a child with developmental disabilities. Perhaps they might but not if that person is not a parent.

You do realize that the piece of paper you sign at the care givers to allow them to seek treatment for your child is worthless, correct?

The hospital would look at them like they were nuts if they even tried to show them that. In the instance of a child coming in injured with no legal parent available in person they automatically call a judge for permission to treat. They, of course, start life saving procedures and have a clerk make the call.

But that piece of paper is not notarized, it is not that particular hospitals form, it is not anything more than a piece of paper.

If you are a Jehovah's Witness and have signed a paper with specific items on it that are to never be allowed for your child if they are severely injured and your child gets injured. That paper will not be honored. Your child will receive all life saving procedures whether that piece of paper is shown them or not. It is not a legal document.
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The way to fix this issue:

Go to your local hospitals, doc offices, etc...and ask them for permission to treat forms.

They should hand them to you to fill out. You may be required to fill them out there and then they will notarize them. They usually have one for legal reasons. They may not be there all the time but it covers their hineys.

Once you have people listed on their official form that person can officially say yes or no to any treatment the staff feels is needed until you can get there.

So parents, make sure you have an emergency plan. If you work where you cannot be at a hospital within minutes if your child is injured it is your responsibility to have a plan in place to care for your child.

You must have paperwork on file at that hospital to make sure your requests are honored, you must sign permission to treat papers for your friend, your neighbor, your parents, etc...you must make the plan to care for your child in your absence. Have the hospital/doc's office make you extra copies with the notary seal embossed on them. Give each person named a copy and ask they carry it with them at all times in case they are called while they are at Walmart shopping, then they don't have to run home and hunt for it.

That care provider loves your child but they have other children to care for. They cannot abandon everyone to care for an injured child once that child has left their facility. It is your responsibility to make a plan.

Call an attorney to check your states requirements as far as legal responsibility, call the local hospital and put this form on file, get a copy and give that official copy to each person you have listed on it. The offices are closed after 5pm and on weekends so they must have it to show just in case.

Our former provider's emergency plan clearly stated that one of the aides would ride in the ambulance if at all possible (meaning it didn't leave them short-handed at the facility), but that it was not a guarantee. We knew ahead of time that he would likely have to go alone if he needed to go and that we would be called immediately and meet him there.

I would be really upset if a provider packed up my child (non-injured) and took him with her to the ER. She did not have my consent to transport my child anywhere.

My son's preschool policy is for the owner or director to go with an injured child, but he's at a school/center so that have more flexibility with respect to adults and supervision.

I just had to respond that Gamma G is completely wrong about who can ride along in an ambulance and who can be with a child in an ER. Basically anyone who is caring for the child can accompany them in an ambulance and anyone who brings them to the ER can stay with them. I found this out through experience. My daughter has severe allergies and she also has severe life threatening illnesses. She has been hospitalized numerous times and she has ridden in an ambulance a few times, always accompanied by an adult. I have not always been present in those cases and there was never a problem with someone else riding along. I actually wrote out a handwritten note for others to be able to take my daughter to get treated and when it was shown at the ER they said it was not necessary. Apparently if you have a child in your care for whatever reason, you are the authority for that child until a parent arrives. I worked in a daycare many years ago and the policy then was that one of the staff would ride with the child and the parents would be called to meet them at the hospital. If we were going to be understaffed should this occur we would call in an aide. The injured child was the first priority. As for a home daycare, I would figure they would do something similar, by calling someone to come stay with the other children while they rode to the hospital and they would have this plan in place so the parents would know what to expect. If I were running a home daycare, I would have a few emergency contacts that could be here within minutes of anything happening so that I could ride along with the injured child. A few because you can't guarantee one person will always be available(what if that person were in a car accident or sick or whatever right then). That is just my opinion on the subject since I do not have a home daycare tho I have thought about doing it. I would not drive other people's children to the hospital nor take my own. I have thought of this even when watching my nephew here alone. I always had someone I could call in case something happened. But again due to my daughter's problems I tend to be well prepared for emergencies.

My provider has 22y son that is certified to help watch kids. He works nearby. It written that if a child has to go via ambulance, he will be brought home to watch the other kids so that the provider can go with the child in the ambulance. All parents will be notified so that if they feel they want to pick their child up early, they can.