Professional childcare providers must have training in first aid. Children are constantly exploring and discovering their world, and they tend to suffer bruises, scrapes, and other minor injuries while conquering their domain. Community centers, Red Cross centers, and local hospitals often sponsor seminars on first aid techniques. Instruction usually includes stopping or slowing blood flow from a wound (woond), cleansing and bandaging scrapes, and treating victims suffering from shock, heat stroke, and hypothermia (high-poe-therm-ee-uh). While first aid isn't a substitute for professional medical care, it can help in survival and minimizing further injury. The amount of first aid education required by staff members varies from state to state. The minimum standard mandates at least one person with a certificate in first aid be present at all times. Other states compel all daycare workers to have training in first aid from approved and certified courses. States with stricter guidelines may note specific training techniques, but many states simply require standardized courses, regulated by the state's health services. Some regulations also require training refresher courses every few years. While such training isn't the responsibility of the daycare center, some do provide continuing education seminars on first aid for their employees. Centers may be able to boast of regular first aid training, but this isn't a guarantee newly hired workers have received this information. Ask your child's potential caregiver what first aid training he or she has had.
©2004 Bluestreak Media. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
