---

Healthy Environments in Child Care and Preschool Programs

Just how healthy is the environment in your child care center or preschool facility? A great resource to help you find out is the Children's Environmental Health Network. This nonprofit organization is dedicated to protecting children from environmental hazards – from air quality to cleaning products to pesticides.

The Children's Environmental Health Network (CEHN) is a nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C., with services and programs that span nationally. The mission of CEHN is to protect the fetus and child from environmental hazards and to promote a safe and healthy environment for all children. A multidisciplinary organization, CEHN aims to achieve specific goals by promoting the development of sound public health and child-focused national policy. It stimulates prevention-oriented research and elevates awareness and education in preventive strategies among various stakeholders, including health professionals, child care professionals, policymakers and community members. For more than 17 years, CEHN has been the voice for pediatric and environmental health in the nation's capitol.

In 2005, CEHN launched a pilot program called Healthy Environments for Child Care and Preschools (HECCP) after identifying that preschools and child care were missing out on opportunities to address children's environmental health. The first program was launched in California's Alameda and Contra Costa counties. The program was effective and successful -- more than 120 childcare providers were trained to detect and identify environmental hazards in their facilities.

Between 2006 and 2008, the HECCP program was modeled in Georgia, training nearly 300 child care providers and directors around Rome, Kennesaw, Atlanta, Dalton, Macon, Jonesboro and Marietta. The peer-reviewed training curriculum is approved for national use by the Centers for Disease Control. Among the curriculum's 16 environmental health topics are air quality, radon, pesticides, safer cleaning and pesticides.

In 2007, the HECCP program expanded to Washington, D.C. The D.C. program includes environmental training for child care professionals as well as environmental assessments. To date, 20 centers have undergone preliminary environmental assessments, reaching more than 1,200 area children.

During assessments, many significant child care indicators and health concerns became evident. The most common illness reported by the centers in year one were respiratory infections, with asthma and allergies being the major concerns. This indicator is supported by a startling fact: in the last three months, 168 of the 1,228 children have been absent from the daycare center for reasons that include respiratory illness. On a more encouraging note, 75% of the centers have environmental health programs available for the parents. This fosters communication among the childcare providers and the parents on issues such as environmental health concerns.

In 2008, the HECCP program expanded into Texas, which allowed additional child care professionals in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area to receive training. Also, for the first time, the HECCP curriculum will be translated into Spanish by summer. For more information on this program, visit www.cehn.org/cehn/education/childcare.htm or call CEHN at (202) 543-4033, ext. 12.

---