A Back to School Must!

By Maija from maijasmommymoments.com

The request was innocent enough – my asthmatic daughter had just started a new medication and I went to the daycare Director’s office and asked to update her medical file.  
 
I waited patiently as she dug through her filing cabinet and pulled out a red file folder of random papers of registration forms, accident reports and progress reports.  The papers were in no particular order and it was because of this it took much longer than I had expected to locate my daughter’s emergency form.  She handed it to me along with a pen and told me to just write the name of the new medication on the bottom of the form.
 
My eyes went directly to the bottom of the form where I noted all but one of her current medications were listed.  The one missing was the one she took in case of emergencies.  When I mentioned it, the director said that perhaps there was a clerical error and asked me to write that one down as well. 
 
Between the multitude of papers and the potential “clerical error” I became increasingly uncomfortable with how my daughter’s information was being kept and immediately began to go line by line through the emergency form.  My eyes widened when I stopped on the Emergency Contact Information section. 
 
My cell phone number had a typo, my husband’s cell phone number was missing and listed as alternative emergency contacts were STRANGERS. 
 
My heart sunk.  If my child needed me (if they could finally dig out the form) they couldn’t actually locate me or anyone who could help because all of the contact information was wrong. 
 
I took a deep breath and asked “where is the form I filled out when we registered?”  The director informed me that once the secretary had entered all of the information into their own forms they discarded the original ones.
 
Again, another deep breath before I asked “if you ever had to call 911 what information would you give to the paramedics?”
 
The director looked at me blankly and said “well that form of course”.
 
And right there, no deep breath could prevent me from saying “you mean the one that took you five minutes to dig out, without a full listing of my child’s medications AND STRANGERS listed as emergency contacts?!?”
 
Needless to say the conversation went downhill from there. 
 
With just a few additional questions it became apparent that there was no emergency plan, that my child’s in-class daycare providers were under the impression they couldn’t call 911 without Director approval and that our contact information may not be the only one that “could” be wrong.
 
How many of us fill out a stack of school forms at the beginning of the year and then forget about them? 
 
How many of us have children in daycares and pre-schools for two or three years and do not review the forms we filled out when we registered them? 
 
How many of us know how easy a typo can be made?
 
To avoid any delays in contacting you in case of emergency, while you’re preparing for back-to-school make a point of connecting with your school or daycare to check your child’s emergency contact information and any other information you feel it is important your school or daycare have about your child.
 
Since that day at my daughter’s former daycare I make a point of doing it every year.