Summer Safety

Teri Ann Cox
Executive Director of The Children’s Center

Dear Center Families,

While July is all about summer fun, The Children’s Center has a heightened awareness during this year’s season on a variety of safety precautions for your children. Not only are we being vigilant about preventing the spread of COVID-19 in our little community, we are also diligent when it comes to ticks, sunscreen, and heat exhaustion or stroke.

In the past I have written about the serious tickborne diseases that ticks carry. The NH Department of Health and Human Services has sent out an alert with information about at least five infections in New Hampshire carried by the blacklegged tick. In addition to Lyme disease, they include Anaplasmosis, Babesia, Powassan virus and Borrelia miyamotoi. Where NH has one of the highest rates of Lyme disease in the nation, cases of Anaplasmosis have doubled since 2017, along with new cases of Babesia and even the more rarely found Powassan and Borrelia miyamotoi.

Our staff has been educated about ticks and the importance of tick checks. We are trained to promptly remove the tick using

tweezers or tick removers and then save the tick in scotch tape with the date on it. The parents are then notified with a call, as well as an incident report and are provided with the tick that was found. The Center has also had the grounds treated for ticks to reduce the quantity of ticks on the property. Moreover, with your signed permission, we apply Deep Woods Off to protect your child. You have our commitment to be vigilant about ticks and we encourage you to do the same in the months ahead. For more information, please visit:

Lyme and Other Tickborne Diseases, retrieved from the NH DHHS website: dhhs.nh.gov/dphs/cdcs/lyme/

Sun safety is also crucial with all the time we are spending outside. Our teachers apply sunscreen (again with your approval) at least two times a day before we go outside. We recognize just a few serious sunburns can increase a child’s risk of skin cancer later in life. Feel free to send a hat and/or sunglasses for your child to protect their face, scalp, ears, and eyes from UV rays. For more, basic sun safety info, go to the CDC website: cdc.gov/cancer/skin/basic_info/children.htm

And finally, I was reminded from our Child Care Aware friends that July is “National Heatstroke Prevention Month.” Heatstroke continues to be the number one summer killer of children, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation, who have just launched a $3 million public safety and prevention campaign. Since 1998, 855 children have died due to pediatric vehicular heatstroke. Never leave your child in your vehicle unattended, even if the windows are open or the air conditioning is on. If you see a child alone in a locked car, call 911 to get them out immediately. For more important statistics and prevention tips, please see: nhtsa.gov/campaign/heatstroke

Here is to a SAFE and HEALTHY July!

My best,
Teri Ann