Um...WHAT?

It is no secret that health care around the world is in a state of decay. Pharmaceutical companies have created, and push, more drugs than ever in history and doctors are performing more unnecessary procedures each and every day. People go to work coughing and sneezing and sharing their germs like they are a communal share hold and no public health official bothers to inform them otherwise. So, it is no surprise that those in the medical community were involved in the release of a recent article concerning daycare and illness.

The article, Daycares Send Sick Kids Home Too Often: Study, is quite a read. I implore anyone who offers daycare, has a child in daycare, or works in a daycare to read this article. I have no doubt you will sit there in front of your computer screen benumbed at the sheer stupidity of the words your brain has just processed.

Are those doctors in that study smoking crack? Seriously, I have to ask that question. Perhaps they should stop doing personal testing with all those drug company samples the pretty little sales reps leave in their office. I think the cocktail of the newest and greatest might be adversely affecting their reasoning skills.

The doctors argue that children should not be sent home from daycare for common ailments like pink eye, loose bowel movements, fever, colds or ringworm. They claim that the level of contagion has passed before the child is symptomatic. Huh? Okay then.

I do not claim to hold a degree in medicine but there is one thing I am sure of; the longer you are in contact with a contagious person the higher the chances you will contract their illness. It seems to me this line of thinking is rather common sense. When a daycare parent comes to my door to announce they are ill and going home to rest I don't invite them in for tea because they are likely no longer contagious. Hell no! I want them out of my house faster than the door can close. I don't think I know a single person who would want to cozy up with someone who is ill. And that fact brings me to my next point.

What about the children? Does the child want to spend their day in the care of strangers in a daycare setting when they are not feeling well? Does being forced to take a walk, play in the sand box or partake in other normal daycare activities sound like a fun thing to do when they have a fever? According to the doctors in the study Little Tommy should be just fine to stay the course of the day. I have to ask - did anyone ask TOMMY? No, of course not, that would be crazy!

Who amongst we adults would willingly go to work with a fever and the runs? Who does that? Hell, I have parents who send their kids to daycare while ill and then go home themselves to rest and recuperate from the exact same illness. I swear, people don't get it. Hell, I don't get it. It seems like a pretty big double standard to me.

However, the icing on the cake is this line from the article:

What's more, he notes, asking parents to leave or skip work to care for their children at home can be burdensome to parents, particularly those who are paid by the hour.

Burdensome? Burdensome? Are these doctors kidding? Hey, doctors - newsflash - EVERYTHING about having kids is burdensome! They depend on us for their very existence. If you didn't know that before you had them you got a rude awakening the first night that you were up feeding that little burden every third hour. And when did another parent's "burden" become another child's "burden"? Why should little Johnny become ill because Suzie was too "burdensome" for her parents to come take her feverish little diarrhea butt home? And furthermore, why is it the job of the daycare provider to care for a sick child? Do we not have other things to do like...oh...um....caring for the other children?

And what about the provider when she gets sick? This of course is inevitable if every child were allowed to stay in care while ill. Oh, no, we can't have the provider taking time off. What then would happen to the parent who, "has no backup day care, a job that does not provide paid sick leave"?

Sorry, docs but this "study" is so flawed on so many levels I want to ask what medical schools you graduated from. Because I honestly worry about someone caring for my health who can not even muster enough logic to see the holes in this theory. Hell, even we lowly daycare providers and now, nurses, can see that none of what you cite makes an ounce of sense.

Here's a tip......why don't you go back to your office and keep pushing those pills and procedures. And when little Johnny comes to you with double-barrelled snot and gunk coming out of both eyes why don't YOU take him home to play with YOUR kids? No problem, he's past contagion anyway.




For concerns, advice or suggestions I welcome your email at judytrickett@yahoo.ca