Imami:

Hi Kittysocks,


Didnt hear from you for a while. How is your little girl?

How are you and the rest of the family?

Hi Imami

Thanks for asking and sharing your experience ....

She was hospitalised for a few days and is recuperating well now. She is more brave and resilient than we expected.

It is an unsettling period for us,...hopefully we will all get over it soon....sometimes looking at her old photos still makes me tear....

mamii:

speedy recover to your girl. I hope the doc can do as much as he can to help your girl.

Thanks mamii

Sunnybunny:

Hi Kittysocks Really sad and shocked to learn about what happen to your child. There are no absolute safe place at home and at school. What happened in cc could also happen at home. If children are not properly supervised, it's a matter of time accident will happen whether it is at home or at school. Just to share with you an incidence in my centre. A child suspected to have vomited and choked while sleeping. As this child's leg was out of his cot, so one teacher went to turn him over. It was about 1.15pm The begining of nap time! Then the teacher noticed the the child has no response and called the supervisor. The supervisor one look knew something was wrong with the child. His eyes rolled up, no pulse when another teacher checked his pulse. One teacher tried CPR not successful then the supervisor took over. 1 st blow no response, 2nd blow no response. Everyone got worried. Then the supervisor made a 3rd attempt, air then came out from the mouth and the boy committed. Finally the boy was revived but went into fits. Imagine what could have been the result if teacher did not bother to turn the boy over, or the teacher thought that the boy was sleeping too soundly? And till 3pm, the wake up time, the boy would have been dead! If this happened, whose fault? I have a number of sleepless night though the boy was saved. I kept thinking what will happen if the boy died cos everyone thought nothing could happen during sleeping time? This could also happen at home! I can't be sure whether the school was at fault in your case. This just remind us no where is absolutely safe! We need to be prepared for crisis. That's why I am glad that I have ALL my staff trained in first aid including the cook and the cleaner! So that all staff know what to do uring crisis. Similarly, it is important for parents to learn first aid. You never know when you will need to use it. For 5 years of our centre\"s operation, this is the first time we need to perform CPR. I am glad that we finally saved a life. Our centre's effort in getting all staff trained finally paid off. Child care centres in most cases are safer than many homes! But we cannot be complacent, we must alway stay prepared for the worst! So I urge all parents to go for first aid training. You never know one day you may save your child\"s life or someone\"s life!

Thanks for sharing your story, Sunnybunny. You are right, there is no safe place at home or outside. Thats why we parents or carers for the kids need to be extra vigilant when taking care of the kids while teaching them to watch out for dangers. You are right that parents, teachers n staff in childcare should all be trained in first aid...you never know when you will need it.

In your case, you are so lucky that you had a good and caring teacher who checked on the kid regularly. If not for that teacher and the other teacher who performed CPR, the unimaginable would have happened. ...ie SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). . So as childcare providers, the responsibility is even greater as you are caring for other people's kids. Its important to implement certain protocols or process for the teachers to follow. Eg,, in your case, teachers should be checking on the sleeping kids every now and then (childcare to decide)...not sure if this is something followed by every infantcare.

in my view there is negligence in my girl's childcare mainly in these two ways:
1. Safety guards should have been installed without delay...since they said they have began installing in early part of the year....so why delay? Childcare need to do safety audits and checks before they start operating. Is this something the authorities should be implementing?
2. There are 3 teachers on duty in a class of around 15 kids (but may not be full attendance that day).....They have a duty to keep an eye on the kids , especially making sure no one leaves the group.....in allowing that incident to happen,,...there is negligence. For example, a teacher should stand guard at the door while children leave the classroom, and close after them. Why did the teacher leave the door open? The young kids being very helpful, may rush to close the door. And the teachers left behind in the classroom, should keep a close eye on those kids in the classroom.

Well, its for the childcare to decide what are their next steps if they still have a conscience,.....So far the teachers were rather apologetic over the incident.
If management do not to admit liability, then it will up to the Court to pass the judgement.

Every case is different. In sharing my experience, and with others sharing theirs, hope that this will raise awareness with parents and their childcare. In fact I have forwarded many friends the picture of the door guard and they managed to convince their childcare to install the guard on their doors. At least that is one good thing that arise out of this whole incident. I am sure there might have been many other incidents of kids' fingers being clamped by doors, so if a simple door guard could prevent such accidents from happening, it should definitely be installed in all childcare. Of course, it will be up to the parents at home.

Next thing i would bring up to MCYS,…shouldn’t a door guard be made compulsory in all child care… Or shouldn’t they have regulations on kind of doors or windows to be installed…

Actually I dont really wish to comment further on the school’s administrator first aid skills in public. My purpose is not to badmouth any particular individuals. I do believe that the adminstrator has tried her best at that moment. Sure there is always a learning experience in every case.


My purpose is to bring awareness to parents so that they could inspect the premises carefully before deciding on any childcare.

I also want to share the experience here with parents so that there are reduced cases of accidents, Something as simple as a door guard could have prevented all these. I do want something good to come out of this. My girl doesn’t sacrifice her finger tip for nothing…

路人甲:

kittysocks:

oh no, the principal who did the first aid , didnt apply icing....and she didnt put the severed part in ice pack....it was only with gauze and a ziplock bag....

yah...and i questioned why they didn't send her to hospital at first instance...the response was that there is enough time.

That is totally unacceptable. Th principal is the head of the school dealing with kids and yet she doesn't know first aid? :mad:

in all fairness, she did basic first aid , to try to stop the bleeding and did a bandage on her finger,

hmm...but as i do not know much about first aid , i can't tell good or bad first aid. However, even my primary school boy knows that the severed part has to be stored in ice pack during transport.

I think i should go for some first aid course.

Jatas, Thank you for your suggestion , which i will definitely keep in mind. I have phobia of sending her to childcare now, but i have to start sending her to half day school at some stage when she has fully recovered. She is a very active and sociable girl who loves going to school.

BabyRR:

Hi kittysocks


I'm really sorry to hear abt the incident that happened to your girl. I hope the specialist will be able to help. Don't blame yourself. Kk has its merits.. And when an incident like that happen it's natural for us parents to think of kk as first stop. It's a children specialist hospital after all. And as parents all we want is the best we can do for the children.

I do hope your girl will recover well and soon.

Thank you thank you Baby RR

ngl2010:

There is a mechanism where door will close slowly and cannot be slammed. This is a preventable accident :mad:

Absolutely! And there is those plastic guards easily available that can be installed at the hinges.

Surely we cannot leave a \"live wire\" in the room, and tell the bunch of kids...\"oh...dont go there\"....\"you kids take care hor\" .....and pray hard that no accidents happen...
We all know what it is like when a bunch of kids play together...

Jennifer:

kittysocks:

[quote=\"Spurs123\"]Hi Kittysocks,


I think you should take action against the centre. Demand for the CCTV footage. See whether the incident is due to negligence by the teacher.

There is no cctv! *cry*......but clearly there is negligence and lack of duty of care (be it the school for not installing door guard and the teachers for not watching out for the kids).

I hv always reminded my children never ever put their fingers or toes on door frames ever since they understand instructions. Safety can't be outsourced to 3rd party, not even parents as real dangers can always occur in the split seconds.

My elder boy had his last finger slammed by the car door. Slightly crooked n never ever able to stretch out to reach the last piano keys on some scores.

A friend who moved into our previous estate was not aware of the strong winds, her toddler had her last finger crashed by a slammed door caused by strong wind.

I do not mean to be insensitive here but would like to remind all parents to teach our children the need to look out for themselves at all times.[/quote]Sorry I agree and disagree,

When we leave our children at a childcare, we expect them to exercise a high degree of care especially when dealing with young kids.....they are 3-4 year olds and not primary school kids. There need to be a safe environment to play and learn. How can we say that safety cannot be outsourced to third party , when we are taking about a childcare? How can we expect young kids to fend for themselves on their own? In this case, its not any third party, it is supposed to be a CHILDCARE. If they are caring for other people's kids, the more they should exercise safety precautions.

I do agree that we have to teach our kids. I have always reminded my kids not to put their hands at the door too...especially at home, to extent of being naggy,,,, But sometimes young kids forget when they are too focused in something. In this case, they were probably anxious to close the door, as a group of kids left with another teacher to the toilet and left the door open.

It was in school classroom, the teachers should have exercised extra care,,,,making sure door not left half open (there is no door stopper!) ...And the teachers should be the one reminding the kids in the classroom as well.

The door is a heavy duty aluminium with glass kind of door! Even the teacher told me that another teacher ever got her finger caught by the slamming door due to the wind. Why wasnt door guards installed earlier?