Kindercare, 128th and Colorado Blvd., Thorton, CO - concerned about health of child

Complaints.com received the following consumer message on October 9, 2002:

From: BEARNJILL AT cs.com

RE: Kindercare, 128th and Colorado Blvd., Thorton, CO - concerned about health of child In August of this year (2002) I enrolled my infant daughter at a Kindercare in Thornton, CO on 128th/Colorado Blvd. It is NAEYC accredited and although it was the most expensive daycare in the area, I was very happy with it. I always paid on time. My husband and I liked the caregivers in the infant room and liked the curriculum and that the ratios were always kept within the law. Then in mid August one of the infant room caregivers, Rhonda, had large scabs on her face. To me it looked like she had had a very bad accident and I

didn't want to be rude and ask.

Later in the week, on a Friday evening, she told me out of the blue that she had cold sores, she had been out in the sun the weekend before and that usually is what caused her cold sores. Knowing that cold sores are Herpes and that Herpes is very contagious. I spent the weekend worrying about it and decided to call the assistant director the next week to ask what precautions were being taken to ensure that Rhonda was not spreading Herpes to the babies. The assistant director, Kim, was very defensive and said that Rhonda had had this problem for years, had worked at the center for a long time, and that they were not going to fire her. I told her I didn't want to get Rhonda fired, I just didn't think she should be working with babies during a Herpes outbreak. When I went to pick my daughter up that day the director, Susan, pulled me into an office. By then I had done some of my own research on Herpes and cold sores to back up my concerns. Susan said that Rhonda had gone to the doctor that day and was given medication. She said that Rhonda assured them that she

was not contagious. Susan said she didn't know much about cold sores, that her son gets them and that she went ahead and called Kindercare's nurse consultant who advised that Rhonda shouldn't work with infants while having an outbreak. It was agreed that Rhonda would work with older children during a cold sore outbreak since they can be told not to come into contact with her face and mouth. I decided I could live with this decision. Several days later Rhonda was back in the infant room and had healed up. She brought up the topic and told me that her cold sores are "not the contagious kind" and she told me that at Kindercare they had a policy that they do not kiss the babies. She also mentioned that her doctor says they may be genetic and no one really knows how you get them and that some people get them because they are exposed to cold sores in childhood. When she said that I politely explained that that is exactly why I was concerned, that most people who get cold sores were exposed to the Herpes virus as children and that I didn't want my daughter to have that problem. I also pointed out that even if she didn't kiss the babies that babies reach for faces all the time and touch and put their hands in their mouths. Since Rhonda told me she wasn't allowed to kiss the babies and with the arrangement that she wouldn't work with infants during an outbreak I decided to keep my daughter enrolled. Rhonda afterall was a nice enough person and I liked the center and my daughter seemed to like being there. A few weeks later Rhonda kissed our baby on her cheeks and mouth, she was very obvious about it in front of the window to the infant room. She claimed she only kissed her cheeks and chin. Although we are sure it was on her mouth even on her chin is too close for comfort. The thing about Herpes, according to our pediatrician and online research that I've done, is that it can be transmitted even in the absence of a cold sore. A person with Herpes can shed the virus all the time and will shed the virus profusely just before getting a cold sore. I also found out that day 4 of a cold sore outbreak is the most contagious stage and Rhonda had worked on day 4 of her cold sore outbreak in August. The herpes virus can be transmitted to other parts of the body, not just on the lips, Rhonda has such a problem in that her sores were also on

her face. Her case of Herpes, in my opinion, is very severe. Rhonda takes care of infants, changes their diapers, wipes their secretions, feeds them, holds them close to her face, kisses them, and in the case of our daughter, kisses them on or near the mouth. Infants and children don't always have symptoms when the Herpes virus is transmitted to them, cold sore symptoms may not occur until years later. I brought our complaints to Susan about Rhonda kissing our daughter's mouth. We told her we didn't want Rhonda to touch our baby again. Susan agreed that they would assign another caregiver to our daughter, that Rhonda would work with other babies but not ours. She explained that Rhonda is protected by the

Americans with Disabilities Act. We agreed to keep our daughter there if Rhonda would no longer care for her.

The next day I went in early to pick my daughter up, the only adult in the room was Rhonda. My daughter, who was 6 months old at the time, was asleep in her swing, with her head hanging downward and a bib around her neck. Susan saw me and seemed surprised to see me. She then said she needed to talk to me. She said it wasn't working out. That Rhonda was having to call someone else in the room to care for my daughter every time she needed something. I was shocked because I thought our agreement was that another adult would always be in the room with our daughter, not just there to change her diapers and feed her. Susan said I would either need to allow Rhonda to care for our child or unenroll her from Kindercare, so I removed her immediately. Later that day I called Susan for receipts and we hashed it out again. She said she was "between a rock and a hard place" that Rhonda was protected by the ADA and that Kindercare's legal department told her she couldn't remove Rhonda from the infant room. Apparently Rhonda didn't want to work with older children, as selfish as I think that decision is. I asked if other parents knew about her condition and she said probably, assuming Rhonda told them as she had told me, but that no one else had complained. I then explained that

Rhonda was claiming her cold sores aren't contagious which is a blatant lie. Kindercare, by the way, never produced proof that Rhonda didn't have a contagious problem even though I requested it, they tried to dance around it.

Susan said Rhonda got a doctor's note saying she wasn't contagious, however, Rhonda didn't go to the doctor until after her scabs appear and although Herpes can still be transmitted, the sores are considered non-contagious once they scab up, so technically when he wrote that note, she was not in the most contagious phase of her outbreak. The simple fact is that cold sores are Herpes and Herpes is very contagious and Rhonda worked with the babies during the blister phase which is the most contagious phase. Susan said that we are all exposed to Herpes eventually. She seemed to be telling me that since we

all get exposed eventually, that it's okay to expose babies to it at her daycare center. Herpes isn't just a nasty cosmetic problem, it can cause blindness if it gets in the eye, it can kill a person if their immune system becomes suppressed at some point in their life ie cancer/chemotherapy, it can be transmitted to the genital regions and it can be spread through skin to skin contact when a sore is present. And it can be spread through mouth contact even in absence of a sore. The way I see it, in getting rid of me they think they got rid of their problem.

But the real problem is the person who may be spreading an incurable lifelong illness to other babies that Kindercare should be protecting. Susan said she could not inform the other parents of anything because she is bound to confidentiality laws. She said that kissing babies is part of the Kindercare philosophy, that when you work with babies you can't not kiss them. But oddly enough she also mentioned that Rhonda has been told she is not allowed to kiss them, that she had been confused thinking she only couldn't kiss them while having an outbreak. Sounds like a huge contradiction to me, that Rhonda has been told not to kiss the babies but that it's impossible to not kiss babies when you work with them??? When I spoke to my pediatrician about the incident she was appalled and said that although Rhonda may be protected by the ADA, she still has the responsibility to use universal precautions. I told this to Susan but it

seemed to fall on deaf ears. I requested my $75 registration fee back since I had to enroll my daughter elsewhere for her health and safety and Susan agreed and said it was "being processed" but that was almost a month ago and I still have no reimbursement. A resolution to this problem at that Kindercare would be to place Rhonda with older children, children who are less vulnerable and can be told not to kiss her. Older children can be told not to touch her face during an outbreak. This would keep Rhonda employed and legally Kindercare would not be violating her rights. Also, there should be a way for Kindercare to punish employees who don't use universal precautions for whatever contagious ailment they have. And Kindercare needs to educate its staff regarding all sorts of contagious ailments, including cold sores and how the virus is spread and precautions to take. The only literature Kindercare provided me on cold sores was how to deal with children who have them. Which by the way, children who have cold sores are not allowed in the daycare until the blister phase is over and scabbing has occurred. This rule apparently isn't applied to staff members however, since Rhonda worked with infants during that time of her outbreak. One comment showed me that Susan wasn't really taking any of this seriously, she said "We think maybe (your daughter) would be best with one on one care" obviously she thinks I'm just an overly protective parent. But ask yourself this: if it was your child how would you feel about it? Sincerely, Jill

Comment On This

I agree. In the state of Utah you have to do a food handler permit and taking the classes they say if you have a herpes outbreak, coldsores you cannot work. I don't see how she can but covered under ADA. I work for Kindercare, not a great corporation. On top of everything employees are paid $6-9/hour and their raise is 1-4%. That would be 6-9 cents at 1%