High Standards and Experience Positions Salvation Army Child Care Centres as Leaders in Re-Opening
Businesses across Ontario have slowly started to see a sense of normalcy return to their daily schedules. With amended policies and procedures, The Salvation Army’s child care centres have also seen a return to providing essential services to the families of our communities.
At the start of COVID-19 back in March, The Salvation Army opened an Emergency Child Care Centre in Mississauga- in a joint effort with the Region of Peel- to care for and provide a safe environment for the children of front-line workers. The emergency centre was not only seen as a huge success during a time of general despair, but the Army’s efforts were being hailed as highly-noteworthy.
“People are looking to us for how we handled the emergency child care centre. Because of our experience and the high standards that we maintained, we are being viewed as leaders in re-opening”, said Linda Gilbert, Director of Child Care Services.
With the emergency centre now closed and the re-opening of all 5 centres on July 13th, these standards have been strictly upheld to ensure the utmost safety for returning community members, as well as members of the staff. Bidemi, a returning staff member of the Erin Mills Child Care Centre was anxious upon returning but found immense comfort in knowing how much cleaning and up-keep was required in order to keep everyone safe.
“It took a while to get back into the swing of things and learn the new normal. Hearing everything we had to do during our training was overwhelming but knowing how controlled everything was and that we’re being screened and such, I felt like we were in a safe place,” said Bidemi.
It’s the hard-working staff teams who have made this seemingly impossible feat of operating child care centres safely not only doable but exceptional. Kristin, a staff from Brampton Child Care who also worked at the Emergency Child Care said, “The one thing I look forward to most about coming to work is interacting with the children and staff—always lots of smiles and fun times together!”.
“A lot of our returning staff has noted that the sense of team and the way that everyone works together to share in the responsibilities has been what has worked best,” said Linda. Cathie Snow, Supervisor from the Emergency Child Care and Mississauga Temple Child Care said, “I’m so proud of our teams, we support one another, care for one another, encourage one another and lift one another up—we are a family!”
Parents of the children were also quick to note the staffs’ hard work.
“My husband and I are so thankful that you all have taken great care of our children. Our lives would have been extremely stressful and the kids would be miserable. So, thank you from the bottom of our hearts that you were able to physically, mentally and emotionally keep them safe and loved. Thank you for making your own sacrifices to fight this war,” said Elaine and Tim.
It’s no doubt that COVID-19 has brought about an incredible wave of change across all facets of life- and maintaining this change is going to be a work in progress. But as Joanne Tilley, the Divisional Social Services Secretary noted, “We banded together to make this work and keep the children safe based on solid policies and procedures. It was all incredibly labour intensive but we’ve learned a lot and will use that information going forward as we re-open the remainder of the child care centres across the GTA.”
