Pink Eye Scare

So Baby Girl has been battling ear infections since December. I just took her to the doctor yesterday for yet another ear infection when the daycare calls me today and says they think she has Pink Eye and that I need to take her to the doctor again for the second day in a row. Suffice to say, I was steaming mad because a) they never sent out a notice of pink eye in the first place and b) I could have asked the doctor yesterday to check her for pink eye. So we went to the again, and he gave her eye drops just in case something developed because he knew I was pissed at having to come yet again. AS I had already been taking off so much time for work for all of these doctor visits and I was extremely busy at work on a hot movie campaign, hubby asked MIL to come watch Baby Girl. You know what? Nothing ever appeared. I swear, sometimes the daycare just doesn't want to watch my kid. I got so pissed off I wrote the regional person a long a** note. Here is my long ramble. *************** Margaret, Thank you for following up with me, I appreciate it. Turned out that my daughter didn't have pink eye. I took her to the doctor and he gave her drops because he said if half the classroom has pink eye then Penny will likely get it. Since it was Wednesday when I took her in my husband had my mother-in-law drive from Fresno to take care of my daughter for two days because we didn't want Penny back in a room full of Pink Eye children and also, because if I gave the teacher my doctor's note saying she didn't have Pink Eye, the teachers would have hassled me to pick Penny up on Thursday and Friday. It seems with any illness, I am in constant battle with all the infant teachers regarding the criteria of sending my daughter home. I kick back because half of the time I don't feel their reasons make sense and since all the different teachers say different things who am I supposed to believe? As I was in the middle of a extremely busy time at work, I didn't want to go through a 3rd and 4th day of doctor visits all because one teacher says "something" was in her eye. By the way, I never once saw anything oozing from my daughter's eyes and neither did my mother-in-law so I am still wondering why they called me on Wednesday to take her home. Penny had been crying all night from her ear infection and her eyes were watery when she woke up. I just wish the school would come up with a policy and follow it. I don't have problems with policies if they are followed and each parent is treated the same. But that is not the case and I feel the need to speak up. I really don't mind taking my kid to the doctors but the daycare has to arm me with information. This lack of communication has cost me money for the extra doctor visit, money for the extra medication that wasn't really needed, not to mention money for keeping her out of day care for 2 days and my mother-in-law's time and efforts. She wasn't too pleased when she arrived to find a child with no sign of pink eye. My daughter was already taking antibiotics for the ear infection. Had I told the doctor the day before about a possible pink eye infection I would have not had to spent money on eye drops and a second doctors visit. My doctor told me that the antibiotics for the ear infection would have killed the eye infection. He gave me eye drops because he knew I was upset for having to come see him two days in a row and he wanted to prevent further hassles with the daycare. The daycare failed in letting me know that there was a pink eye going around in the first case and in a time when the studio is considering layoffs it is really hard for me to tell my employer that I have to leave again in the middle of one of the busiest weeks of the year. Parents will do what is needed for their children but being hassled unnecessarily is what is upsetting. My family and I had double pink eye last May so I know what it looks like. I was very upset to pick her up at school and not see any sign of pink eye. I also know it takes 5 to 10 days to clear with eye drops, depending on how bad the case is, so why a note wasn't sent out when the very first case was found is my problem. The pink eye was going on for days and no one was notified. All I am asking is for consistency. Consistency on how they handle sickness from the onset, to the criteria they use to assess if a child is sick, to consistency on how they communicate to parents when a child needs to go home, to consistency on how they deliver information to the parents about the sickness. Last year, us infant parents were upset because of the "poop policy." It was agreed that going forward Vanni and Gretchen would call the parents and inform them about why a parent has to take a child home but yet to this day we still have teachers informing parents. If there was a person from the regional office iat the daycare that day why didn't she call me instead of Patricia? Instead I freaked out and when I eventually through multiple phone calls, got to talk to this person, I was pretty upset at the whole situation. Her response didn't sooth me. The problem is each teacher is different in how they deliver messages that is why I am left with the feeling that things are out of control. Then I had Vanni frantically trying to contact me from school. From my point of view it didn't seem like anyone was in charge that day. Switching gears, I am also concerned about general safety. I heard another child was hurt on the playground recently. I also saw the results of the parent feedback and saw that safety was a high concern. What is Bright Horizons doing about the safety at the center? I am well aware about the purchase order that is stuck in the process. Really, how many more children have to get hurt on that playground before someone wakes up? I don't know if the second child being hurt was a supervision thing or a safety thing but all I know is that another child in less than a year got hurt on something that was unsafe in that playground. I am also still very concerned about all the medical leaves happening. You have tenured people out on leave and not coming back. Why? As a parent you have to wonder if something going on. Why is it that all these people don't want to come back? Then you have Vanni who is an assistant director stepping in as a teacher in the toddler room so you have her duties split. So this is where my "who is steering the ship" comment applies. The school is need of good help. Everyone appears overwhelmed. I know you are trying to deal with filling missing spots but can't Bright Horizons send them some good help? There are substitutes but they need strong people, people who are going to steer the ship. Gretchen and Vanni need to be able to focus their time on steering the ship. My daughter is about to go into the toddler room in 6 weeks and I am scared. I am really scared because I have heard things about that room as to how out of control it is. I've talked to other parents who are really upset with what is going on there and are considering pulling their children. All of my friends and family ask me why I don't pull my daughter from the school. I will tell you why because my husband and I are alone in Los Angeles. If I took her somewhere else I wouldn't see her. I am now left with a pit in my stomach because I am constantly questioning if I am doing the best for her. I should be able to rely on my work's daycare. I pay half of my monthly income to the center and Bright Horizons are supposed to be accredited by the state. I need to be able to trust you guys and really, I've gotten a lot of stress in return. From teacher drama, to sickness drama. I am really tired of all the drama. Everyone at the daycare is well meaning and are good people. I don't think they would intentionally hurt my daughter but I think there is a major lack of leadership and the teachers are overwhelmed due to all the position changes and people going on medical leaves. Are they making due, yes, but there is a bigger issue on hand at that school, and pink eye is just one symptom. Someone needs to steer that ship. I hope you as regional director can help them secure what is currently missing. Paramount employees should be able to drop off their kids at daycare and not be stressed out about it. I really hope Bright Horizons can look at the bigger picture and put a plan in place. The thing that always gets me about my daughter's hands being burned is that the two teachers who were outside with her should have communicated their actions to one another and they should have reacted more quickly. My girls hands were burned because she was left for several minutes by herself in an unsafe place. To me that is really unacceptable. So yes, I am going to voice my concerns because really I don't want any other parent to get a phone call telling them that their child has been hurt. Best, Lollipop