Daycare owner says applying sunscreen is a liability for business.
By Colleen Hogan
Thursday, July 02, 2009 at 6:33 p.m.
JEFFERSON CITY -- We talk a lot about taking sunscreen to the swimming pool, but what about when you send your child to daycare? Some Jefferson City parents are thinking a lot more about that, now that their daycares have stopped putting sunscreen on children.
For the past 25 years, Karen Werner has owned and operated three Jefferson City daycare centers.
"It was my lifelong dream,” said Werner. “As a child, I would take the neighborhood kids out and play school with them, and by the time I was a senior in high school, I had my floor plans laid out, ready to build."
And this year, she made a change to her sunscreen policy at Apple Tree Academy and Big Top Day Care Center, saying that staff would no longer be applying sunscreen, even with a permission slip from a parent or doctor.
Werner made the change after state health officials told her that sunscreen is now being grouped in the same category as medication and that putting sunscreen on nearly 300 kids according to proper specifications would be a liability, besides taking too much time and paperwork.
"It becomes a lot of paperwork and a lot of nuisance for the facilities,” said Werner.
But that sunscreen reversal has one local doctor seeing red.
"I was appalled,” said JCMG Dr. Brian Herrbold. “It's common sense that you need to protect your kids from sunburn."
Herrbold says his office has received several calls from angry parents over the change.
Werner says parents are encouraged to apply sunscreen to their kids before they get dropped off. She says most children play outside in the early morning, before they would need to reapply the lotion.
But older kids who come to the centers, those anywhere from eight to fourteen years old, who swim and go on field trips outside the facilities are on their own for reapplying sunscreen. Werner however says staff does issue kids reminders about reapplying before and after swims.
Dr. Herrbold says that's still not good enough.
"It's our job as parents and day care providers and teachers to protect those children from that (sunburns),” said Herrbold.
"I don't feel like we're being neglectful.” said Werner. “I took it very seriously and a lot of consideration went into it."
State health officials say that licensed daycare facilities are not required by law to administer sunscreen.
