Early childhood center attributes lack of flu to lots of cleaning

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- As health experts continue to monitor the spread of the flu throughout the United States, the Jordan Early Childhood Academy in Milwaukee has been fortunate enough to not have any children or teachers sick! Staff members say they credit this to luck, a lot of daily cleaning and teaching the children about hand washing.

One-year-old Clinton wasn't alone in holding his head on Monday, January 14th as the nation's flu epidemic continues to affect many. Meanwhile, those that aren't sick are working hard to minimize their chances of contracting the virus.

Clinton is just one of 54 children enrolled at Milwaukee's Jordan Early Childhood Academy and according to floor supervisor Stacey Bilbo, none of them have missed time at the facility due to the flu. 

This is likely because staff at the center are taking extra precautions to keep the children healthy.

"It is a lot more work, but when you're thinking about the little ones, it really doesn't matter because our main goal is to make sure that we provide quality childcare for them," Bilbo said.

Yolanda Evans says she and other staff members are disinfecting five times more often than normal and providing daily lessons to the children about the importance of hand washing.

"When they sneeze or cough, use the bathroom, before they eat, after they eat, even after play time -- after they get done playing with toys, I have them wash their hands," Evans said.

Evans says this is in addition to sanitizing all commonly touched surfaces and washing linens daily.

It is a lot of work for the adults, but staff members say they try to be creative to make the constant cleaning fun for the little ones.

"I was telling them how germs spread and we put paint on our hands to put our handprints everywhere, and I would tell them, 'this is what occurs when you touch everything without washing your hands,' so we made a germ collage," Evans said.