|
I then grabbed formula, bottles, diapers, baby food and a few other supplies.
At this time, I did not have any child care kids in my home, just my own two children, ages 10 and 13. While we were going to the church, I asked my son to text Lori Tapke and let her know what was happening. Once I was safely at the church, I let all my families know where I was and that they could start to arrive at child care; it was around 7:30 a.m. while waiting for everyone to arrive, I called my CCR&R Child Care Consultant, Lori Tapke to see what else I needed to do. She was amazing!
We talked about what supplies I had brought with me and what I needed. I did not have time to grab food for any kids other than my infants. She brought me food, milk, paper plates and cups that we could use. At church, I had access to a refrigerator to keep food cold. I had taken my 1st aid kit out of my van when we went for a walk and had forgotten to put it back in, so Lori also brought me a first aid kit, a case of bottled water and a charger for my cell phone. I also contacted Toni, my Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) worker, to let her know where we were and what was happening.
I contacted the police department, asking if they had an idea when we could return to my home. They advised me to keep an eye on their Facebook page and they would post updates there. I checked there often but did not come across any updates.
I did have two families who were directly affected by the evacuation. They are both teachers at Kittrell Elementary School, across the street from my home. They were not allowed back into the school until 11:00 a.m. So, their children would arrive later.
The children I had in attendance that day were a two-month-old, two seven-month-olds, an eighteen-month-old and a two-year-old, and my own two kids. Everyone was done for the day at 3:30. I loaded up my things and cleaned out the rooms we used at church. I headed home to see if we could get to our house. I stopped to talk with a police officer to see if we could get to our home and the road was now open.
When I arrived home, I could still smell the diesel fuel, so we left the windows closed.
The next morning, when I started to welcome kiddos to care, I noticed I could still smell the fuel outside. While they were eating breakfast, I contacted the nurse consultant who works with my child care to ask her if she knew if it was safe for us to play outside. She said I should keep kids in the house and that she would contact the fire department to see if they had conducted an air quality study. We played in the house for the day with the air conditioning on and the windows closed. When everyone started to head home, the odor had mostly disappeared.
I wanted to tell you how much help my CCR&R Child Care Consultant, Lori Tapke was with our situation. She did everything in her power to make sure that my crew and I had all that we needed to remain safe and comfortable until we returned to our home. I truly could not have done what I did without her support. I also wanted to share a text message I received from one of my families at the end of the day after I notified them that child care would be back in my home on Friday:
| 
