Childcare center focuses on families on the front line of the coronavirus pandemic

Best Buy and Dyson provided the Child Development Center with 24 Dyson Pure Hot+Cold air purifiers for classrooms and common areas. [CDC]

The ACCA Child Development Center in Annandale is still open, but is operating under extremely different and difficult conditions and now focuses on the children of healthcare workers, emergency personnel, essential employees, and first responders.

The center has implemented new procedures to comply with Virginia’s social isolation order aimed at curbing the spread of coronavirus and has implemented extensive sanitizing protocols.

The CDC was awarded a $15,000 from the Community Foundation of Northern Virginia’s COVID-19 Response Fund April 3 to offset some losses in income and to cover the cost of personal protective equipment, cleaning supplies, and staff training.

Before the pandemic, the CDC, located at 7200 Columbia Pike, served about 211 children; now enrollment has dropped to about 40, reports the center’s director, Maria-Isabel Ballivian.

And instead of 20 children in a classroom, now there are eight plus two teachers who ensure children stay six feet away from one another. Group activities have been suspended in favor of individual play time. Nap-time cots are now six feet apart.

“It’s very difficult keeping the children in different areas. Staff are using protective gear when engaging with them,” Ballivian says.

All surfaces are cleaned every 15 minutes, children and staff wash their hands frequently, and there’s a system to sanitize children’s shoes. The CDC got a large shipment of hand sanitizer from the Catoctin Creek distillery in Purcellville.

The CDC’s hours have been extended – to 8 a.m.-5 p.m. – but can accommodate parents who work earlier or later. The center has also opened its doors to some school-aged children. There are a few slots open for the children of parents who must work during the pandemic. Email Ballivian at [email protected] for details.

The center is no longer able to get food from Fairfax County Public Schools, so CDC staff have turned to other venders to deliver food for meals and snacks for the children – with strict safety standards put in place.

“It’s a humungous amount of work we’ve been able to launch in a couple of weeks,” Ballivian says. “It’s been incredible. We’re only serving 40 children, but for those families, it’s a life-changing experience.”

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Among parents who have to work during the pandemic, having childcare is critical. Many parents of children at the CDC now work in hospitals, senior living facilities, grocery stores, and law enforcement agencies.

Staff is getting in touch daily with the families of children who had been enrolled but are no longer able to come to the CDC. They’re suggesting ideas for working with children at home and letting children know they are here for them.

After one of the CDC’s board members read a book to children online, Ballivia is challenging other community members to send YouTube videos of themselves reading a children’s book.