Reta Kirk, RN has been working with Unleashing Potential’s Caroline Mission, a nonprofit daycare for children as young as six weeks old and as old as kindergarten-age, since January. They serve fifty to seventy children annually, primarily from low-income families. They provide meal services and a play-based education designed to work with where each child is at socially, cognitively, and physically.
Reta’s responsibilities include reviewing their immunization program to ensure that accreditation guidelines are followed. Children must have certain immunizations to be accepted into Caroline Mission and must follow a calendar of immunizations as they age.
Reta also works with Denise Carter, Caroline Mission’s Director, to create staff training in regard to children’s health. For example, the staff was not adequately trained to handle children with low-grade temperatures. Many mishandled the situation by calling parents who had a hard time picking up their children during the workday. This didn’t follow regulations, and Reta helped train staff to better evaluate and handle those sorts of situations. Many children also get skin rashes, and the staff needed to be trained on how to evaluate hand-foot-and-mouth disease and other skin-related diseases.
Reta is a valuable member of both the Deaconess Nurse Ministry and Caroline Mission teams, and we are proud to highlight her work and share how she is changing the lives of families in the St. Louis area.