Incident investigation·January 14, 2025

On 1/14/2025, Licensing Program Analyst (LPA) Andrea Pittman conducted an unannounced case management visit at the facility and was met by the Facility Representative who permitted entry to the facility. LPA toured the facility with the Director Erick Morales according to the facility sketch. Upon arrival, LPA observed 39 children present with 11 staff members providing care and supervision. During this inspection, LPA conducted a followed up on the report of an outbreak that was received on 10/18/2024 as reported by the Supervisor. LPA conducted interviews with relevant parties regarding the incident, reviewed records, and made observations during the incident. The investigation revealed the following information: There was a report from the facility\342\200\231s management to the Community Care Licensing Division (CCLD) on October 18 th , 2024 of an outbreak of an unknown disease affecting multiple preschoolers which was reported by the Supervisor as beginning n on September 18th, 2024. The facility\342\200\231s management was made aware of the children showing signs of an unknown illness by the parents of impacted children starting on September 18 th , 2024. The facility\342\200\231s management notified the local health officer, the Department of Public Health, of an unknown outbreak impacting children on October 18 th , 2024 nearly a month after the outbreak began at the facility as confirmed by the Public Health Nurse. The outbreak consisted of multiple children showing signs of illness including vomiting, diarrhea, fever, rash, lethargy, stomach upset, and stomach ache. The facility experienced an ongoing outbreak of infection, including recurrent infections, impacting multiple children showing the signs of illness previously aforementioned. The facility\342\200\231s management did not meet reporting requirements by not reporting to the CCLD of an outbreak of any disease within the next working day during normal business hours once they became aware of two or more children showing signs of illness and they did not report the outbreak of any disease involving two or more children to the local health office immediately by telephone. The Supervisor stated that delay for the report was due to not recognizing the outbreak as an outbreak when it was occurring. LPA inquired if they did not receive the multiple reports from the parents of the children being out for various illnesses being higher than normal and the Supervisor stated that the Director of the facility was tracking the information. Once the facility received instructions from the Department of Public Health, they followed the directions provided to them and the outbreak precautions were put into effect at the facility. This is a violation of reporting requirements and is a Type B violation, see the LIC 809D for the details. Currently, the outbreak is under control with following the guidelines set by the Department of Public Health and as a result, the outbreak has been closed by the Department of Public Health. All licensing reports are recommended to be kept for 3 years. An exit interview was conducted, and a copy of this report was read and provided to the Director along with the Notice of Site Visit and Appeal Rights.