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Working with health and social development departments to come up with a plan in case centres are forced to close.
Fredericton (9 Sept. 2009) - Some child care centres in New Brunswick are taking a serious look at insurance to protect them financially in the event that an H1N1 flu outbreak forces them to close.
One centre in Oromocto has already had to deal with an H1N1 scare. A child who normally attends the centre contracted the virus while out of the province. No one in the centre was affected because the illness was caught in time.
However, the threat of disruption has prompted Early Childhood Care and Education New Brunswick (ECCENB) to try to come up with insurance options to protect the centres in the event of closures.
Jean Robinson, vice-president of the organization, says ECCENB is currently working with the provincial health and social development departments to devise a means of providing insurance.
Meanwhile, hand washing will be a major priority at centres across the province and parents of children who exhibit any flu-like symptoms are being encouraged to keep them at home.
New Brunswick's Public Health Office has announced that mass swine flu vaccination clinics will open in November when vaccine against H1N1 becomes available. Pregnant women, parents with children under the age of five, First Nations people and children with chronic conditions will get the vaccine first.
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