Ensuring a healthy environment for young children in a daycare center 

Kindergarden is a daycare center and kindergarten located in Amersfoort, Netherlands.

As a pre-school and a place for little kids and toddlers, their top priority is to ensure that the children are healthy, comfortable, and happy. Parents expect nothing less than the utmost care and safety for their children while they are in the daycare facility, and Kindergarden knows this is a responsibility that they cannot be complacent about. Providing an environment that is healthy and comfortable is a big challenge and they need solutions that will help them deal with it.

Challenges:

The administration was facing a number of issues that needed immediate action. Among them were:

• Parents complaining that their children were restless and irritated when at home
• Children were experiencing health problems such as:
  • Infections
  • Dry eyes
  • Worsening of asthma symptoms

Seeing the nature of the complaints and symptoms, Kindergarden turned to monitoring their indoor air quality with the aim of understanding what was causing the problems so that they can alleviate the discomfort and illnesses the children were suffering from.

Benefits Achieved:

With uHoo, Kindergarden was able to reduce the number of complaints and regain the parents’ trust that the facility is healthy and safe for the children.

uHoo’s real-time monitoring and data about specific air quality factors such as temperature, humidity, particulate matter (PM2.5) and carbon dioxide (CO2) among others, allowed them to achieve the following:

Reduced severe CO2 levels by 80% and achieved fresh air within the center 95% of the time

uHoo was able to read an unusually high level of CO2 in the center that was causing discomfort, restlessness, and irritability amongst the children.

With the insights, Kindergarden was able to do the necessary adjustments in and around the classrooms and day care centers to consistently ensure fresh air exchange thereby ensuring a more comfortable environment for the children.. 

Identified dry environment causing dry eyes and asthma, acquired a humidifier and consistently maintained healthy humidity 

Low humidity can have a variety of effects such as dry skin and dry eyes, and aggravation of asthma symptoms. With uHoo, the center was able to identify a pattern of low humidity level that was causing the health problems among the children. The school was also able to identify the root cause for the children’s dry eyes and deteriorating asthma symptoms which were dry spaces with low humidity levels.

Kindergarden immediately set out to install humidifiers to bring the humidity to healthier levels. Coupled with better ventilation, this has reduced complaints of dry eyes and asthma attacks.

Health issues of children reduced with constant monitoring and action

With the use of uHoo and addressing the issues in the facility, the health issues suffered by the children gradually reduced:

• Healthy temperature and humidity levels were kept and promptly adjusted based on the country’s changing seasons
• Consistent monitoring on several air quality parameters to easily identify trends or sudden changes and prompt an actionable response
• Stringent monitoring of the presence of particulate matter or other harmful airborne chemicals that might adversely affect children’s health and future development

Regularly share indoor air quality data with the parents to achieve greater trust

Aside from improving the children’s health and comfort levels, the center was also able to ease parents’ worries by sharing data about indoor air quality. This improved the communication between the school and the parents and enhanced Kindergarden’s reputation as a facility that looks after the health and wellbeing of children.

Moreover, consistent monitoring shows the school’s proactiveness in addressing children’s health issues and their aim in maintaining a safe environment where parents can be assured that their children are comfortable and happy.

Bottomline Results:

The right solution to manage indoor air quality starts with understanding the different factors in the air. This is a step that Kindergarden took and they were able to see the immediate benefits – from improved health and comfort of the children and the staff to providing peace of mind to parents. With insights from real-time and historical data, Kindergarden can then efficiently make better decisions and be more proactive in maintaining a healthy and safe environment for the children.