The Children's Center invests in Electrostatic Technology to Help Protect Students, Teachers and the Local Community

SUFFOLK, Va., Jan. 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Children's Center is proud to announce the addition of the Clorox^® Total 360^® System to our cleaning and disinfection tool belt. Since 1983, The Children's Center has provided the community with top-quality educational childcare including early intervention and pediatric therapy services to children with disabilities and developmental delays. Currently supporting families through our eight regional centers located in Franklin, Suffolk, Courtland and Smithfield, Virginia, we are now outfitted with electrostatic technology to add an extra layer of protection to our facilities to safeguard against the illness-causing germs and viruses that can result in outbreaks.

The Children's Center is a nonprofit agency that provides educational childcare to 571 children across 46 classrooms, while also offering infant care and after school programming. As a result, daily cleaning and disinfection is a critical line of defense against illness-causing bacteria and viruses. Schools and daycares are often the hardest hit by outbreaks and face a wide-range of threats from common viruses like cold, influenza and norovirus.

Flu cases peak between December and March while the highly contagious norovirus spikes between November and April,^1,2 making the fight against harmful germs a priority to our facilities year-round. The Children's Center proactively invested in two Clorox^® Total 360^® Systems last year as an additional measure to protect to our children and teachers after last year's heavy flu season that impacted the community. According to the Virginia Department of Health, all regions in Virginia observed a high intensity level of Influenza-related illnesses for six consecutive weeks during the 2017-2018 flu season.³

Influenza causes more hospitalizations among young children than any other vaccine-preventable disease.⁴ Moreover, schools and children centers have an abundance of large, frequently-shared spaces and touched surfaces, providing countless opportunities for illness-causing germs to be spread via cross contamination. In fact, 5-18 year-olds made up 19.2% of influenza-related hospital visits in Virginia during the largest proportion of hospital visits by age group that occurred in week seven of last year's flu season.2 

Knowing that outbreaks like these can adversely affect our student population, The Children's Center has integrated the Clorox^® Total 360^® System into our cleaning protocols to help do the job across all of our eight facilities. The system works by using electrostatic technology to charge Clorox^® disinfecting and sanitizing solutions. The charge attracts the solutions to surrounding surfaces with a force stronger than gravity allowing them to uniformly wrap and coat surfaces, including even the hardest-to-reach areas that can be often missed by manual cleaning.

"Since our investment in the system, we've received positive feedback from our teachers who have expressed an improvement in classroom health," said Steve Dodson, Operations Manager at The Children's Center. "The Children's Center is committed to nurturing and educating children with disabilities throughout the community and the Clorox^® Total 360^® System supports our goal to keep our facilities safe and to the highest standard for our community."

The Clorox^® Total 360^® System is a powerful tool in the fight against illnesses and infections by not only making cleaning and disinfecting more effective, but also making the process more efficient, helping save time and reduce labor costs. Steve and his staff currently use the systems in high traffic areas such as our infant care centers, classrooms, administrative offices and our fleet of school buses. The system can cover up to 18,000 sq. ft. per hour, using 65% less solution and working up to four times faster than traditional cleaners.

"As we prepare for the cold and flu season ahead, we are taking extra steps to ensure that all eight facilities are protected against the spread of illness and with our Clorox^® Total 360^® System. We are confident in our disinfection protocol because the amount of ground we have to cover is much more manageable," added Dodson.

To learn more about the Clorox^® Total 360^® System, visit www.cloroxtotal360.com.

About The Children's Center
The Children's Center is a nonprofit agency that provides children ages birth to five with early childhood education services, such as high-quality childcare. We nurture and educate children as well as their families—because we believe family is the best teacher and decision maker. Our programs serve a diverse Western Tidewater community, including children with disabilities and developmental delays.

¹ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Flu Season. July 12, 2018. Retrieved from: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/season/flu-season.htm. (Accessed Dec. 10, 2018).

² "Prevent the Spread of Norovirus" Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. November 19, 2018. Retrieved from: https://www.cdc.gov/features/norovirus/index.html. (Accessed Aug. 9, 2017).

³ "Final Weekly Influenza Activity Report 2017-2018 Season" Virginia Department of Health. Retrieved from: http://www.vdh.virginia.gov/content/uploads/sites/3/2018/11/Weekly-Influenza-Activity-Report_2017-18-Season.pdf.  (Accessed Dec. 10, 2018).

⁴ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Information for Schools & Childcare Providers. July 31, 2018. Retrieved from: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/school/index.htm. (Accessed Dec. 10, 2018).

SOURCE The Children’s Center

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