New home for day care displaced by mold

[Guest guest]

New home for day care displaced by mold

Asbury Park Press - Asbury Park,NJ*

By Kim Predham • STAFF WRITER • August 15, 2008

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?

AID=/20080815/NEWS01/808150408/1004*

FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP — Day care students displaced by the discovery of

black mold finally have a new home.

Children at the Bright Horizons at CentraState Early Childhood

Center began attending classes in a wing of Applewood Estates,

CentraState Healthcare System's retirement community off Gully Road,

early last week.

The move comes four months after students were removed from their

original day care center because mold was found in the building

during a wallpapering project. The building is located on the

hospital's main campus, but is separate from the hospital.

" It (the new space) actually turned out to be an ideal setting, "

said Debbie Whalen, a CentraState employee whose 20-month-old son,

, attends the day care.

The day care center is now located in a new 7,000-square-foot wing

of Applewood Estates, which is about 2,000 square feet bigger than

the old building, a hospital spokesman said previously.

The wing has eight classrooms. Students generally range in age from

six weeks to about 6 years old, said the center's director, Kim

.

About 140 children are enrolled in the center, which is operated for

CentraState by Bright Horizons LP, said.

Hospital officials removed approximately 20 kindergarten and

prekindergarten students from the day care center in March when

workers on a wallpapering project found mold on interior surfaces of

an outside wall of two classrooms. The rest of the day care center's

students were evacuated about two weeks later, when air quality

tests showed the presence of mold in a third classroom and a

hallway, a CentraState official has said.

Hospital officials later determined that Stachybotrys chartarum,

also known as black mold, was in the building.

The effects of Stachybotrys chartarum can include itchy eyes, stuffy

noses and headaches. In severe cases, the mold also can cause

pulmonary hemorrhage in infants, according to the U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency.

Hospital officials at the time said they had no reason to believe

the mold had adversely affected any students or staff.

Whalen said last week that she had not worried about her son's

exposure to the mold, though she knew other parents who had concerns

about their own children's health.

" I thought the staff reacted well, " said Whalen, 39, of Lakewood.

After being evacuated, students were moved to space in the Star and

Barry Tobias Ambulatory Campus, next to the main hospital, and to an

auditorium in the hospital.

Students attended classes there until the move to Applewood Estates,

which is about 1.5 miles away from the CentraState campus.

Hospital and day care officials did not know last week what will

become of the old building, but they have said that there are no

plans to use it again.

Children will remain at the Applewood Estates location for up to two

years. By that point, CentraState officials have said they will

decide on a permanent location for the day care center.

For Whalen, the moves to different locations have not been an issue.

" I've said from the start . . . as long as it's the Bright Horizons

staff (running the center), I would go anywhere, " Whalen said.