I have a letter I'd like to send out to families regarding a stomach virus that my family had last week. My first purpose in sending this is to reassure them that I did everything I could to make sure their children were not exposed. The second purpose is to reinforce illness policies and explain why it is soooo important they follow the policy.

Could you all look at this and see if it sounds okay??? Is it too long...I tend to go on and on and on....

Hi everyone,

As you all know Lily (my daughter) was sick with a stomach virus last week. She had to stay a night in the hospital to get rehydrated and was back to her normal self by Friday.

As some of you know, Rob (my husband) was sick with the same stomach virus last week. However, he is on an immunosuppressant for a kidney disease that doesn't allow his body to fight illness. So, he had to be admitted to the hospital on Thursday and stayed for 2 days to monitor his kidney function. He's fine now. I didn't get the stomach virus at all.

I want to reassure everyone that neither Lily nor Rob were around the children all week. I don't anticipate any of the children getting this illness, I was extremely careful to sanitize anything that might be contaminated. Please let me know if your child did get ill.

Also, in the future if Lily is sick with something other than a cold, I will have to close the preschool instead of having Rob stay home with her as we're going to try to keep him away from her when she's ill. I hope everyone understands this decision. I also ask that if your child has any kind of stomach illness (diarrhea, vomiting, upset tummy, nausea, etc) that you keep them home that day and the next day. Colds do not affect Rob badly at all, but we have now learned that a stomach virus can make him very very ill. If you ever have questions about whether you should bring your child, please call me and I can help you make that decision.

Also, just so everyone knows, we don't think we got the stomach virus from anyone in preschool, we're just trying to be as careful as we can be. Thank you.

Katy

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It sounds honest and to-the-point. One thing- I would leave out the part that says, "Please let me know if your child did get ill." It sounds like you will compensate somehow because your family gave it to them. You have covered the sick policy, so that right there says they need to let you know, for any FUTURE illnesses. Otherwise, nice letter.

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Overall I think it's a good letter. It is a little wordy but it covers everything and I didn't see anything that was redundant or unecessary. The only thing that I wanted to touch on was this line

While reading the letter I never got the impression or even thought of the idea that your daughter or hubby could have gotten sick from a DC kiddo until I read this line lol. Do you think that the DC parents would think that you might be implying that your family got sick because of their kids? It's not really a big deal but like I said before ... I never thought about it until you mentioned it .

As for the letter sounding as if you might "compensate" families that got sick ... I didn't get that impression at all but you could remove the line altogether anyway and take care of the issue (a DC kid getting sick) if it comes up.

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I think the letter was good, but I would leave out the last line as MarinaVanessa suggested. I also think you could put a little more emphasis on your point of NOT bringing in sick children b/c of your husband's lack of immunity. My father is on immunosuppressant drugs from a kidney transplant, and I understand full well how ANY kind of illness can send him into the hospital! I feel as if you could URGE them to revisit the illness policy and follow it. Instead of this:
I would say something like: "Now that we have realized how sick Rob can become from common illnesses such as a stomach virus, I strongly urge that you not bring your child if they have a fever, vomiting, diarrahea, or nausea for at least 24 hours after the symptoms have subsided. Again, I thank you for your understanding."

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Thanks so much for your suggestions. I made a few changes and sent it out.

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Did this all happen while your daycare was open or while your daycare was closed for the holiday?

I like all the opinions stated and agree. Good job with your letter!

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My daughter was sick the Sat before the holiday, but she stayed in my bedroom with my husband when the kids were here MTW. Then she went in the hospital Wednesday night, my husband went in Thursday.

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kendallina, I am glad to hear that your husband and daughter have both recovered.

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Thank you misol. They are feeling good and we're all back to our normal routine today.

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