State regulators shut down a North Philadelphia day care the day after an infant was found unresponsive in the facility and later died after being walked to the hospital.
The Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning pulled the license for Sisters Childcare Center at 3539 Germantown Avenue under an emergency order Thursday afternoon.
The state order cites "gross incompetence, negligence and misconduct in operating a facility likely to constitute immediate and serious danger to the life or health of the children in care."
Among its findings were 17 violations including that no one at the facility had proper CPR training, some staff members didn't have proper clearances on file, failing to contact the parent of the girl who died, dust on walls and vents, and, on the day the girl died, there were 39 infants to only four staff members (a nearly 10:1 ratio) rather than the 4:1 ratio expected.
Officials contacted families about the closure and planned to be outside the day care Friday to help parents make new accommodations.
The removal comes a little more than a day after a 10-month-old girl stopped breathing at the day care center. A source told NBC10 Wednesday a family member showed up to the facility to check on the girl and found day care employees performing CPR on her. She was taken to nearby Temple University Hospital and pronounced dead.
Officials have not said what led to the child's death but did say in documentation that staff knew the girl was in poor health at the time she was dropped off and "provided no additional care or supervision for several hours."
The state also found that instead of immediately calling 911, a staff member attempted to perform CPR on the girl while walking her to the emergency room. The hospital is about one block away. Doctors pronounced the girl dead upon arrival, state officials said.
The facility has the ability to appeal the closure.
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The center was already operating under a provisional license following a state inspection that found a number of violations including a lack of training for some and, at times, a lack of enough staff to adequately supervise all the children at the facility. Some were corrected immediately, but not all.
The center had until Dec. 26 to correct the issues before the provisional license expired.
NBC10 has made attempts to reach the owners of Sisters Childcare, but thus far hasn't heard back.
You can check state records to see the inspection history of your child's day care. Instructions are on the Pennsylvania's Promise for Children website.
