Our next interview in our spotlight series is with Lisa Greenfield (Former Early Education and Current Product Specialist at Innovative Healthcare Solutions, LLC). Check it out below:

Question 1: What experiences have you had working in early childhood education and care? 

My experience in early childhood began in 2012 working as a Teacher Associate for Head Start in Des Moines, Iowa. I had the most wonderful co-teacher. I began teaching Early Head Start in 2016 with my career in ECE lasting for almost 10 years in total. Prior to my ECE experience I was a paraeducator for children in grades K-6, as well as a mother to two sons who are now grown. In total I have 25 years of experience working with children from a variety of cultures, age ranges, and socioeconomic backgrounds. 

Question 2: What college courses, mentorship experiences, or professional development experiences helped you most in your career? 

I recently earned a BA in Sociology, minoring in Psychology from Drake University. What I learned in my time there was invaluable to my overall education and career attainment. Prior to this I earned my AA at the local community college, where I took early childhood classes I could apply towards earning two CDAs, (The Child Development Associate Credential, Infant/Toddler and 3-5 Year Olds). While working as an associate I earned my Paraeducator Certification in the State of Iowa, with a specialization in library, media, and technology. This was through the local area education agency, and where I truly learned the foundations of working with exceptional children. What I learned working as a special education paraeducator prepared me to be the best early childhood educator in the Head Start/Early Head Start program. 

Introduction to the Zero to Three organization, (https://www.zerotothree.org/) was a fantastic professional development experience. Their evidence based presentation on infant/toddler brain development really hit home for me and highlighted the importance of early childhood well being and health, as well as, the dangerous long term effects of trauma and neglect. The earliest years are the most crucial to overall child development and a healthy, well developed, brain is foundational to learning. Investments and interventions in the early years can change the trajectory of a life!

Question 3: Tell us about your current work at Innovative HealthCare Solutions and how it relates to ECE: 

I am currently working as the Product Specialist for Innovative HealthCare Solutions USA, LLC. https://ihcsolutionsusa.com/ This is a new role for me and I am so excited to be using my background in education to fulfill our company’s need for educating the early childhood community about safer, healthier, more effective alternatives to mitigating poor air quality in the classroom. Some of the causes for poor air quality in the classroom include viruses, germs, fungi, molds, and other airborne contaminants. COVID-19 has made the need for air quality paramount, due to the airborne nature of the virus. Teachers and students breathe in the unhealthy air in concentration due to inadequate ventilation, filtration, and/or air flow. Commercial grade air filtration should be the new standard for early childhood classrooms. The HALO air purification system is of the highest quality and efficacy, creating safer air for everyone to breathe and is easily mounted on the ceiling for optimum mitigation. 

The sanitization and disinfection of toys, materials, books, and tablets/laptops is crucial to maintaining a healthy classroom environment. This task is incredibly time consuming and the last thing you want to do at the end of the workday. But, there is a better way to do this now with The ZONO cabinet, which uses safe ozone technology and is already in thousands of Head Start classrooms around the country. It can disinfect and sanitize an entire classroom of materials in 30 minutes. No bleach, no water, no drying time, or cleanup! In 90 minutes you can kill lice and bed bugs on/in anything, as well as odor removal. If either of these products interest you or if you have questions, please go to the https://ihcsolutionsusa.com/ for more information or call (877) 644-7737 ext.4. As an early childhood educator working during the Pandemic, I wished for products like these. They are truly a game changer for early childhood programs. 

Question 4: What advice would you give an early educator who is just starting their career or considering an ECE Career? 

I highly recommend job shadowing. If you have an area in ECE you want to pursue, speaking with a professional who does this work is a wonderful way to find out if it could be for you, as well. Working in a childcare setting is often the best way to see if you really enjoy working with children and where you have the options to work with babies to elementary school aged children. There are some ages, and stages, of children you may enjoy more. Knowing your niche, may make choosing what you decide to pursue educationally and occupationally, less confusing or complicated. 

Question 5: Pretend it is 2032, What do you hope has changed about Early Childhood Education and What do you hope has stayed the same? 

The most important change I hope to see in ECE is the need for wages to be comparable with public school educators. Low wages prevent many amazing educators from working in the ECE setting. I also believe, as a nation, we should be supporting the enrichment and care of children from birth! That requires creating affordable quality child care and supports, accessible to all children and families. Knowing what we do about the earliest years, and how

imperative they are to a successful and healthy life, I hope we have invested heavily in programs and services supporting children from birth through the early childhood years. I have seen changes in the system supporting this goal and I hope this continues to have even farther reaching results and success. Those of us who have a voice and who can vote, should use these privileges to bring change and advancement to ECE nationwide.

Lisa Greenfield

Product Specialist

Innovative Healthcare Solutions, LLC

(877) 644-7737 ext.4

www.ihcsolutionsusa.com