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Lice.

When you hear the word, you start itching. I know I do, as it brings flashbacks to when my two girls caught it early on through an unfortunate daycare incident.

We spent nights deeply invested in endless hair combing and decontaminating. Add in the tears, and I vowed to never relive that again.

Unfortunately, lice found us once more.

This week, one of my daughters was spending time at the kitchen table before bed. When she leaned over to color her paper, my stomach dropped.

Something was crawling in her hair.

Girl brushing her hair
Photo of a girl brushing her hair.

I immediately ran to the store and purchased a lice removal kit for everyone in our family (which ran me about $35.00 each, plus a special lice removal treatment for our cat). We also sent a bonus kit home with a family caregiver who spent the evening with both of my twin girls.

After that, the fun began: Washing and combing through every strand of hair.

The following day, we opted to keep the girls home from school to schedule them for a professional lice check and treatment, if needed. Fortunately, we caught it early, and our prework the night before paid off: Every single one of us came back clear, and we were grateful for the peace of mind.

However, it wasn’t cheap: These checks, two new brushes, and prevention product treatment ran us $180.00.

And that’s not all. Home water bill notwithstanding, the cost to wash and dry 4 large loads of bedding, blankets, and laundry totaled $50.00 at the local laundromat.

While I am fortunate to be able to utilize and access these resources, not every family has the means to do so. Emergent hygiene issues like this can cause a lot of stress on multiple levels, especially when barriers prevent access.

- Andrea, Director of Marketing

It’s not fun to share this story, but it did make me extremely grateful for the resources at my disposal:

  • Financial means to cover this emergency expense

  • A job that was flexible enough to allow me to take an entire day off to take care of my family and properly clean my home

  • A working vehicle to quickly access local resources

  • Extra pillows and blankets to sub in so we could properly wash the contaminated ones

  • A supportive spouse who also took time off work to help

While I am fortunate to be able to utilize and access these resources, not every family has the means to do so. Emergent hygiene issues like this can cause a lot of stress on multiple levels, especially when barriers prevent access.

child in wheelchair looking at stairs
We found out that we couldn’t access the local lice clinic for treatment due to a lack of an elevator. Fortunately, a team member came down the stairs to check one of my twins.

That’s what I love about Care to Learn.

Our mission is to meet children’s emergent health, hunger, and hygiene needs so they can succeed in school.

When a child has lice, they can’t afford to wait to treat it.

Care to Learn partners with school districts to ensure that students in need have access to cover costs just like these, so they can get access to help as soon as possible. I’m so grateful to work for an organization dedicated to removing barriers for children and families.

Andrea serves as the Director of Marketing for Care to Learn. She has two beautiful twin girls and an amazing husband! To learn more about how you can help meet health, hunger, and hygiene needs for students, email info@caretolearn.org or call Care to Learn at 417-872-7771!