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Tinker’s CDC is best in Air Force

  • Published
  • By Brandice J. O'Brien
  • Tinker Public Affairs
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  Tinker's Child Development Center program recently received top Air Force honors. The Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Manpower, Personnel and Services recognized the program as the best in 2011. The news came on March 8.

Tinker's CDC program caters to approximately 400 children ranging in age from 6 weeks to 5 years old. There are two facilities on base, with a third under construction and expected to be finished by year's end. The centers are staffed by roughly 130 personnel.

"It should give our parents great comfort to know their children are being cared for by the best CDC program in our U.S. Air Force," said Col. Julie Boit, 72nd Mission Support Group commander. "To be the best of the best - No. 1 out of 82 outstanding programs Air Force wide - is a significant accomplishment. I couldn't be more proud of our team."

Mary Duncan, 72nd Force Support Squadron Airman and Family Services Flight chief, said Tinker's CDC program was judged on three criteria: mission accomplishment and innovation, leadership and management and customer focus, with the heaviest weight being on mission accomplishment and innovation.

Among Tinker's accomplishments include supporting a pre-deployment family retreat that benefitted roughly 300 children, assisting parents in identifying seven children with special needs and coordinating appropriate care. The CDC program also created 64 individualized infant menus with photos and graphics, which both alerted and eased parents' concerns.

Additionally, the CDC staff responded quickly, performing CPR on and reviving an infant.

"Everybody on staff is required to be CPR and pediatric first-aid certified and you never know when you're actually going to have to use it," Ms. Duncan said. "To actually use CPR and save an infant's life is something you don't think you're actually going to have to do and it's a big deal."

Many staffers also have child-development credentials and bachelor's degrees, or are pursing the education. Ms. Duncan said they are "true professionals."

"The child-development center is not just a daycare," Ms. Duncan said. "The children don't just go there to play, they're actually learning. From the time they're entering the program at 6 weeks, they're learning something. When they go into kindergarten, they're fully prepared to make that transition."