Mother says Port Coquitlam gym waited to tell her toddler was injured

Toddler's face scratched at Port Coquitlam gym A gym in Port Coquitlam is investigation after a toddler had her face scratched at the facility’s child-minding area.

A Port Coquitlam, B.C. gym has launched an internal investigation after a mother said staff didn't contact her right away when her toddler was injured in the facility's child-minding area.

Renee Corneau said she went to pick up her 22-month-old daughter, Kaileia, after finishing a workout at Gold's Gym near Lougheed Highway, only to find the child with several scratches on her face.

"When I came back, I found her and she had gotten into an 'incident'—that's what the ladies told me," Corneau said. "She had blood coming from her scratches there and she was sitting eating a cookie."

Corneau said she was "shocked" and "speechless" that staff hadn't told her about the incident as soon as it happened.

"I was only gone for an hour and ten minutes and they didn't contact me to tell me that my child had been injured," she said. "I was really upset that I didn't get contacted because I was literally right upstairs."

When Corneau asked the workers for rubbing alcohol or Polysporin to clean the wounds, they said they had none.

Child care advocate Sharon Gregson said she isn't surprised this kind of incident took place at an unlicensed child care facility.

"They're not licensed facilities," said Gregson, a spokesperson for the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC. "They don't have the level of accountability and scrutiny that licensed child care providers have."

Gregson recommends parents request information about everything from first aid training to the ratio of staff to children and communication protocols before leaving their child at any facility.

"What's their policy on guidance of young children and if something happens, will they let you know?" she said. "If your child is going to be in distress, you want to know right away."

Gold's Gym told CTV News that staff didn't inform Corneau right away because her daughter didn't seem to be in distress, and that child-minding staff do have first aid training.

The gym is investigating the incident.

In the meantime, Corneau said she isn't sure if she'll be working out there again.

"It's a really nice gym. I like the gym, but I don't like what happened,” she said.

With files from CTV Vancouver's Maria Weisgarber