OUR GOAL

TO BE THE CLEANEST INDOOR PLAY SPACE IN NORTHEAST OHIO

The health and safety of our guests at Cafe O’Play are of paramount importance.  Your business is important to us and we care about your kids.  John & Carolyn Green, our owners, have four young kids themselves (all of whom work at the Cafe!) and many of our staff are studying Early Childhood Education or other related fields with the hopes of eventually being teachers, school counselors, and special ed instructors. 

WE LOVE KIDS! 

We know this has been a concerning year for sickness. We want to assure you that we at Cafe O’Play are taking every precaution possible to keep our customers safe and healthy.

Here is what we do to keep our facility as clean, safe, and healthy as possible.

THINGS YOU MAY NOT NOTICE

HVAC Upgrades.  We recently spent over $5500 to improve our air handling and quality.  We’ve upgraded our filters in the air conditioning/ heating system to the highest ones our units can handle.  We have also scrubbed and vacuumed out the interior of all our heating and air ducts.  Lastly, we have installed the iWave Air Purification system in all three of our rooftop HVAC units.  

iWave is an air purifying device that installs in any duct air conditioning system.  When air passes over the iWave, ions produced by the device reduce pathogens, allergens, particles, smoke and odors in the air, creating a healthy environment without producing any harmful byproducts.

iWave uses patented technology, called needle-point bi-polar ionization, to create equal amounts of positive and negative ions.  When these ions are injected into the air stream, they break down passing pollutants and gases into harmless compounds like oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitrogen and water vapor.

2MICROSHIELD 360. Beyond these measures, we have taken further action by having our whole facility treated with MICROSHIELD 360.  We were the first indoor play space in Northeast Ohio to begin using Micoshield 360 and we are glad that several other facilities are now taking this extra step as well.  This treatment is typically performed annually.  We treated our facility most recently in October 2022.

MICROSHIELD 360 is a state-of-the-art, unique, preventative, antimicrobial coating that is constantly self-disinfecting our facility and working 24/7 to reduce your exposure to the common cold, flu virus, strep, norovirus and over 90 other known pathogens.  This product is EPA registered, colorless, odorless, environmentally friendly, hypoallergenic, and safe for human contact.  It has been proven to kill 99.99% of all harmful pathogens (COVID-19, MRSA, Norovirus, Flu, Common Cold and 90+ others).  For more information on this product visit their website at microshield360.com .  Below you will also find links to several PDF’s of information and recommendations for MICROSHIELD 360. 

Recommendation from the owner of the Tremont Athletic Club

The extensive list of bacteria, viruses, spores and parasites killed by Microshield 360

Recommendation by Notre Dame Wrestling

CHILDPROOF OUTLETS.  Quite often we get concerned questions from parents about outlets in our cafe and play area.  Please be assured that any outlets children can reach are child proof.  Rather than using the typical plastic plug in a regular outlet, we choose to use internally protected childproof outlets.  These put a small plastic cover across the contacts internally.  This cover moves when a plug is inserted with enough force that only an adult can apply.  Plastic plugs are often lost, misplaced, or forgotten to be removed and sometimes kids see it as a game to remove them, so we went with the internal kind.

EVERYDAY CLEANING and SAFETY CHECK.  On a daily basis, after we have closed our doors to the public for the day, our staff clean and sanitize every surface in the play area including all seating, toys, and our large play structure. We then vacuum all carpets and mop all the floors.  Before we open to the public the following day we do a visual safety check of the play structure.

WEEKLY DEEP CLEAN.  While we are closed on Mondays and Tuesday we take this opportunity to do a deep clean throughout the facility.  

MONTHLY SCHEDULED PROFESSIONAL CLEANING.  A large play area like ours, generates a huge amount of dust.  This dust is easy for our staff to vacuum and sweep up on the ground but it also accumulates on the top of the ceiling joists and air ducts.  If these areas are not cleaned regularly, mold and other pathogens can accumulate there.  So, monthly we hire a professional cleaning service to not only clean the structure and vacuum the floors but they go high up into the ceiling joists and on top of the air conditioning conduit to clear it of dust and debris. 

Also, several times a year a professional cleaning service deep cleans all the carpets throughout the facility.

THINGS YOU WILL NOTICE

 WELLNESS CHECKS. When you check-in at the cafe counter, staff are visually observing both adults and children.  If signs of illness are present staff may request that you or your child’s temperature be taken.  If you or your child are ill, please stay home and come visit us another time.

REQUIRED HANDWASHING. After check-in, all guests are asked to step over to our new handwashing station and wash their hands before entering the play area. This handwashing station is comprised of two CleanTech Elf Automatic Hand Washing stations that are guaranteed to remove 99.9% of all harmful germs and pathogens, without contact of handles or pumps.  These units run for 12 seconds.  There is also a standard automatic sink in the middle. 

STEP N’ PULLS.  On most of our doors we’ve now installed “Step N’Pull” openers.  This allows a customers to open a door with their foot, rather than handling those high touch surfaces like openings and handles.

SANITATION STATIONS.  We’ve installed self serve sanitation wipes for our customers convenience throughout the facility.  You’ll see our staff actively cleaning throughout the day, but we have put these sanitation stations around in case our customers might need them for something we can’t immediately help with.  This might include wiping down a table top, sanitizing a baby bottle that may have fallen on the ground, wiping down our new Talk Box for your use, wiping down the massage chair, or however you would like to use them.

As we said, our goal is to be the cleanest play area in Northeast Ohio.  We will continue to assess ways to achieve this goal for the benefit of our staff, our adult customers, and especially those kids who we love.