South Peninsula Hospital received a $1.3 million grant for a project to provide subsidized child care for hospital employees. The project comes after surveys showed more than 70 employees are struggling with child care.
The grant’s funding comes from the American Rescue Plan Act and Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act. Thread, an organization for child care resources and referral, distributed the grant to the hospital.
South Peninsula Hospital director of public relations and marketing Derotha Ferraro said the facility will address current child care needs and serve as a recruitment tool for future employees as an added benefit.
She said they plan on renovating the current functional medicine center to be the new child care center, and will eventually have 40 openings for infants to children up to 12 years old.
“You can expect to see the creation of outdoor playgrounds, fencing for children safety, maybe different pull throughs and drive-thrus for children drop off,” she said, “lots of interior renovation to be little people friendly.”
The services will move to other buildings in the hospital system.
In addition to creating the facility, Ferraro said the grant also has the potential to train people to become licensed child care providers for the center.
“We built that in knowing that there was a shortage because our local work group had shared that with us, that there's just a shortage of certified and trained childcare providers in general,” she said.
Ferraro said the child care center will alleviate strains on existing resources while creating new positions for employees looking for resources.
The hospital’s goal is to open at half capacity this coming summer, and to operate at full capacity by the next school year.
