Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 21, 1995 TAG: 9507210014
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Martha Hughes, a parent, wants to make certain it finds one, even if it means parents have to take over, she says.
"I wish we could do something," said Hughes, whose 9-year-old daughter, Rena, and 6-year-old son, Richard, are "graduates" of the center.
Her youngest, 21/2-year-old Samuel, goes to the Second Street Southwest site while Hughes works in the J. Weiner & Co. family business five minutes away.
The Downtown Learning Center, which has 86 young clients and another 141 children on a waiting list, is one of the few Roanoke Valley child-care centers that cares for infants.
But Community Hospital says it is subsidizing the center to the tune of about $30,000 a year and can't continue to do that when it needs to be cutting health-care costs to its customers.
Carilion Health System Inc., which owns Community, has pledged to get out of any business that isn't directly associated with providing health care. Several months ago, it put its College of Health Sciences on notice to find a new owner. In both cases, though, the hospital system has started the search for a new owner long before cost-cutting changes are necessary.
Downtown Learning is budgeted through Sept. 30, 1996.
If a new owner is not found by then, the center will remain open but will have to cut its losses, said Elizabeth Aderholdt, the Community Hospital vice president who oversees the facility.
"After '96, we'd have to look at changing standards or staffing ratios," she said.
An owner who is in the business of child care can make the center operate more economically than the hospital can, Aderholdt said.
Most of the $30,000 subsidy is related to the cost of benefits that the center's 22 staff members get as Carilion employees. While the salaries of the center's workers are in line with those at other child-care facilities in the area, the benefits package is "richer," said Denise Legg, center director.
The center's fees also are comparable in the market, she said, and will remain so when they increase Sept. 4. Fee changes include a $9 per week increase for infants, to $125.
As part of the search for an owner and manager, information about the center and a request for proposals were sent July 10 to other child-care operators listed in the area.
The deadline for submitting proposals is Aug. 18. A decision is expected to be announced by early September.
In its literature, Community Hospital said prospective owners need to meet five criteria: demonstrate ability to maintain accreditation standards of the National Academy of Early Childhood Programs, maintain spaces for at least 88 children, continue provisions for infant and toddler care, provide current employees the opportunity to apply for positions, and maintain employees' years of service if they are hired.
The center can stay where it is, Legg said. Its lease with nearby Greene Memorial United Methodist Church is monthly, but the church "is favorable" toward keeping the rent the same to the new owner, she said.
While Downtown Learning's future is being decided, Legg said she wants the center to operate as usual. She begins a maternity leave this week and has set up a five-member parent committee that will help her answer other parents' questions and "dispel rumors" that the center might close. Hughes is on the committee.
The parent group also will review proposals from prospective owners.
The center was born a decade ago, when the downtown business community surveyed workers and learned there was a need for a place that would care for infants while parents worked. Community Hospital stepped in to help, because it already had experience running a child-care facility for its employees, Legg said.
The employee day-care center is not in jeopardy.
Other businesses originally were going to support the Downtown Learning Center financially, but none came forward when it was time to open, she said.
"We were fortunate that Community Hospital took the initiative," Legg said. Only eight of the children now cared for at Downtown Learning belong to Carilion employees, she said.
And if no new owner comes forward by next year, "we still won't have to close the doors," Legg said. "But we may have to do some downsizing."
by CNB