Hospital says it’s helping its employees find “new arrangements” for their children.
As of noon on Thursday, 738 people have signed their names to a Change.org petition asking Mary Washington Healthcare to let KinderCare daycare and preschool (also known as Kid Station) stay in its current building on the healthcare system’s campus.
Families and staff learned from KinderCare’s regional director on Tuesday that the center will close on May 24, due to the fact that MWHC has plans to repurpose the building, according to the announcement.
“As both parents of children attending Kid Station and associates at Mary Washington Healthcare (MWHC), we feel compelled to express our deep concern and disappointment regarding the decision to close down Kid Station Powered by KinderCare,” the person who started the petition wrote. “The announcement of MWHC’s decision to evict Kid’s Station from its current location on Sam Perry Blvd. by the end of May has left us feeling disheartened and embarrassed as associates.”
The parent wrote that it is “disheartening” to see MWHC’s growth come “at the expense of the very families that MWHC claims to value.”
“The rapid expansion of MWHC without a corresponding increase in childcare facilities puts undue strain on working parents and undermines the organization’s commitment to supporting its employees,” the parent wrote, adding that access to on-site childcare was a major factor in the decision of many employees to join MWHC.
One of the petition signers said she cannot imagine uprooting her child or placing him with “anyone who cares more for him than his current teachers.”
Another said the center and its staff are “family” and that the teachers “love what they do and demonstrate it every single day.”
Yet another said the onsite childcare is essential for healthcare system employees, who are “overworked and already taxed.”
“My coworkers rely on childcare. Hearing the news about Kid Station closing down was definitely shocking. This decision impacts our team and many other associates with young children. Please reconsider!” wrote one signer, while another wrote, “Kids and parents matter and we should make every effort to enable healthcare workers to do their jobs without further complications.”
In a letter to the Mary Washington Healthcare CEO Michael McDermott and the Board of Directors, Debby Girvan, a local business owner, wrote that “the unexpected email announcement blindsided many MWH parents, especially nurses and doctors on whom the hospital and the community rely for adequate care and hospital operations.”
Girvan said that over the past year, there have been as many as 50 families on the wait list to attend KinderCare.
“Based on current conditions, there is nothing to indicate this daycare center is underutilized. KinderCare and other daycare facilities in the region are at capacity and have waiting lists,” she wrote.
In her letter, Girvan urged MWHC to take seriously its “leadership role and responsibility to take care of the people we all need for continued quality healthcare in our region” by providing a facility in which the daycare center can operate.
“By ensuring its nurses and other essential workers affordable, quality daycare, MWH could resolve its nursing and primary care provider shortage; eliminate the high cost of employee turnover and travel nurses; create a sustainable pipeline of trained, loyal personnel for smoother operations, higher morale and better care; and be a role model for other employers,” Girvan wrote.
In an email to the Advance, Girvan said MWHC “may need to reinvest some of their own revenue to help retain their essential workforce.”
“As a business leader, I feel a responsibility to work with other community leaders to help find solutions to our region’s daycare crisis. The lack of affordable, quality daycare limits every business’s ability to hire and retain employees and severely impacts the region’s economy,” she said.
“The sudden closing of this particular daycare center directly impacts our region’s health care system since it serves so many nurses and other health care providers’ children. Some are being forced to quit jobs they love and are facing economic hardship because they can’t afford to live on one income. This has an immediate and long-term impact on the ability to attract and retain health care providers as the population continues to grow.”
Emily Thurston, a spokesperson for MWHC, said in an email to the Advance that “it’s important to us that our associates are supported as they seek out new arrangements for their children.”
“We have about 50 associates who use Kids’ Station, and our benefits team is actively working to provide alternatives as they search for new childcare services. We have worked closely with Kids’ Station over the last year to help transition them to a new location so we can redevelop that building for medical use to meet the rapidly growing health needs of our community. We look forward to sharing those plans with you soon.”
