Progress continues to be made on the renovations to the new daycare center being established through a partnership with St. Anthony Regional Hospital (SARH). Earlier this year, SARH was awarded $1.5 million through the Iowa Workforce Development (IWD) Child Care Business Incentive (CCBI) grant to assist in expanding childcare access within the community. SARH has partnered with Bright Horizons, who will staff and run the daily operations of the center, which is located at the St. Anthony Administrative Building (formerly American Home Shields). Bright Horizons will have 104 openings for infants six weeks old up to ten years old. Enrollment opened for St. Anthony staff on Monday, Feb. 23, and within the first 24 hours, 17 families secured spots for the kids, mainly infants enrolled at this time. The center offers several rooms to separate the kids through age groups and is heavily insulated to create noise barriers for the St. Anthony administrative staff working on the other side of the building. Each section will have direct access outside to outside play equipment and a special room named “Movement Matters Zone” that will act as an indoor play area when whether is not cooperating for outside activities. A specific opening date is yet to be scheduled, but the center will need to open the doors by the end of June to meet the requirements of the CCBI grant, but contractors say construction is right on track to meeting that deadline.
