Mother to 2-year-old Addie Brooks, Cara and her husband, Jason Brooks, who moved to Albany from Pensacola, Fla., wanted a facility “where my child could be satisfied and was close to (work),” the mother said.
“We came by and toured the place when I interviewed,” said Cara Brooks, a member of the Southwest Georgia Family Medicine Residence at Phoebe, “and had heard from other doctors how pleased they are here.”
But when the Brookses got ready to enroll Addie at the center, they learned of a waiting list that today tops 200. Addie was on the waiting list for a year and a half, Brooks said.
That demand for enrollment has spurred expansion plans that await certificate of need approval from the state department of community health. The hospital filed its CON application on Feb. 29, it was deemed complete by the state on April 30, and, according to a letter from DCH, the decision deadline is June 14.
The expansion would increase capacity at Family Tree from 136 by another 90-100 children, said Dave Baranski, vice president of human resources at Phoebe. Construction would begin immediately following approval.
“The demand is there. It’s probably one of the best benefits to attract and retain those individuals in health care,” Baranski said. “It’s location; it’s right by our campus. It makes it easy for our employees to drop their kids off, visit at lunch. If you are a nursing mother you can go there and nurse a child.”
Enrollment at Family Tree isn’t free; its rates, Baranski said, are “competitive with others in the area.”
“I never knew that day cares were such a commodity,” Brooks said lightly, noting that she scoped out other options in town.
But Baranski points out that Family Tree isn’t a daycare.
“It’s structured,” he said. “(In) everything that they (the children) do there is some learning associated.”
A daycare, he said, “is more of a baby sitting service with some recreation.”
The teachers at the facility are college educated in early childhood development, Baranski said, and Family Tree is accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).
According to the association’s Web site, there are seven NAEYC-accredited centers within 50 miles of the Good Life City.
In Albany, there are centers at Phoebe, Marine Corps Logistics Base-Albany, Albany Technical College, and Procter & Gamble’s Paper Products Co. Also, there is an accredited center in Colquitt and two in Tifton.
At Family Tree, Brooks said Addie learned sign language before she could communicate vocally. She added that while there’s plenty of instruction, her child doesn’t “stay in (a) room all day.”
“She comes home dirty,” said Brooks approvingly. “The dirtier the better.”
Family Tree also offers prekindergarten, for which Baranski said there are 38 slots on a “first come, first served basis.”
While enrollment to the child development program is limited to Phoebe employees, the pre-K program is open to anyone, he said.