Coos Bay, December 31, 2019: Bay Area Hospital is opening a new childcare center, Bright Beginnings Learning Center, to serve hospital employees starting Monday, January 6, 2020. A ribbon cutting ceremony and open house will be held on Friday, January 3, 2020 at 5:30 p.m. at the new childcare center located at 250 Hull Street, Coos Bay, for Bay Area Hospital employees, and invited community leaders and government officials.  

 
The idea of a childcare center has swirled around Bay Area Hospital since the 1980’s, but the idea has finally come to fruition thanks to a grant the hospital received from the Ford Family Foundation. On opening day, Bright Beginnings will provide care for 56 infants, toddlers, and preschoolers of employees; at capacity Bright Beginnings can accommodate more than 100 children, which will enable the Center to provide additional childcare slots in the future.  
 
The Ford Family Foundation has determined that the need for childcare in Coos County is at a “crisis level”. Too few childcare centers exist in our community to meet the need, and those childcare slots that do exist are full, such as Southwestern Oregon Community College’s (SWOCC) family care program that has an extensive waiting list. Being able to provide childcare to our workforce is vital to the financial and physical health of Coos County, and will help the hospital effectively recruit for, and retain those looking for work in hard-to-fill positions by providing the necessary support and incentive for working families.  
 
Early Childhood Education is vitally important for the youngest of children as a child’s brain develops rapidly in the first five years of life. Bright Beginnings will provide a high quality learning environment using the following curriculum and programs: 
 
 • Zoophonics, a kinesthetic, multi-modal approach to learning aspects of language arts based on phonics and phonemic awareness 
• Diologic Reading allows children to become participants in the story telling 
• Second Step, a social-emotional learning program 
• Spanish Immersion Program taught by two native Spanish speakers 
• I am Moving, I am Learning, a direct education intervention designed to increase daily moderate to vigorous physical activity 
• Yoga 
• Cooking Experiences 
 
The Center is working toward becoming Spark certified, which would make it part of a statewide program from Oregon’s Early Learning Division to help parents and families access quality childcare. Organizations that can offer childcare to its employees can provide them with the assurance and confidence that their children are being cared for safely. This childcare can help with employee recruitment and retention, it can improve morale and productivity which leads to less turnover and absenteeism, and it can provide children who participate with a lasting effect on IQ, boosted academic and economic achievement, and lower incidences of childhood obesity and chronic illness.  
 
Bay Area Hospital is working hard to bring the most qualified and skilled candidates to work for us, and the hospital looks forward to welcoming in a new wave of applicants to our candidate pool knowing that we can support their childcare needs going forward.  
 
If you have questions or need additional information, contact Clay England, Chief Human Resources Officer at Bay Area Hospital  at (541) 269- 8409.