In a survey done by the VA, 33% of veterans using VA health care services expressed a need for childcare during their visit. Additionally 10% of the respondents reported having to cancel or reschedule an appointment because they were unable to find adequate childcare for the duration of their VA visit. Unless you reside in a very low population area, cancelling an appointment usually means up to several months wait for another open appointment slot.
The VA is beginning to offer childcare to veterans for the duration of their visit at the VA facility. It gets even better. That childcare is free, and operated at the VA facility by licensed childcare providers.
So far, only three sites have been opened. The goal is to assess the successes of these three facilities before replicating the design across the country. The three available childcare facilities are at:
Northport, New York. Has a room for 30 children at a time, is open from 730am to 4pm, and accepts children from 6 weeks to 12 years old.
Buffalo, New York. Has room for 6 to 10 children at a time, is open from 6am to 6pm, and accepts children from 6 weeks to 12 years old.
Tacoma, Washington. Capacity varies, is open from 7am to 6pm, and accepts children from 6 weeks to 10 years old.
Original VA Press Release Here.
Photo thanks to Martin Ujlaki under creative commons license on Flickr.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
About time, lets move this forward to include Arkansas’ VA centers in Little Rock and North Little Rock.
This is a great help. I agree with Mike let’s move this to Houston VA.
It’s a great idea, but I think the age should be raised to include all children of Elementary school age. I just don’t visualize being able to drop off a 10 year-old while having a 6th grader at age 12 left home alone.
Lets hope that they can get this right.