Glendale Adventist to close child-care center
Glendale Adventist Medical Center will close its children community center in Montrose next month, citing ongoing revenue losses it can no longer afford to endure.
Officials said the center will close on Aug. 29 for the same reason it nearly shut down in 2012 — losing roughly $200,000 annually since 2000.
That’s also when the hospital began to focus on providing key healthcare services in response to federal healthcare reforms that paved the way for millions of uninsured people to gain access to primary care.
“There is a definite pressure to respond to healthcare reform in a timely way,” said Paul Ramey, the center’s director. “Now we’re really forced to consolidate our finances in a way to best serve the community in providing healthcare.”
Back in 2012, parents using the facility asked hospital officials to maintain it, and pledged they would help boost its attendance, said hospital spokeswoman Alicia Gonzalez.
“We gave it a try. We did it for two years and we’re in the same position, and we continue to lose money. We just are no longer able to subsidize it,” Gonzalez said.
The center on Waltonia Drive currently provides care to 54 children who are 6 years old or younger.
Of the center’s 13 employees, Gonzalez said eight are seeking positions within the Adventist health system.
Forty-three families send their children to the center, and the majority of them will transfer to the hospital’s child-care center on its Glendale campus, or their children will attend kindergarten soon.
A handful of other families have been directed to other day-care resources, she said.
La Crescenta resident Jeff Davis said he is looking for a new child-care center in the area where he can send his 3-year-old son rather than commute to Glendale.
“We like the people so much. It’s sad to see such a great group of people split up,” he said. “When we put him in that program, he really opened up. He’s bonded with his teachers.”
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