Countywide : County Will Share Ill Children’s Center

A day-care center for mildly ill children of county employees was on the verge of closing because of low usage, but county officials decided instead Tuesday to open it to other employers.

Since Sept. 1, only four children have stayed at Hickory Dickory Doc, a bungalow on the grounds of Ventura County Medical Center. Supervisor Madge L. Schaefer had suggested converting it into a traditional day-care center for well infants of county employees.

But other supervisors weren’t willing to give up so quickly on the center, only the second such government-run facility to open in the state. The Board of Supervisors approved a contract Tuesday allowing Lost Arrow--the parent company of Patagonia, Great Pacific Ironworks and Great Pacific Child Development--to use the center, which is licensed for six ill children.

And Hickory Dickory Doc will probably be open to other private and public employers as well. Ellen Coleman, project coordinator for the Alliance for Child Care Solutions, told the supervisors that 19 employers in the Ventura area want to buy into the center.

The supervisors asked for a staff report on how much money the county could expect from outside employers to underwrite the cost of operating the center.

The supervisors also approved another contract with Lost Arrow allowing the county to participate in the company’s network of in-home child care for employees. For $10,000, the county would gain 30 child-care spots in the homes of licensed child-care operators.