MEMORIAL: Day care to remain open

By Mark Scheer/scheerm@gnnewspaper.com
Niagara Gazette

February 23, 2008 12:31 am

— Private donations from parents and staff, service fee increases and cost reductions will allow Memorial to remain in the day care business.
Hospital officials issued a press release Friday evening announcing plans to continue operations at Memorial Child Care Center, a 10th Street day care facility that was slated for closure March 28 as part of a systemwide restructuring plan.
Citing six-figure annual operating losses, Memorial officials announced in January plans to close the facility. In a memo to hospital employees dated Feb. 1, hospital management said the center lost nearly $185,000 in 2007.
The facility, which employs 14 people, originally opened in 1988 as a service for Medical Center employees with young children. Over the years, child care services were expanded to include non-hospital employees as well. Today, less than half the children registered there are from employee families.
The hospital’s CEO Joseph Ruffolo offered to pay $25,000 out of his own pocket to support continued operations at the day care center, provided parents and staff were able to identify cost savings and revenue increases to match that amount.
According to hospital officials, parents and staff managed to donate enough money and come up with enough cuts in expenses and increases in revenue to more than match the amount offered by Ruffolo.
“Following that announcement, parents who utilize the center told us very clearly how much they value this service and offered to work with us to identify ways to cut its operating losses,” the hospital’s Vice President for Human Resources Benjamin Baia said in a statement released Friday.