New project offers overnight, weekend childcare for Cape Breton health-care workers

A new pilot project will provide evening, weekend, and overnight childcare options for health-care workers at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital.

The Nova Scotia government announced the project on Friday, noting it will launch at Health Park Early Learning Centre in Sydney this fall as soon as staff, procedures, and policies are in place. The project will be evaluated after six months.

“We know that finding childcare outside of regular operating hours is a challenge for many health care workers," said Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development, Becky Druhan, in a press release. "By offering extended hours and overnight care at a facility that they already know and trust, we are giving families one less thing to think about when they're providing critical care to Nova Scotians."

According to the government, the Learning Centre will be able to offer 12 spaces for overnight care and run at full capacity with 66 spaces on weekends and during extended weekday hours through the project.

The centre is working to identify participants while paying particular attention to children ages four years and younger.

"My husband is a family doctor who leaves the house by 5:30 every morning and often works through to the evening,” said Karla Bray, a parent in Cape Breton. “Our home life is very much designed around his job and had we not found childcare that meets our needs, I would not have been able to work, contribute to our economy and I would only be a fraction of who I was meant to be."

The Nova Scotia government says it has invested $277 million in early learning and childcare for 2023.

"We need to think outside the box when it comes to meeting the needs of our growing population,” said Helen Gamble, owner of Health Park Early Learning Centre. “We have an opportunity to show we're forward-thinking on the island and are doing what we can to attract healthcare professionals. Not all families fit into the cookie cutter nine-to-five schedule, and I have been wanting to do this for a while now.” 

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