Childcare is a constant juggling act for working parents. If you’re fortunate enough to find childcare that fits your schedule, there’s still the challenge of cost. For many parents, it’s a decision between paying for childcare and paying for other necessities. For healthcare workers in particular, this balancing act is often even more difficult.
For many healthcare workers childcare costs are eating up their paychecks and scheduling restrictions could mean they are faced with the difficult choice of staying home with their child or missing work, which might mean not providing life-saving care to someone who needs it. This oftentimes daily reality is where burnout begins, followed by turnover, and ultimately workforce shortage and lack of access to care. This problem should demand our attention, especially in Idaho where we’re already facing drastic shortages of healthcare workers.
Kaniksu Community Health provides patient-centered care in rural communities in North Idaho. Sometimes it’s the only provider available for miles. However, like many in Idaho, it was facing a critical shortage of healthcare workers. Our leadership team conducted an employee survey and learned that childcare was one of the biggest barriers to attracting and keeping quality staff members. So, they decided to do something about it.
I was brought in to open and operate Kaniksu Kids Club, an on-site childcare center that we knew could make a difference for our healthcare workers and the entire community. We made sure that our childcare facility was more than just a place to keep children safe, but a place where children could thrive, learn, grow, and receive high quality early childhood education while their parents worked hard to care for others. This is all offered at an extremely low price compared to local market rates for childcare.
A grant from the Idaho Workforce Development Council helped us get started nearly three years ago when we opened our doors to 20 children. We began providing a safe, nurturing, and educational environment for the children of our organization’s employees. Today, we serve 50 children, with priority given to our healthcare workers.
Thankfully, our CEO is focused on providing this benefit, not profits, which completely changes the game. We’ve been able to provide affordable care, hire people who have a passion for children, and operate at a break-even level. The addition of onsite childcare to our bundle of employee benefits has become a valuable recruitment tool and has increased staff retention and satisfaction so much that our turnover rates have decreased from 38 percent to just 19 percent.
Childcare is just one reason healthcare workers are leaving the field. While we found a solution at Kaniksu, our healthcare system is facing a crisis statewide. It’s going to take leaders in childcare, education, housing, healthcare, government and lawmakers coming together to tackle the shortcomings in our current system.
Creative solutions for just one of those challenges — like childcare — could help solve multiple problems at once. The health and wellbeing of Idaho’s children, families, and workers depend on it. Ultimately, the health of all Idahoans does too. Let’s come together to find these solutions, not just for today, but for the future of our communities.
