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By Michele Smith
The Times 

On-campus location for childcare center moves forward

Rivers Walk Assisted Living on track for Labor Day grand opening

 


DAYTON—The Hospital Board of Commissioners has given the nod to hospital administrators to have Hallway II at the Booker Rest Home evaluated for turning it into a childcare and early learning facility, as proposed by CCHS CEO Shane McGuire at last week’s board meeting. Hallway II at the rest home is the wing closest to the Touchet River and Rock Hill. It will be empty later this year when many nursing home residents go to live in the new assisted living facility.

McGuire said he was walking around the hospital campus shortly after the Childcare Community Forum on May 23 and thinking about how to repurpose that hallway when he was struck with the idea of utilizing it for the childcare center.

He and the owners of Blue Room Architecture and Design, Alison and John McLean, pitched the idea to the board of commissioners at their meeting last week, saying the concept makes sense.


The McLeans presented the board with a preliminary design drawing for the center, which they said could have between 38 and 50 openings for children. John McLean said the plan fills almost every requirement.

“We’ve got the sprinklers. We’ve got the fire alarms. It is properly built. Almost every box is checked.”

The design shows the childcare center walled off from Hallway I, keeping childcare and health care separate.

McGuire agreed with their assessment, “Every room has a sink. Every room has a toilet. It literally has the infrastructure we need to support some of those expensive line items you need in a building. And you walk out the back door, and you have a secured playground with green space.”


McLean said it is good practice to plow money back into publicly owned, tax-supported buildings and create another value-added service for the public.

This is the 4th or 5th preliminary design Blue Room Architecture and Design has come up with for the childcare center since exploring locations for the site began back in 2021. Several locations have been ruled out mainly due to the high price of retrofitting existing buildings and high construction costs. For instance, a new 3900 sq. ft. center could cost as much as 1.7 million or more, up from the previous estimate of $1.6 million earlier this year.

CCHS Finance Manager Matt Minor told the commissioners the district would need to practice due diligence, keeping in mind the financial viability and sustainability of the facility over the long term.


The district has already secured $658,500 from private and federal sources for the childcare center. This includes $100,000 from the Sherwood Trust. The funding agencies are okay with this new proposal, according to McGuire.

Commissioner Bob Hutchens went on record pointing out that repurposing Hallway II is written into the district’s 2022-2027 Strategic Plan. Supporting Early Childhood Education is also in the Strategic Plan.

“It is a creative way to get to workforce development,” McGuire said.

If built, and as owners of the childcare facility, CCHS would lease the facility to whoever is chosen to operate it.

The facility is not just for use by CCHS employees. It will be for all the community to use, and enrollment will be on a first-come, first-serve basis. McGuire said there is enough need for childcare in Dayton to support other family-run or private daycares, too.


The first step will be to complete a detailed design with firm quotes for construction. The next step is to get an operator on board through advertising for Requests for Qualifications (RFQs). McGuire said the criteria for the RFQs will be spelled out. There will be an internal and external board to review and score candidates, and the process will be done openly and transparently.

The board voted unanimously to allow further evaluation of Hallway II at the Booker Rest Home for a childcare center.

Rivers Walk Assisted Living

Four cottages are currently under construction for the new assisted living facility adjacent to Dayton General Hospital, to the north.


Cottage A “Touchet” should be finished by the end of July.

“Touchet” along with Cottage B “Patit,” C “Palouse,” and D “Tucannon” should be finished in time for a Labor Day grand opening.

Principal Architect John McLean has no concerns about the construction schedule.

At their meeting last week, the board of commissioners approved a motion to allow the purchase of furniture from Direct Supply for the cottages in the amount of $275,412.65.

Acute hallway project

The Acute Care Hallway project has been tabled, for now, due to the high cost of construction. McGuire told the commissioners the funding agencies are not asking to be reimbursed for the money they have provided for the project and have extended the timeline for construction into 2023.


When completed, the project will create two additional negative air rooms for isolating and treating patients with infectious diseases. The hospital already has two negative air rooms.

 

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