Generations join for Great Expectations
The elderly and young children alike will benefit as a day-care center opens in a nursing home.
THE VINDICATOR, YOUNGSTOWN
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
AUSTINTOWN -- This will be one day-care center that won't be making field trips to sing at nursing homes. Instead, residents of AustinWoods Health Care Center will read stories and play with the children at Great Expectations Learning Center every day.
The two organizations are teaming up to open a day-care center and preschool inside the Kirk Road nursing home.
The children will brighten the day for residents, even if they are just watching the children on the playground from their rooms, said Sally Demidovich, nursing home administrator.
"One of the best things for residents is young children and animals. You can just see their faces light up when children are here," she said.
Residents will come to the center daily to read stories, but they also will make up the audience for special events such as Christmas plays.
Kathy Prasad, AustinWoods owner, said she has researched Canadian nursing homes that have opened day-care centers and learned the children also benefit.
"Children are exposed to the elderly so they don't shy away when they meet them. They are exposed to walkers and wheelchairs," she said.
Nursing home staff also will benefit because their children will be nearby, allowing for them to spend breaks with their children.
How it came about
Prasad said she started thinking of the idea after two nursing home officials became pregnant and were looking for day care.
The center will be open to the public, and two nonemployees have registered their children, said Bonnie Beraduce, Great Expectations co-owner. She said these parents like the center because of the exposure to older adults, and it is near their homes.
Beraduce said she immediately liked the idea of connecting the young and old when nursing home officials called her with the idea a year ago.
They have worked this past year to make it a reality. The center opens Monday.
The nursing home is leasing 2,300 square feet of space to Great Expectations, including a large activity room. The center will be open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and will take children starting at 6 weeks old. It will have after-school programs for children up to 12. AustinWoods staff will receive a discounted rate for child care. Great Expectations opened in 1987 with a center on Wick Avenue in Youngstown and has since opened others on Midlothian Boulevard in Youngstown and in Canfield and Niles.
shilling@vindy.com