At Get Well Centers, which opened in 1999, children are sorted by age and illness into six rooms. Contagious children are isolated from others in a separate room, which includes its own air ventilation system and door to the street to avoid interaction with other children. A registered nurse is always on site. Toys are cleaned after children play with them, and books are quarantined for 48 hours afterward. Parents receive two checkup calls daily and immediate notification if a child's condition worsens.
Cameras also allow parents to monitor their children on the Internet.
Depending on how they feel, children can participate in various activities, such as field trips to the state Capitol a few blocks away. Because the downtown location offers no space to play outdoors, the biggest room is outfitted with a basketball hoop and child-sized play cars. Other rooms are furnished with bean-bag chairs, cribs and stacks of cots. Toys and books stock the shelves. Art supplies cram a hallway closet.