Meanwhile, good day care can be expensive and hard to find. But when Middletown Hospital launched its on-site day care center over the summer, it joined a list of employers that includes less than one third of the Tristate's hospitals and less than 10 percent of large employers in general. We're Middletown's second-largest employer. Some also arrange discount deals with local day care providers. But very few offer on-site day care.
Most hospitals are large employers, and many rank among the biggest in their communities.
And hospitals have even more reason than many large employers to offer on-site day care. First, vast numbers of hospital employees are women, who as a group have high interest in day care services. It offers separate rooms for different age groups equipped with age-appropriate toys and furnishings. Toilets, drinking fountains and anything else kids use is child-sized. Many commercial day care centers require parents to pay for an entire week no matter how many days are used.