These Fort Worth health care workers have access to child care at their workplace. How?
Some health care workers and physicians in Fort Worth have access to something that is offered to only a handful of parents in the Texas workforce: on-site child care.
Cook Children’s Health Care System, Texas Health Resources and Baylor Scott & White Health have partnered with child care provider Bright Horizons since the early-to-mid 2000s to offer employees the option of child care in the same place that they work. Cook Children’s and Texas Health Resources share one of these centers, known as Kids’ Place, while Baylor Scott & White has its own — Baylor All Saints Child Care and Preschool. Both are located in Fort Worth’s Medical District, altogether serving about 400 children daily while their parents check vital signs, prescribe medications and tend to patients close by.
Dr. Anne Kirk, a pediatric hospitalist and medical director for quality and safety provider education for Cook Children’s, can work shifts ranging from six hours to 14 hours depending on the day, she said. She aims to drop off her 11-month-old son at Kids’ Place at the same time each day between 7-8 a.m., but pick-up times can vary depending on her and her husband’s schedules, she said. The center’s hours — 6 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. — give flexibility to health care workers like Kirk who don’t necessarily work traditional 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. shifts. Other centers in the area typically close by 6 p.m.
Its proximity, hours and focus on health care workers were among the factors that made the center the first choice for Kirk’s family, she said. They put their son on seven different wait lists before securing a spot at Kids’ Place.
“I think because they cater to nurses and physicians, they kind of understand our lifestyle a little bit better. They, I think in some ways, are just kind of more understanding of our intense schedules… (which) makes me feel more comfortable leaving my kiddo,” Kirk said. “I think being a first-time mom, I was very anxious about being away from my baby, and having him just across the street has helped me mentally so much to not be nervous and worried about him. So it’s really worked out amazingly for us.”
Beth Schmidt, former vice president of human resources for Cook Children’s who retired this month, said there’s a consistent waiting list for infants, which is the age range that naturally has the largest influx of new children who have the chance to stay in one place throughout their early childhood development.
“It’s not uncommon for someone, when they find out they’re pregnant to put… their child’s name on the list,” she said.
This was the case for Sara Wallace, an ICU staff nurse at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth. She put her oldest child, Jack, who is now a first-grader, on the list after she found out she was pregnant, she said. Wallace had heard positive reviews from her colleagues over the years and was aware of the on-site center and its reputation before having children. Jack stayed there until he reached kindergarten, and the plan for his younger brother Henry, age 3, is to also attend Kids’ Place until that time. Both were first enrolled at 12 weeks old.
“The hours of operation are rare and unique to accommodate a health care worker, (and) in-house meals (are) provided, alleviating the added stress of prepping meals prior to arriving, and the proximity to work and home were all selling factors to be placed in the wait list,” Wallace said. “Hospital schedules are unique, and it is such a relief to know we have a place to care for our children that allows us to have a career in addition to being a parent.”
While Kids’ Place is exclusive to Cook Children’s and Texas Health Resources employees, the Baylor Scott & White center serves the broader community in addition to its workers. Kids’ Place can accommodate about 230 infants, toddlers and preschoolers while the Baylor Scott & White center can accommodate up to 160 children with the same age ranges, according to state records.
“We offer a number of unique resources to our team members. Our campus leases space to an early childhood education and preschool provider that is open to children of Baylor Scott & White employees and the general public,” Baylor Scott & White All Saints Medical Center - Fort Worth said in a statement.
Child care has been among the key focuses of Texas lawmakers recently as the legislative session started last week with at least two dozen bills being filed so far related to child care and early childhood. Leading up to the session, the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Economic Development studied the connection between workforce productivity and child care access. The committee released a report in December that included testimony of how employers such as Texas Mutual Insurance Company and Parkland Hospital provide on-site child care to employees and the benefits resulting from it, such as employee retention.
“In Dallas, Parkland Hospital partnered with a local nonprofit, Annie’s Place, to provide on-site child care to hospital patients and staff. The partnership addresses common child care challenges for employers, providers, and families. By subsidizing space for the provider, Annie’s Place is able to offer increased salaries and benefits for its educators and staff. For Parkland, both staff and patients have access to care that otherwise would keep them from working or receiving medical care, especially in the non-traditional evening and weekend hours,” the committee report reads.
Meredith Ray, a physical therapist at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Southwest who’s had three children enrolled at Kids’ Place, describes the on-site child care as “invaluable.”
“I would encourage lawmakers to do everything in their power to make on-site childcare a priority. Making it more affordable and accessible would help all working parents, especially mothers, ease back into, and remain, in the workforce,” Ray said.
The centers in the Fort Worth Medical District are among the two-thirds of Bright Horizons’ 600 campuses nationwide that are employer-sponsored, according to the child care provider. Priya Krishnan, chief digital and transformation officer for Bright Horizons, told the Star-Telegram that its role is to provide quality care to enrolled children while the employer provides access and affordability to parents. The employer typically provides the space, covers the costs of wages and infrastructure and then decides how much tuition to charge to families.
“We are like the service provider. But typically in a family’s life, the three stakeholders are family, the government who gets the taxes of the family’s work and then the employer who gets the productivity. We’re just the enabler in that system to say, ‘Hey, this is important. We can provide the service, and we can provide it at high quality,’” Krishnan said.
Texas Health Resources and Cook Children’s subsidizes tuition for families so they can pay less than the market rate seen at other community child care centers, according to officials with the health and hospital systems. Officials declined to share what the tuition rates are at Kids’ Place, but Dr. Kirk of Cook Children’s noted that affordability was another deciding factor of choosing the on-site center for her son. The cost of child care in Fort Worth for one child who is 1- to 4-years-old is about $950 per month, or roughly $237 per week, according to Tootris, a platform that connects parents with providers.
Amy Hailey, vice president of Professional Services for Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth, noted that the center now located on Cook Children’s property was originally located on Texas Health Resources’ property before switching locations in 2001. It’s unclear when it first opened, but Hailey said there’s always been child care offered to employees in the 36 years she’s worked for the health and hospital system. Hailey said she would recommend the set-up to other health care and non-health care entities.
“It’s easier to come to work every day because you know your kid is being taken care of. They’re within walking distance. You can go see them if you want to. I really don’t even see a downside to it. I think it’s just a huge part for any company or healthcare facility to consider,” Hailey said.
The center will move locations again soon, as Cook Children’s is planning to build a new 700,000-square-foot medical tower on the same campus starting this year. Officials said they will continue serving the same amount of children once the move is completed.
This story was originally published January 16, 2025 at 4:03 PM.
