Beginning Monday, the YMCA childcare services will transition to an emergency childcare site by only providing care to those in vital essential roles including employees of hospitals, medical facilities/offices, firefighters, police officers, and other essential jobs working directly to support the fight of the coronavirus pandemic.
Childcare will be provided during the hours of 6:30 a.m. – 6 p.m. at the following locations: Bradford YMCA, Olean YMCA, and Wellsville YMCA (school-age child care), Bradford YMCA Early Learning Center & Olean YMCA Early Learning Center (preschool childcare). Preregistration is required and the cost varies based on the age of the child and amount of care needed. Call 814-368-1610 for Bradford locations, 716- 801-1381 for Olean locations, and 585-593-3246 for Wellsville location.
“We feel very strongly that the Y should provide childcare for vital employees who are working hard to fight this pandemic and encourage others to stay home,” said Barb Sweitzer, YMCA of the Twin Tiers CEO. “We are transitioning from our normal operations to an emergency child care program. The reason why the YMCA of the Twin Tiers has been a cornerstone in our community for over 135 years is because we have the ability to adapt to the community needs. We do as we say we do — strengthen foundations of communities.”
The Y quickly assessed the situation as schools began to close and identified that an emergency child care model was what the community needed most. The Y will reopen its normal preschool and school age child care programs once the national COVID-19 crisis is over. “We appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding during this time and hope to see all our members’ smiling faces back when this all subsides.” Sweitzer added.
The Emergency Child Care program is taking extraordinary measures to exercise caution and reduce the spread of the coronavirus including additional cleaning and sanitizing, monitoring of symptoms with temperature checks upon facility entry and throughout the day, distancing the children, and offering activities that don’t require touching of common objects. Sweitzer continued, “We are taking every precaution to provide the critical service while being a responsible party of flattening the curve. We want to protect the children, their families, and our staff.”
Jeff Zewe, CEO of Upper Allegheny Health System, commended the YMCA and its board for the measure. He said, “The COVID-19/Coronavirus is a pandemic that has created unprecedented challenges to our local health care system. With the recent announcement of all local schools closing, this has significantly impacted our employees and their ability to care for their children. By virtue of not having sufficient daycare, our most valuable resource, our employees, have been put in a challenging position to find last minute daycare or miss work. The YMCA made the ultimate community decision and will provide emergency daycare services to hospital workers, healthcare workers, firefighters, police officers and others.”
