EXCERPTS
Parents struggling to raise a child with medical needs will soon have a daycare option in Saskatoon.
Hope's Home will be opening in late fall on 4th Avenue South, across from Friendship Park. The medical daycare, founded in Saskatchewan, is already established in Regina and Prince Albert.
Jacqueline Tisher, founder and executive director, said parents in Saskatoon have been asking her for years when the program would be coming to the city.
Tisher said the need is "huge" and already knows of 26 kids that urgently need care in Saskatoon. The province approved Hope's Home for 56 licensed child care spaces Tuesday after announcing 540 new spots for the province.
"Parents are having that challenge being able to maintain their employment or going to school or even getting the break," Tisher said.
About 40 per cent of the spots at Hope's Home will be for medically-fragile children who might be living with a Tracheotomy, seizure disorder, feeding tube or life-threatening condition that requires nursing care. The remaining spots are available for siblings and otherwise healthy children.
Tisher said when the program began in 2005, about half of the parents caring for children with medical needs were single. Often they were on social assistance because they needed to stay home to provide constant care for their child.
Hope's Home not only offers daycare but also recreational therapy, pre-school and after school programs. Daytime, evening and weekend respite care is available for families.
Preston Early Learning Centre at Willowgrove School was allocated 51 child care spots and YMCA of Saskatoon was allocated 16.
- Reprinted from News Talk 980