Excerpt
Health-care workers in Fredericton and Saint John will soon have access to new daycare spaces, after a $4-million spend by the regional health authority.
Horizon Health Network said on Tuesday it would direct $2 million from its recruitment and retention endowment fund to each city, creating 51 new child-care spaces, apiece.
That will include 12 "flex-time spaces" in both cities, where care is provided from 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. to accommodate shift work.
Shannon Hunter, president and CEO of the Saint John Regional Hospital Foundation, which oversees administration of the funding for that city, said the effort is meant to attract and keep health-care workers.
"There's a tremendous wait list in New Brunswick, particularly in Fredericton and Saint John," Hunter said in an interview.
Horizon "did staff surveys to really understand overall what would improve the well being of their work life, and access to daycare kept coming up."
In those surveys, answered by 612 Horizon staff and physicians in Saint John and Fredericton in 2024, nearly 80 per cent said they would use child care near their workplace, and 36 per cent said they needed care until 8 p.m.
According to Horizon, Fredericton and Saint John have the highest wait lists for infant daycare in the province, with 191 and 246 children waiting, respectively.
The 51 new spaces in Saint John will be available at Origins Natural Learning Childcare for fall 2024, while the 51 in Fredericton will be offered through Go-Go Group Inc. in winter 2025.
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