Date: Fri 30-Jun-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: CURT

Quick Words:

edink-child-care-FHH

Full Text:

EDINK: Child Care: A FHH Casualty?

When the legislature sealed the fate of Fairfield Hills Hospital by voting to

consolidate its mental health hospitals in Middletown, most people were

accepting and hopeful. The hospital had become under-used and over-expensive,

and there was a possibility that the state would market the campus for

economic activity that might greatly benefit the town. For a number of parents

in town, however, the decision brought only apprehension about the well being

of their children.

The pending phase-out of Fairfield Hills Hospital has thrown into question the

future of the Merryhill Child Care Center, which occupies a state-owned

building on Queen Street. Since it opened in 1990 as part of a labor agreement

between state employees and the state, the center has extended its services to

Newtown residents in addition to the employees at the hospital. As the only

child care center in town that cares for infants, it has become for some

working parents the most important facility in town. Now, since the state has

yet to give a definitive answer on whether the center will close or continue

to operate, the center has halted enrollments for the fall.

Newtown's elected leaders and state representatives should press the state's

Office of Policy and Managment to decide what it wants to do with the

Merryhill Center soon, so parents can plan for the care of their children in

the fall.

We would urge the OPM to keep the center open, not just for the local parents

who are served by the center, but to help the state in its marketing of the

Fairfield Hills campus. From a marketing standpoint, the Department of

Corrections substance abuse unit, and even the mental health facility, were

seen as liabilities to luring business and industry to Fairfield Hills. Once

they are gone, the state should take steps to ensure that the many assets of

the campus remain intact. The site will be far more marketable with a child

care center in place.

gennews

Development Office To Move

To Edmond Town Hall

page one

Town Opens Its Homes And Hearts

To Special Olympians

Town Opens Its Homes And Hearts

To Special Olympians