Executive director Crystal Kober-McCubbing is trying extremely hard to keep things feeling the same at the Northwest Child Development Centre in Moose Jaw, but the empty classroom and packed up toys are hard to miss.
Child-care centres have been deemed an essential service by the provincial government, and although the government has allocated 2,300 spaces across the province for front line health-care workers and pandemic response workers, other child-care services in Saskatchewan have yet to receive mandated closure.
This means for now, Kober-McCubbing and her staff remain at work, providing their services during the coronavirus shutdowns.
Changes have left the centre and its staff trying to adjust, and with those changes have come some challenges, said Kober-McCubbing. They have also raised some anxieties for her and her staff, especially concerning their increased risk of exposure to the virus.
“There is anxiety everywhere. The anxiety of the not knowing, of the fastness that this came on,” said Kober-McCubbing. “There’s anxiety about how long this it’s going to last.”
For many child-care centres right now, the lack of a set plan from the provincial government is a large source of tension, as is the lack of recognition for child-care workers as essential workers continuing to expose themselves to the public to provide their service.
“(We’re) like second families. We have some kids more than their own families have them,” said Kober-McCubbing. “The biggest concern right now for everyone is if we're going to get (COVID-19) because we're still coming to work every day. We can't social-isolate because we have families coming in and out.”
Changes to the day-to-day
Kober-McCubbing and her staff have already made some pretty big changes to stay in line with the Saskatchewan Health Authority’s guidelines for child-care centres, many of which make day-to-day activities more complicated.
For now, staff are screening every parent and child who enters the building, using a symptoms checklist provided by the Ministry of Health. Hours of operation have also been reduced.
A third of the centre’s toys have been packed away, while staff are doing extra work to sanitize every surface in the centre daily.
“We always do a lot of cleaning anyways,” said Kober-McCubbing. “But now we're wiping top, bottom, legs (of the furniture), just going the extra mile to make sure everything’s disinfected and clean.”
Although child-care centres have been deemed an essential service during the pandemic, Kober-McCubbing is in charge of obtaining her own sanitary supplies and other groceries — leaving her susceptible to empty grocery shelves just like anyone else.
The centre has also dropped from 75 spaces to 24, in order to maintain proper space allocation with eight children in a room at a time. Groups of staff and children are isolating from one another to avoid cross-contamination within the building.
Many parents have been keeping their children at home voluntarily, as recommended by public health. The majority of kids still attending the centre come from households with health-care workers.
Because of the drastic drop in children, Kober-McCubbing has also had to reduce her staff. Fifteen employees have been laid off indefinitely, uncertain of whether they will be able to return and when.
“It was very hard for me to lay off the world's best staff,” said Kober-McCubbing. “Nobody knows, basically, when they’re coming back at this point.”
Biggest concern is exposure, says staff
Many parents are choosing the option of keeping their children home from the Northwest Child Development Centre, said Kober-McCubbing.
Of the 24 spaces available, the centre has filled 17 of them. Priority is being given to children of health-care workers and people working in essential services, but because there is still some room, other families are able to bring their children in for care.
“Some of the children I have here don't have to be here. They're coming because parents need a break, and I get it,” said Kober-McCubbing. “(But) I have no control over what they do when they leave this building, so I don't know where they've been and what they've done when they come in here the next morning.”
The situation leaves Kober-McCubbing’s staff vulnerable, she said, even with the increased screening measures and constant hand-washing practices.
“The staff that I have here are staff that want to be here,” said Kober-McCubbing. “(But) when that happens, it’s putting my staff at risk.”
Kober-McCubbing isn’t turning away any families in need of child care, but she is asking parents to be aware of the social distancing recommendations from public health and to adhere to them.
“I just think it's important for people to know that you need to stay home if you don't have to be out because those of us who don't have a choice, we have no control over that,” said Kober-McCubbing.
Finances are also creating concerns
There’s a lot of uncertainty about the situation, said Kober-McCubbing, and it’s causing stress and anxiety in not only the staff but in parents as well.
Provincial funding for child care is still being provided until the end of April, at which time the situation will be re-evaluated and could possibly change.
But for places like the Northwest Child Development Centre, the uncertainty is not helping their financial situation. The decrease in staff wages and continued grants are so far supplementing operating costs, but Kober-McCubbing worries what will happen if the situation changes further.
“You can’t make informed decisions when you don’t know,” said Kober-McCubbing. “(But) if the government decided that we weren't getting our grants, we most likely would probably close, because we're not-for-profit and we don't have a lot of money to begin with.”
For now, Kober-McCubbing is not asking parents to pay child-care fees if they are keeping their children home. But she admits that she isn’t sure if she will be able to continue doing so if the situation persists.
“I feel like it's probably a challenge for parents right now, too,” said Kober-McCubbing.
Kober-McCubbing wants to hold child-care spots for families as long as she can, but the financial instability means she can’t promise parents anything further than May.
“It's so up in the air and the problem is (parents are) up in the air too,” said Kober-McCubbing. “Some are laid off and they don't know when they're going back to work, but they don't need a spot if they're not working.”
The Northwest Child Development Centre recently celebrated the grand opening of their new facility in March 2020, expanding from 35 spaces to 75 spaces — which has now been reduced to 24 spaces by mandate from the Saskatchewan Health Authority.Concerns mirror those of critics
For Kober-McCubbing, as she looks to the future reality of her centre, she feels like child-care staff are being overlooked as essential workers.
“We're deemed essential, but when you look at every list of essential workers who are working right now, we're not listed on there,” said Kober-McCubbing. “Anybody who works in child care knows how important we are and how many other beneficial skills we have and do.”
The realities that the staff at Northwest Child Development Centre are facing are exactly the same concerns that many have voiced about the current situation for child-care centres.
In a press release on March 27, CUPE Saskatchewan called for immediate action from the provincial government to put measures in place to protect child-care workers, including offering funding to supplement workers’ wages and parents’ fees if child care services are mandated to close.
Opposition leader Ryan Meili and the NDP are also calling on the provincial government to issue a blanket closure of child care services in Saskatchewan, and a move to in-home care services for essential workers needing child care.
“Child-care centres are still able to operate in the province, and that’s really putting parents and their kids, and the people who work with their kids in a really tricky situation. They need this support but at the same time, we know it’s not the safest way for us to be doing things,” said Meili in a live video stream on April 1. “Right now, we need a better approach.”
Children First Canada has also expressed concern about the well-being of children during the pandemic, and how the increasing pressures on their parents could result in a negative impact for children.
The Northwest Child Development Centre is just one of many child-care centres in the city who are facing this same situation.
Southwest Daycare & Early Learning Centre on South Hill has had to reduce its capacity and limit its spots to children of essential health-care workers. The Moose Jaw College Daycare is asking parents who don’t need care to keep their children at home, among many other centres in the city.
Kober-McCubbing hopes to see the situation improve for her staff and for other centres, especially as the future remains unclear.
“People have wishful thinking, like the end of April, but we don't know that. Nobody knows that,” said Kober-McCubbing.
