Parents who use University Hospital’s Child Development Center will get a reprieve after University decided to delay its closing until the end of the school year.

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The center, which serves 192 children, had been slated to close at the end of December, which is the end of University’s fiscal year, said spokeswoman Rebecca Sylvester. But the hospital heard from a lot of parents who had children in pre-kindergarten programs who feared they would not be able to find space in another program in the middle of the school year, she said.

“They felt like they would really have issues with pre-K in the middle of the (school) year so we decided to extend it until May 30th, which is the end of the school year,” Sylvester said.

University is offering Horizon Health EAP  to work with parents individually on finding new child care that fits their needs, she said.

“We’re not turning them out in the cold and we’re not just giving them a list of open child cares,” Sylvester said.

“We’re really trying to work to help each one find a child care (center). And that’s not exclusive to University employees. Anyone who is using the center can use that.”

There are 23 employees at the center and those that are eligible might transfer to other jobs within the hospital, she said. Others will be offered employment assistance, Sylvester said.

Pressures in health care now, from declining Medicare reimbursement to a new state tax that costs University $423,023 every month, are forcing the hospital to focus on what it really needs to do, she said.

“The issue is child care was a good benefit for employees but it is not a core service of the hospital,” Sylvester said.

In fact, only about 60 or so of the parents actually work at University, she said. The service lost $190,000 last year and was on pace to lose that much or more this year, Sylvester said. It could also use a new building and the $2 million cost was not justified, she said.

But the hospital realizes why it is such an emotional issue for parents, who have built up relationships there over time, Sylvester said.

“They’ve been taking their kids there for a lot of years,” she said. “There are women that have worked there for 20 years that have practically raised some of these children.”

ut while there is no other active discussions about closing other departments right now, CEO Jim Davis has told employees that the new environment means the hospital will have to continually scrutinize what it is doing and why, Sylvester said.

“Mr. Davis has made it very plain that we are focusing on the hospital, we are focusing on core services and people that touch patients,” she said.

Reach Tom Corwin at (706) 823-3213 or tom.corwin@augustachronicle.com