It’s a familiar story by now—these are stressful times for schools, preschools, and child care centres. As September begins, the St. Adolphe Child Care Centre is also setting itself up to operate differently.

Lana Redmond, director of St. Adolphe Child Care Inc., says the centre is open and operating, but there will be no grand opening event.

“We’re open, but we’re not having a ribbon-cutting or open house because of the pandemic,” says Redmond. “We definitely want to do something to open our doors to the community and say thank you, but we can’t. It’s about the protection of the children.”

The centre is operating with minimal and essential in-person involvement only. Board meetings are proceeding, but events or meetings the centre usually holds that attract broader attendance, like their annual general meeting or parent welcome events, are all postponed indefinitely.

Parent contact at the dropoff and pickup areas is being strictly regulated, and the other expected social distancing and sanitization protocols are in place as well.

“Like all child care centres, we’re keeping parental access points and length of time at this points to a minimum,” says Redmond. “We’ve increased our cleaning and sanitization. There’s a lot of extra work involved at this time and we’re doing our best to ensure that children and families are protected. Of course, when the schools open as well, things will get even tougher.”

The centre’s registrations are full, but it is a wait list situation. Redmond says inquiries for care can be made by registering your child’s name with the Manitoba Child Care wait list or by phoning the centre directly to inquire about availability.