Kid Kare moves into new digs

Kid Kare has come out of the basement and into the sunshine - and added another level of education.

On June 22, the child-care service offered to employees of Northwest Healthcare and Health Center Northwest opened its new doors in the old but redesigned Surgery Center.

And, for the first time this year, Kid Kare kids can come for kindergarten.

Kid Kare always has cared for children from six weeks through six years with the same TLC, but now everything is bright and new.

"It's a good security base for them to be just in one place and not have to jump around," said Kay Bourns, Kid Kare supervisor for the past 16 1/2 years. "Kid Kare is their second home.

"We're more than child-care providers. We're part of their family. A lot of days we have them more hours than their parents do," she said.

"It's really important that they bond with their care providers."

Bourns takes that relationship seriously.

She helped guide the complete redesign of the Surgery Center building after it was gutted this year, converting it into an environment for happy, safe and secure learning. And she oversaw Kid Kare's move out of the Rocky Mountain Heart and Lung clinic's basement.

Its 10 rooms have names like The Nest and The Den - those are for the youngest babies. At a year or so, they climb into The Tree House and The Cuddle Corner. When they're two, it's the Flutterbyes and Kinder Kastle. Three-year-olds are in The Safari Room and The Fish Bowl. When they hit preschool and older, they hike into The Rain Forest and visit The Rainbow Frog.

Several adjoin, and the baby rooms share nap rooms.

Each is decorated accordingly - but Bourns puts appearance in its place.

"It doesn't matter how cute you are," she said, "your program is only as good as your people."

Kid Kare is under the Department of Women's and Children's Services of Kalispell, with all workers being hospital employees. Each one is focused on the children.

"We went from 32 children [capacity] to 92," Bourns said, with a big smile on her face and the sun streaming through the windows in her office.

About 75 are on the rolls right now, with varying numbers showing up at any one time.

A tour through Kid Kare rooms, with many of the staff of 25 on hand - up from nine staff at their old digs - shows contented children.

The babies were in various stages of napping, being held in a rocking chair, and surveying their corner of the world from their baby carrier.

The 3-year-olds, just finished with a quiet reading time in the library where they snuggled next to the grandma doll or settled onto their own mat, now were sporting their new glittered, construction-paper crowns.

Five- and six-year-olds were engrossed in their "materials," working out skills to help them be successful in the big world of kindergarten.

A mix of state-licensed primary caregivers and trained aides keeps the teacher-to-child ratio low, as low as 1-to-3 with the infants.

Stephanie Miller worked with Bourns the past year to set up the new kindergarten program, and now teaches the class.

It has a strong Montessori basis but, with Miller's Special Education background and a sampling of the best research and kindergarten practice incorporated, children are getting a healthy mix of math, cultural, sensory, practical life and language skills daily. During instructional time this year, Miller is teaching art, P.E., sign language and Spanish.

All Kid Kare children, from the youngest babies up through the oldest children, learn sign language such as "milk," "eat," "more," "please" and other essentials. It's a way of giving babies communication long before they can talk.

In Miller's kindergarten room, activities are based on each child's individual strengths and weaknesses, preferences and abilities.

"Materials are their work, toys are their play," Miller said. "All of it has a reason."

Today, Summer Cain is peeling carrots for the class snack while Kenny Claire finishes putting together his planetary puzzle and Emily Lamb finishes her math.

"Our philosophy is, we don't do what they can do for themselves," Bourns said.

Down the hallway, caregiver Lena Schmidt is in The Den working with the youngest children.

"They learn, when they do something, there is a beginning, a middle and an end," Schmidt said. "We incorporate that in every area. Even the babies know that things go back when they are done."

Floor-level windows to the hallway let the babies keep an eye on what's going on outside their room. Floor-level mirrors let them see themselves. In The Tree House, there's a "rice table" where pint-sized items become learning opportunities for children who work with them in their grainy table-top compartments.

In The Rain Forest and The Rainbow Frog, children are sitting at floor mats that define their space, diligently working on their learning materials individually and together.

Those who can cut with scissors and write their own names do so. They ask when they need help. They learn their colors, numbers, home addresses and how to tie their shoes.

For many parents, Kid Kare is a godsend.

"I've had parents tell me, 'If it wasn't for Kid Kare, I wouldn't work.'"

Reporter Nancy Kimball may be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com