Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton celebrated 30 years of childcare on Oct. 14.
HAMILTON - On Oct. 14, 1985, one of the first infant childcare centers opened at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton. Thirty years later, Lakeview Child Center operates five facilities in Mercer County serving hundreds of children ages 6 weeks to 6-years-old.
Lakeview Child Center Vice President LuAnn Wood said the center, located at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton's campus, was the first to open.
She said the facilities at Ewing, Robbinsville, West Windsor and Lawrenceville came a few years later.
"Our goal is to provide developmentally-appropriate care in a play-based environment," Wood said.
Wood said the center is open Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., offering a variety of programs.
All of the locations are licensed to serve 100 to 120 children, Wood said.
She said the programs range depending on the facility - for example both Hamilton and Ewing offer a 10-week summer camp - but all are "really flexible."
Wood said centers offer various resources for parents and guardians in need of all-day, morning, half-day and drop-in care.
"Some parents use us for two days a week, but maybe one day they need an extra few hours," Wood said. "We have some families who just need one or two days a month."
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She said the centers also provide extra-curricular activities during the week, such as yoga, dance and sports.
"We offer them during the week to kind of leave the families with free weekends," Wood said.
She said Lakeview also has a "commitment to families."
"We act as a resource," Wood said. "If you have a child in need of some sort of intervention, we can provide the information for facilities that would help them."
She added they work with child care agencies as "back-up care, so if someone's out of town, they can bring their children to us for a set period of time."
Wood said part of the organization's commitment to family includes teaching children "even at a young age to be socially responsible." The center holds activity-based fundraisers that children participate in to donate to charities such as HomeFront, March of Dimes and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
The center prides itself on the slogan "When you come to Lakeview, you only have to bring the baby," Wood said.
Necessities such as food and diapers are provided by the facilities. "We try to make it less stressful for families in the morning," she said.
As for continuing service for another 30 years, Wood said "we want to continue to provide quality care that families have come to expect."
Lindsay Rittenhouse may be reached at lrittenhouse@njadvancemedia.com. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
