UVM Medical Center President and Chief Operating Officer Stephen Leffler, M.D.’90, professor of emergency medicine at the Larner College of Medicine, spoke with WCAX-TV about a new partnership that is bringing more child care to health care workers, part of a broader effort to keep skilled workers in Vermont.
The One Arts Community School at 112 Garden Street in South Burlington, a collaboration between the UVM Health Network and One Arts Community Schools, is a new nonprofit child care and early learning center dedicated to the children of UVM Health Network workers that will serve 68 children from infants to 5-year-olds. Located on the first floor of a new apartment building dedicated to UVMHN staff, the center is just steps away for working parents.
Leffler spoke at a site tour prior to the center’s June 2 opening. “Since the pandemic, we’ve really noted that to be able to attract and retain high-quality employees, we need to have—especially in Vermont—good, affordable housing, and child care is also critical,” he said. “We were having people leave because they didn’t have child care.”