COVID-19 – Health and Wellness: Resources and Tips

In order to support our Washington University medical care providers through the COVID-19 pandemic, the following changes will be made to the operation of the Family Learning Center, operated by Bright Horizons, effective immediately.

• The Family Learning Center is open and ready for placement of the children of Washington University medical care providers.
• Effective Wednesday, April 8, the hours of the Family Learning Center will be expanded from 5:00am-8:00pm.
• Priority for enrollment for children of health care providers will be as follows:

• • Children of dual WU healthcare providers (spouses or domestic partners)

• • • Children of WU medical providers that are already on the wait list are included in this group

• • Children of WU medical providers on a first come, first serve basis.

• Normal tuition rates will apply.
• You can register your child starting today. Please contact Kellie Jackson, Center Director at 314-935-3262 or Andrea Sayre, Assistant Director at 314-935-3261 or email wustl@brighthorizons.com.

Current families who do not meet this requirement have been informed that the FLC is being utilized only by health care providers at this time and are not being charged fees. Their slots will be held and returned at whatever point in the future the FLC may be deemed to return to normal operations.

More child care support:

In addition, we have increased the number of uses of Back Up Care through Bright Horizons for faculty and staff from 15 to 20 uses per calendar year. Please refer to this link for more information about this benefit which provides in-home care for children or adults/elders. Please note that center-based care is not currently available due to current requirements by the State of Missouri, St. Louis City, and St. Louis County.

• In-home care for children and adult/elders is $7 per hour with a four hour minimum.
• To register or to make reservations for care, please contact Bright Horizons by phone at 877-242-2737 or by accessing backup.brighthorizons.com. First time users will need to register by clicking on “Create Your Profile” and entering username “WUBACKUP” and password “BACKUP.”
• Additionally, employees have access to a free membership to Sittercity. This benefit can be found through the Additional Family Supports program on the portal at clients.brighthorizons.com/washu.
  • University City-based babysitting service STLSitter will offer free one year memberships to first responders. Once registered, 24/7 access to pre-screened childcare providers will be available.  Information on this service can be found at www.stlsitter.com

We appreciate your patience as we have worked to make these changes. We continue to look for additional childcare resources to support health care providers. To that end, we are sharing information on these additional resources:

• The Gateway Region YMCA is offering emergency child care at 8 area YMCA locations for first responders and medical professionals and is available on a first-come, first-serve basis.

• • A flyer for this service with information on how to register with the Y branch of your choice is attached. Flyer (PDF)
  • The Gateway Region YMCA is also providing enrollment (as available) for children of medical providers at the following Early Childhood Education locations – Chesterfield YMCA, Edward Jones YMCA, MidCounty YMCA, Bayer YMCA and Tri-City YMCA. Please contact the branch directly to enroll.
  • Child Care Aware of Missouri can provide childcare referrals to medical providers and other essential emergency personnel.  To request a referral, please email referralcenter@mo.childcareaware.org, call 1-866-892-3228, or search online here.