BEMIDJI 鈥� What was once known as the Sanford Health Lake Region Office is now Pine Pals Nest, the next step in expanding child care access in the Bemidji area.
Complete with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday, Pine Pals Nest will provide child care for up to 16 infants and 14 toddlers once the end of October comes around.
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鈥淚t really is our passion to serve more families and to target that infant-toddler gap that exists in child care,鈥� Pine Pals Director Lydia Pietruszewski said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a child care desert, specifically for those under 2, so this fits our mission and our vision.鈥�
Discussions about opening a child care center started at Sanford Health in June 2023 with an idea to partner with a local provider to ease strains that many families feel when seeking care.
鈥淪enior leadership approached with this idea of wanting to help solve a piece of the child care issues that we have in rural Minnesota, especially for our staff,鈥� Sanford Health Human Resources Advisor Erin Echternach said. 鈥淲e are not child care experts, so I鈥檓 glad to see these creative solutions to partner with those that are experts to make the community better.鈥�
Weighing their options in the Bemidji area, Sanford ultimately chose Pine Pals as its project partner. Before too long, the Sanford Health Lake Region Office would be renovated to house the community鈥檚 greatest commodity.
鈥淥ur passion is dedicating and defining spaces that are intentionally designed for children,鈥� Pietruszewski added. 鈥淲e know that we have the most influence on their brain development in the first five years of their lives, so we鈥檙e excited to have this opportunity to serve more of our families.鈥�
Providing solutions
Karla Eischens, president and CEO of Sanford Health of Northern Minnesota, detailed her own story of seeking child care 鈥� underscoring the importance of Pine Pals Nest.
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鈥淔or many of us who work in health care, our role as a caregiver often extends beyond our job duties and includes caring for our loved ones,鈥� Eischens said. 鈥淭hirty-one years ago, my husband and I chose to raise our family here in Bemidji and it was one of the best decisions that we ever made.
鈥淎t that time, I was a full-time working pharmacist and my husband worked for the city, and we couldn't have raised our two girls without access to child care. It enabled us not only to provide for our family but also provided us with peace of mind as working parents.鈥�
Pine Pals Nest will initially offer open slots to Sanford Health employees before being offered to the community at large. Echternach noted several workforce issues that she feels Pine Pals Nest will alleviate.
鈥淩ight now, we just don鈥檛 have parents coming back from maternity leave because of the lack of child care,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 would love for (Pine Pals Nest) to be a big solution for our employees at Sanford so that they can decide to have a family. They can decide for both parents to work if that鈥檚 what they choose.鈥�
鈥淲e have a responsibility to care for our employees and our community,鈥� Eischens added. 鈥淭his includes pursuing opportunities and partnerships that help address social determinants of health beyond the care that we provide.鈥�
As Pine Pals Nest prepares to open its doors, Pietruszewski not only hopes to address a disparity in infant and toddler care but also to change certain attitudes surrounding its workers.
鈥淥ur hope is that someday, child care is seen as a revered profession,鈥� she left off, 鈥渁nd is valued and funded as the public good that it is.鈥�
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Pine Pals Nest is located on the Sanford Health campus at 3807 Greenleaf Ave. NW. Its companion site, Pine Pals Fort, opened adjacently to the GoldPine Home in 2020.
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