Gee + Voinovich to break ground for Child Care Ctr.

                         NEWS ADVISORY:
    VOINOVICH AND GEE TO BREAK GROUND FOR CHILD CARE FACILITY

     Gov. George V. Voinovich and Ohio State University President
E. Gordon Gee will be among the officials wielding child-size
shovels in a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday (9/29) for an
addition to the university's Child Care Center.  The addition
will allow the center to enroll 15 medically fragile children,
the first time such children have been integrated into a child
care center for typically developing children.  The 4,500-square
foot addition will also allow the enrollment of 18 mentally
retarded/developmentally delayed children and increase the
capacity of typically developing children from 300 to 316 -- for
a total enrollment of 350 children.

     The ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. Thursday on the east side
of the Child Care Center, 725 Ackerman Road.  Voinovich and Gee
will make brief remarks, as will Linda Tom, vice president for
human resources at Ohio State, and Dr. Mary McIlroy, director of
medical student education at Children's Hospital, member of the
Ohio Day Care Council, and chair of the Committee on Child Care
of the American Pediatric Association.  Several parents and their
medically fragile children will attend.  Following the
groundbreaking, there will be tours of the Child Care Center.

     Medically fragile children are defined as those who rely on
prolonged use of medical devices to compensate for loss of vital
bodily functions and who require substantial daily skilled
nursing care to avert death or disability.  It is estimated that
there are about 120 medically fragile children in Franklin
County, half of whom are under 5 years of age.

     The Ohio Department of Health, through Voinovich's Family
and Children First Initiative, has awarded the Child Care Center
$375,000 to develop and implement programming for medically
fragile children at the center.  The grant also covers the cost
of equipment and nursing services and will fund an Ohio State
research project to measure the financial and other costs to a
family with a medically fragile child.

                                #

Contact: Judy Fountain, director of Ohio State's Work and Family
         Office, 292-0393, or Ruth Gerstner, University
         Communications, 292-8424.


[Submitted by: REIDV  (reidv@ccgate.ucomm.ohio-state.edu)
               
Wed, 28 Sep 1994 10:40:28 -0500 (EST)]
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