August 31, 2009

UCSF Prepares to Open Kirkham Child Care Center

Chancellor Sue Desmond-Hellmann, left, chats with a Parnassus Heights neighbor.

UCSF Chancellor Sue Desmond-Hellmann, MD, MPH, joined faculty, staff, students and neighbors on Tuesday to celebrate a major accomplishment – the opening of UCSF’s fourth child care center, which will serve about 72 children at the Parnassus campus beginning in November.

“I am glad to share in this celebration because it represents the kind of community spirit that makes UCSF special,” Desmond-Hellmann said, noting that the child care center would make a huge difference in the lives of both working mothers and fathers.

Describing the opening as a “momentous occasion,” Tracey Gearlds, director of programs and services at Campus Life Services, thanked those who played key roles in making the Kirkham child care center a reality, including pediatrics professor Diane Wara, MD, longtime UCSF champion of women and children.

“This is a wonderful day,” said Wara, chair of the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Child Care, who spearheaded the expansion of child care at UCSF. She credited former Chancellor Mike Bishop, MD, for “his unending support of family life” and for “being generous during times when it was difficult to be generous.”

The new child care center located at 10 Kirkham Street will help the University meet its escalating need for child care, although demand for on-campus care still far exceeds supply. More than 1,000 families are on the waiting list for UCSF’s coveted 300 child care slots at centers on the Parnassus, Mission Bay and Laurel Heights campuses.

Anna Bakardjiev, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at UCSF, toured the child care center with her son, Jacob Gitelman, who will attend the “Dolphins” class.

Anna Bakardjiev, MD, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at UCSF, will be sending her son, Jacob Gitelman, to the two-story child care center as part of the “Dolphins” class in November. To secure the enrollment, Bakardjiev put her name on the waiting list right after Jacob was conceived three years ago. Bakardjiev, who served her residency at UCSF from 1997 to 2000 and joined the faculty in 2007, will work just around the corner from where her son will learn and play in a bright green building.

Wara noted that UCSF will need to “think in new and creative ways” to address the increasing need for child care, a demand being driven mostly by the addition of young scientists and scholars working at the sprawling Mission Bay campus. Wara pointed out that the property where the Mission Bay child care center is located is not permanently dedicated for that use and that the facility, which opened in 2006, is itself a temporary trailer structure.

Realizing the Vision

At a time when the campus community has been pummeled with bad news about the state budget and its impact at UCSF, Tuesday’s open house was a time to recognize that the University can continue to make strategic investments and celebrate successful initiatives.

Senior Vice Chancellor Steve Barclay said Tuesday that UCSF will finance the renovation of the flagship Marilyn Reed Lucia Child Care Study Center to realize UCSF’s vision to provide a supportive and effective work environment as stated in the campuswide strategic plan. That plan, released in June 2007, specifically calls on the University to provide facilities and infrastructure that accommodate planned growth and strategic priorities.

Diane Wara, longtime advocate for women and children at UCSF, talks about the need for child care while Tracey Gearlds, director of programs and services at Campus Life Services, listens.

The Kirkham center will serve about 72 preschool children daily, aged 24 months to five years and will be available to parents on a two-, three- or five-day a week schedule providing an environment where children are respected, valued and encouraged to grow. Like the other child care centers at UCSF, children enrolled at the Kirkham center will be able to explore and learn at their own pace in a clean and spacious center, guided by experienced and dedicated teachers. The year-round curriculum includes learning activities and outdoor play, with a special emphasis on building relationships.

The Kirkham Street center is the brain child of Campus Life Services former director Al Minvielle, who in 2003 first thought of the idea to convert Kirkham Street housing into a child care center, Gearlds said. Six years, several redesigns and revised financial plans later, the Kirkham Street Child Care Center is nearly complete except for the two-tiered playground. Built from pre-fabricated parts to trim costs, the child care center was assembled in about two and a half days and is reportedly the first multi-storied, off-site constructed building in San Francisco.

Carlin Chi, MD, left, in background, a professor at UCSF and clinician in Family and Community Medicine at San Francisco General Hospital, talks with Anna Bakardjiev, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at UCSF, while Jacob Gitelman, left, foreground, and Hazel Pringle Johnson play with puzzles at the Kirkham Child Development Center.

To get community support for the project, campus officials, including Wara, and representatives from UCSF Community & Governmental Relations (CGR), met with neighbors to reach agreement on the architectural design, parking and traffic circulation.

Once the Kirkham child care center opens, UCSF will close the Lucia Child Care Study Center for renovation and conversion into a center for 24 infants between the ages of three months to 24 months. The playground also will be adapted to serve babies ages six weeks to 23 months. The revamped child care center is expected to open sometime in 2010, according to Robert Frank, manager of UCSF Child Care Services.

For more information about UCSF Child Care Services, contact Frank at [email protected] or 415/476-1469.

Photos by Susan Merrell

Realizing the Vision

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