Pleasant Day in Cambridge adding childcare center

CAMBRIDGE - Pleasant Day Medical Adult Day Care Center will soon add a preschool children’s day care center to its mission and facility.

“When discussions began back in April, fulfilling this need in the community seemed like a natural progression; that’s what we like to be able to do,” said Pleasant Day Executive Director Erin Windsor.

The children’s center will be located within the current building at 2474 Cambridge Beltway, across from Cambridge South Dorchester High School and Dorchester Career and Technology Center.

Pleasant Day currently serves 45 adults. The children’s center is set to be capped off at 34 youngsters ages 2 – 5, with an eye to expanding in the future if there is a lengthy waiting list, Windsor said.

A waiting list is accepting names for the children’s center, with an end of August/early September opening the current projected goal, Windsor said, after newly ordered playground equipment and fencing arrives and is installed.

Resumes are being accepted for staff positions, including three preschool teachers, aides, and a director, she said.

In July, staff training will get underway. Once staff is hired, state requirements such as background checks can proceed, allowing the center to be licensed, Windsor said.

To help defray participant costs, Pleasant Day will accept state offered childcare scholarships, she said.

Adding that RNs will also be on site, Windsor noted that as an RN herself, her office is ideally located between both the adult and children’s areas, which are separated by an internal wall.

The Adult day care participants, which have long welcomed visits by youngsters on holidays, especially Halloween and Christmas, were excited to learn about their new younger neighbors.

“We told them about a month ago,” Windsor said, “and they’re very excited to see those smiling faces on a regular basis.”

For more information, call 443-521-5459.