Sudbury daycare set to offer 24/7 service

A Greater Sudbury daycare centre offering 24/7 daycare service year-round is getting ready to open its doors.

Jeseanne Lacasse is the owner of The Daycare of Colours, a new daycare facility operating out of a former school on College Street.

It will be the only registered childcare centre in the city to offer 24-hour service. The facility will be colour-coded for each age category.

Lacasse is a mother of two and a registered Early Childhood Educator (ECE) and she said she has had a dream of opening a 24-hour centre for at least a decade.

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Lacasse was 16-years-old when she had her first daughter, and she said she struggled to find a daycare centre with flexible hours. She said it was difficult when she was in school while working to make ends meet.

“I had a child and I had to take care of her and there was no daycare after six,” she said.

The centre will operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even on holidays. Lacasse said her goal is to help others follow their dreams while not having to worry about finding daycare.

She said she has already had a number of people reach out asking when she’ll open.

“I have the community just waiting and messaging me asking when it’s going to be open,” Lacasse said.

 “I just can’t wait to be able to help everybody.”

Sudbury MPP Jamie West said this service will be helpful for parents who work shift work, adding he knows personally how challenging it can be to find daycare if you don’t work conventional hours.

“I worked shift work in the smelter for 14 years and that 9-5 job isn’t as traditional as it used to be,” West said.

“There’s a lot of places that are a 24-hour workplace and you need 24-hour daycare.”

Lacasse said, providing the parents’ fill out a registration form and the facility is within capacity limits, all are welcome at all hours of the day. The centre has a capacity limit of 82 children.

“Even if it is 2 a.m., shift workers, 3 a.m. emergency, I will allow it. You’re welcome here,” she said.

Lacasse said she is hoping to have a team of 52 ECEs. She said she is still accepting applications. The ECEs will work a 12-hour shifts, five days on, five days off.

She said it was always challenging working and taking children to appointments.

“I used to have to book two days off a month to take my kids to their appointments and I’d either be taking vacation days or not getting paid,” Lacasse said.

“This is to offer my staff some flexibility.”

Lacasse said she has been able to cover the costs of renovations and staff out of her own pocket and with support from her family. She applied for funding from the City of Greater Sudbury, but it was not approved.

In a statement to CTV News, the city said a new provider must “obtain Consolidated Municipal Service Managers (CMSM) approval to ensure these spaces fit into the local five-year Service System Plan (i.e. there will be funding) and meet municipal needs.”

Lacasse has set up a GoFundMe page in the meantime to help with additional costs.

She said she hopes to open the daycare centre on April 1.