Budget Cuts Threaten Center for Ill Children : Day-care: Officials scramble to keep open Hickory Dickory Doc, which caters to county workers and employees of 30 firms.

Facing budget cuts, the Ventura County Medical Center may shut down an innovative day-care center that takes in the ill children of county employees and workers at 30 firms.

However, county officials are scrambling to find a way to temporarily keep open Hickory Dickory Doc, which operates in a bungalow tucked behind the hospital.

Supervisor Maggie Kildee has asked hospital administrators to reconsider the closing, possibly postponing it until the end of the year. That would give the county time to investigate other sites for the center and other ways of funding it, she said.

“I hate to see it close before we explore all the alternatives,” Kildee said.

Like other county departments, the hospital is being asked to pare its budget, she said. Faced with cuts of 7.5% to 10%, the hospital issued a May 18 layoff notice to Brenda Palmer, the director and only full-time employee of Hickory Dickory Doc.

“We can’t keep it open past that time with funding from the hospital,” said Faye Hall, an administrative officer with the hospital whose 5-year-old son, Adam, has frequented the center. “It’s something we all felt very sad about.

“But when you balance it against other priorities of the hospital, it’s understandable,” she said. “We’re dealing with life-and-death issues. We can’t continue to justify keeping the center open over providing hospital care to people.”

To Tanya Owens, a secretary in the county’s chief administrative office, the center was a godsend Thursday.

“I wouldn’t be here today if we didn’t have it,” she said. Owens left work early Wednesday because her 3-year-old daughter had a fever and couldn’t stay in day care.

After lunch Thursday, Autumn sat in a toy car and intently watched “Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” on the center’s television. An older girl played Monopoly on the floor and a toddler slept on a cot in the napping area.

The center’s main room is brightly decorated with paper butterflies hanging from the ceiling on strings. Two big blue easy chairs are positioned in front of the television.

The center is open weekdays from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. for children 3 months to 12 years. A nurse assesses a child’s illness early in the morning. Children with communicable diseases, such as chicken pox, are not accepted.

The center opened amid fanfare in 1989. At the time, the county hoped it would reduce the $360,000 it pays in sick leave each year. In a survey, county employees responded enthusiastically about using it.

But from the start it was plagued with low usage. That may have been because it wasn’t publicized well enough, officials said, or because it was hard to find. Many days, no ill children showed up for care.

And the county doesn’t know if it reduced absenteeism--county employees are not barred from using their own sick leave to tend ill children.

In 1990, county officials decided to boost usage by allowing other employers to buy into the center.

In addition to the 6,350 county workers, Hickory Dickory Doc is now open to a consortium of 30 firms, known as the Alliance for Child Care Solutions. County workers pay $2 an hour to use the center, while employees of the other firms, which include Patagonia/Lost Arrow, Bank of A Levy and GTE, pay $3.

Depending on the number of employees, companies pay $25 to $250--plus $1 per employee--to join the alliance for a year and use the center and other services provided by the Ventura-based consortium.

Use of the center has gone up to an average of three or four children a day, with 81% coming from county ranks, but it still operates at a loss to the hospital, according to officials.

Debra Bergevin, the county’s child-care coordinator, said county officials have known for some time that the center would have to vacate its site because the bungalow is scheduled to be torn down in June, 1994, to make way for a parking garage.

But the May closure was unexpected, she said. The annual cost of providing staff and programming is about $35,000, she said, so about $20,000 would be needed to keep the center open through the end of the year.

“This is a good time for other employers to come forward” and participate in the alliance to help make up the shortfall, she said. Meanwhile, the county is looking around for an established day-care center in which the center for ill children could be relocated before December, she said.

“We don’t want to close it down and reopen it,” she said.