LEWISBURG - Evangelical Community Hospital in Lewisburg found a way to become more supportive of its workers with children through a relationship with Snyder, Union Mifflinburg Child Development Inc.

The hospital provided SUMCD with land at Hospital Drive and JPM Road on which to build a center. The plans came about after the hospital identified an increased need for care provided to children in the infant and early childhood stages.

“It allows them to expand their programs, and our employees have access (to child care),” said Marcia Cooney, director of human resources for Evangelical.

Hospital employees are given preferential slots for their children in the day care center, Cooney added.

Evangelical’s predominant workforce — including clinical workers and administrative staff — is made up of woman in their parenting years. “It is definitely important to us,” Cooney said, adding that fathers — not just mothers — must be brought into the equation as well. The hospital employs 1,300 people.

In addition, the hospital offers flexible spending programs, which allows employees to receive a tax savings on childcare expenses.

Evangelical also offers an employee assistance program and recently established an online parenting resource tool, which provides employed parents with access to more than a dozen topics about balancing the home and work life, among other parenting topics.

“As a culture, we try to support employees where we can, but in recognizing we are a 365-day, 24-hour direct care provider, there are certain things we can’t flex on,” Cooney said. “But where possible, we certainly try to be as supportive as we can.”

“We understand that people have personal obligations that can’t always be scheduled outside of work hours,” said Annette Sarsfield, human resources director for Playworld Systems Inc., Lewisburg, “so our practice here is to be as accommodating as possible and provide an ample number of vacation hours to provide people pay when an employee needs time during business hours to handle personal appointments.”

Both elder care and childcare responsibilities play a part in the reason for this policy, Sarsfield said. Employees begin receiving an allotted amount of vacation time just six months after beginning a job there, she added.