In a year when most people are trying to keep their contact with others to a minimum, Shandi Elliott, owner of Sweet Beginnings Daycare in Wilmot, has a steady stream of three to seven children, plus their parents, in and out of her home each day.
Since work and home are blended, Elliott needs to be on top of COVID precautions, not just to protect her own kids, but also those she’s caring for.
“I’m hypersensitive to things,” Elliott said. “I’m more aware of what gets brought into the house, if I have guests, if families are traveling…”
Last March, Elliott hoped to keep her daycare open through the pandemic. However, as schools shut down and many parents were working from home, all of her regular children were withdrawn. As news about coronavirus worsened, Elliott decided to formally shut down as a precaution.
However, as the economy started opening back up, the demand for childcare came roaring back, stronger than ever. Today, Sweet Beginnings is completely full and has a waitlist.
“I have a long waiting list, and I have people calling and begging me to take their kids, but I can’t,” Elliott said.
During the summer Elliott became an emergency care provider under the state’s Emergency Child Care Program. The program was designed to make more childcare spaces available to working parents who needed them. Under the program, Elliott can take an extra child into her home.
“So many people were still trying to work and help out, and they were scrambling for child care,” Elliott said. “I decided to apply to see if I could help out people.”
While Elliott is happy to be busy, she knows that her business by definition exposes her and her family to risk.
“I was really worried because having different families come in,” she said. “I don’t know who they’ve been in contact with or where they’ve been.”
She implemented a COVID policy for parents to sign. It includes precautions like parents wearing masks, and not sending anything other than food into the daycare. Still, with kids who are too young to wear masks, there’s only so much Elliott can do to mitigate the spread of COVID. She’s removed porous and soft toys that are difficult to clean, and frequently disinfects the space.
The biggest scare came when Elliott’s husband found out he had been exposed to the virus.
“We were totally blindsided by it,” Elliott said. “I immediately went into panic mode.”
While her husband isolated in their bedroom, Elliott called the state for guidance. Because of the circumstances of the exposure – her husband hadn’t been home since he was exposed, other than to go to the bedroom to isolate – the state said that Sweet Beginnings could remain open.
However, when Elliott informed her families, all but one of them withdrew their children until her husband was finished quarantine.
“That one family had no other choice,” Elliott said.
Despite the stress, Elliott said she was relieved to know that the state was on hand to provide information quickly.
“I was expecting an answer eventually, but they called me back four hours later,” she said. “It was a quicker response than I was expecting.”
Today, Elliott’s biggest challenge is managing enrollment at Sweet Beginnings amid families’ unpredictable COVID schedules.
“I have people who needed care for a month, or part-time, but I wanted to make sure I was available for the families I already had pre-pandemic,” she said. To make business more predictable, Elliott has started asking for deposits for fall daycare.
She has considered expanding Sweet Beginnings, either by hiring a staff person or expanding the space. But she isn’t quite convinced that a bigger business is better.
“My husband reminds me, ‘You have a good thing going and you’re going to be more stressed if you take on more,’” she said.
Yet when she hears about the national child care crisis, Elliott feels she could be part of the solution.
“I never paid attention until this happened and I had so many people calling me, asking for childcare,” she said.
In February, Sweet Beginnings was recognized by the Lake Sunapee Chamber of Commerce as the Rookie Business of the Year. For Elliott, it was a recognition of the lengths she’s gone to this year to keep a much-needed local business afloat.
“I was really surprised and honored, but also very proud, because I have worked really hard trying to keep my business going,” she said. “I adapt as I go to try to help families out and be available to those who need childcare.”
This story is part of the 50 Businesses, 50 Solutions series, shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative, that aims to highlight how business leaders across the state, from mom and pop shops, to large corporations have adapted to meet the challenges and disruptions caused by the novel coronavirus in the hopes others may be able to replicate these ideas and innovations. Tell us your story here. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.