Children's Choice Learning Centers Partners with Medical Center of Lewisville; Celebrates with Groundbreaking Ceremony.

Business Editors

LEWISVILLE, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 15, 2003

Children's Choice Learning Centers, a Dallas-based provider of 24-hour, 365 days-a-year child care, today announced a partnership with Medical Center of Lewisville that begins with the construction of a new specialized child care facility on the hospital campus.

The two companies celebrated the partnership and initiated the building project with a groundbreaking ceremony today.

The center will provide care for children of hospital staff, ages six weeks to 12 years, a much-needed solution for those who often work 12-hour shifts, many times at night or on the weekend when traditional care is typically not available.

The 11,700 square foot, one-story facility will be modeled after a similar facility at Medical City Dallas, which opened in 2002. The facility will be equipped with staff and equipment to serve up to 150 children at one time.

"We are pleased to offer child care at Children's Choice to our staff members," said Ray Dunning, CEO of Medical Center of Lewisville. "This offering will also help to significantly increase our recruitment and retention advantage by providing a benefit not commonly found in hospital settings."

In addition to providing unparalleled child care, Children's Choice Learning Centers brings its executives many years of expertise in education to offer a curriculum, tailored to each age group and focused on optimum child development, making the center a premier learning facility.

"Caring for children is our No. 1 priority, and we feel strongly that education is a vital element of that care," said Nate McClintock, CEO of Children's Choice Learning Centers.

As an additional benefit, Children's Choice offers a program called Sniffles and Snuggles(R), a division of the center equipped to care for children ages 3 months to 12 years who have mild illnesses. This section of the center offers its own entrance and exit and own ventilation system. Sniffles and Snuggles is staffed by a registered nurse with experience in pediatric care and a nurse's aide.

The groundbreaking was held at the site of construction for the new facility, 500 W. Main St., in Lewisville, Texas. Children of Medical Center of Lewisville staff, who will be participants in the Children's Choice program, carried out their own version of the ceremony, complete with hard hats and using tiny shovels to turn the first scoops of dirt.

The center is slated to be open in September of this year.

Children's Choice Learning Centers, the 16th largest provider of child care in the nation, currently operates six facilities in two states, with four additional center openings planned by the end of the year. For more information, please visit www.childrenschoice.com.