Beaufort Memorial celebrates opening of on-site childcare facility for employees

It was a morning of smiles and excitement on Friday, Nov. 15 as Beaufort Memorial officials teamed up with Hobbit Hill Preschools owner Shannon Erickson, Beaufort mayor Phil Cromer, Port Royal mayor Kevin Phillips and representatives from the Beaufort Chamber of Commerce to celebrate the relocation the hospital’s childcare center to a new, on-site facility. 

The Beaufort Memorial Learning Center, an employer-subsidized childcare program offered in partnership with Hobbit Hill Preschools, began as a response to COVID-driven school closures and virtual learning schedules and has evolved to meet the ongoing need that employees have for childcare. 

“When COVID hit, obviously everyone went home except for hospitals and health care workers. We all came to work – and then some,” said Russell Baxley, Beaufort Memorial President and CEO. “We had to do this. We talk a lot about how access in Beaufort is tough for health care, but it’s probably even tougher for childcare. This is a great step in addressing that issue.” 

The state-licensed center opened in September 2020 in an existing facility on Lady’s Island, and the hospital broke ground on the new freestanding facility on its main campus in March 2024. Construction wrapped up this summer, and the program moved into its new home. 

Erickson, owner of Hobbit Hill Preschools, recounted how the partnership with Beaufort Memorial began – with a call from Baxley during the early days of the pandemic, looking for help to create an innovative solution for childcare for the hospital’s employees. 

“The teamwork we had with the hospital made our location on Lady’s Island work, and cover us all through COVID,” Erickson said. “We did so well there that we rolled into, ‘what can we do next?’ The big piece was keeping people employed here and growing the workforce.” 

“What’s next” was a big move: a relocation of the childcare facility to the hospital’s main campus in Beaufort. 

Beaufort Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Megan Morris congratulated Beaufort Memorial on its partnership with Hobbit Hill Preschools, emphasizing that two big issues facing the county – and the Lowcountry as a region – are affordable childcare and housing. 

“Why are those two things important? Because they help us recruit and retain a workforce,” Morris said. “And there is no place that we rely on a qualified workforce more than here at Beaufort Memorial Hospital.” 

She added that the childcare facility and the partnership is “setting the tone and the example for others to follow as we strive to build our community.” 

As the organization continues its expansion of health care access in the southern part of the county, Baxley said, Beaufort Memorial has plans to develop a second childcare facility for its employees in the Okatie area.