A child care provider helps a toddler play with an interatice toy in a care center

Children's Waiting Room

Child Care for Medical Appointments

Children’s Waiting Room enables junior enlisted service members and their families to make health and well-being a priority. This unique program provides child care services at the installation clinic, enabling parents to keep scheduled appointments without the stress of finding child care outside of the hospital.

About this Program

This program improves access to health care by removing lack of child care as a barrier. When families have the ability to drop off their children inside a hospital or clinic for no or low-cost child care, they are more likely to attend scheduled appointments.

“I love this option at the hospital. It makes doctor appointments a breeze! Thank you so much for having this available for us!!” – Military Parent

In locations with a Children’s Waiting Room, hospital administrators report a drop in no-show rates.

“The hospital does not charge a fee for missing appointments, but the 5 to 8% no-show rate equates to about $500,000 a month cost for the hospital. By opening the children’s waiting room, the hospital hopes to see around a 30% to 40% drop in the no-show rate,” said Col. David Gibson, Commander at Darnell Army Medical Center in a news story.”

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