Working parents often have to stay home when their children are sick. However, those affiliated with Iowa State have an alternative.

The Comfort Zone, 1019 Pammel Court, is a daycare for children 6 months old to 12 years old with routine childhood illnesses. “We take care of mildly ill children. The only exclusion is when children have a 104-degree temperature,” said Lisa Kuehl, program coordinator for The Comfort Zone. “[Children] come here when they can’t go to daycare because they are sick.”

The Comfort Zone, which was granted national accreditation last week, is open from 7:45 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Monday through Friday to all ISU families. Reservations for care are required and need to be made by 10 a.m.

It accepts children with colds, fevers, flu and even chicken pox, Kuehl said. “Our children go there when they’re not quite ready to go back [to regular daycare] yet, and we need to go to class or work. We think it’s one of the best services around. It has saved us many days,” said Ellen Wall, children’s librarian at the Ames Public Library whose husband Chris is a graduate student at Iowa State.

The daycare sees about 150 children a year and has been widely used by faculty members.

“My husband and I sometimes teach at the same time. If we can’t find childcare, we have to cancel class,” said Gwyn Beattie, assistant professor of microbiology, and mother of two children.

The children are cared for by a nurse and another staff person. Kuehl spends time working with the children in the morning and an undergraduate student watches them in the afternoon. Kuehl said they can watch up to eight children, but average two each day.

“It’s a one-on-one provision. A lot of times there are not a lot of kids there,” said Wall, who has a 6-year-old son and 2-year-old twins. “Last Friday my son was there, and he was the only one there. There were one or two caregivers for just him, which he thinks is great.”

Kuehl said most children, especially the younger ones, like to play. “The younger ones are very active when they are here. The older ones like to sit around and watch movies,” she said. “The younger ones don’t act sick, but when they are five or six you can tell when they are sick.”

The service, which began in 1993, is sponsored by Iowa State, the ISU Student Health Center, ISU Department of Residence and University Community Childcare. Parents pay on a sliding scale based upon income.

For those with a $20,000 income, it costs $1.25 an hour, and the highest cost is $4 an hour for those making over $40,000, Kuehl said.

All children must be pre-registered and their files current before they are admitted to the daycare. To register, call 294-3333.