(Radio Iowa) – Plans to move a child care center into unused space in a small town nursing home would create a first of its kind operation in Iowa. Melissa Michels — director of Kids Express Daycare in Sanborn — says a wing of the Prairie View Nursing Home has been vacant since 2022. “They’ve been trying to figure out what to do with that space for several years,” she says. “They approached us and they asked us to move in with them.” There are inter-generational facilities Europe where children interact daily with elderly residents, but Michels says it’s still a fresh idea in America.

“We really are going to be a model of how nursing homes and child care centers can come together,” she says, “especially in rural Iowa.” Research shows this kind of a partnership in Europe helps reduce the social isolation of the older generation and Michels says the kids benefit, too. “If their grandparents live far away and they don’t necessarily get to see them, it gives them some of those experiences and it also helps them be more understanding and kind and caring because they can see them aging and they can ask questions,” Michels says. “It’s just a beneficial experience for both the seniors and the kids.”

The non-profit child care center and the nursing home in Sanborn will remain two separate operations, but have shared activities. “We plan on hiring a music and art teacher to come in and do music programs, art with the residents and kids together,” Michels says, “even having the people that are in the assisted living part of the facility come down read to the kids, rock babies — grandparent roles that they can take in the daycare.” The Kids Express Daycare in Sanborn currently has slots for 57 kids.

Kids Express Daycare director Melissa Michels, on left, recently accepted the O’Brien County Community Foundation’s $10,000 contribution for the project.

Michels says once the project is completed, they’ll have slots for twice that many. “Our wait list right now is over a year long. I don’t have a spot for a new child to come to my center until April, 2026,” Michel says. “so it really is beneficial for us as a business, but also for our community.”

About half a million dollars has been raised for the project. Michels says their goal is to raise another 130-thousand dollars, start the remodeling in September and move the child care center into its new space early next year.