A new mainstream daycare centre and special respite service for seriously ill children has opened in a building formerly used by the Fyshwick Early Childhood Centre.
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The Stella Bella Children's Centre is the dream of Suzanne Tunks who started the Stella Bella Little Stars Foundation following the death of her daughter Stella at nine months due to congenital heart disease in 2010.
The foundation runs the Little Star Beads Program to brighten the lives of sick children in hospital and offers financial assistance for their families.
"This has been a long-term dream," Ms Tunks said of the new centre.
The new centre, in Maryborough Street, will have 30 mainstream long day places which will help fund the respite centre, which will be means-tested and have a paediatric nurse as part of its staff.
Ms Tunks said profits from the long day centre would cover the costs of the respite service for 10 to 15 children.
"If a family is not earning an income, which a lot of these parents aren't, we will fill the gap," she said.
Ms Tunks said the staffing would be one to four in the special care unit. The day care centre will be separately staffed.
"It all depends on the children," she said.
"Sometimes if we have really high-care bubbas in there we might have only four children there [for respite] at a time."
The building is owned by the ACT government and is rented to Stella Bella Children's Centre at a community rate. It was previously rented by Community Services #1, formerly Southside Community Services.
The Stella Bella Children's Centre has become a reality due to, initially, $68,000 fundraised for the foundation by Kingston company P Squared Advisory. Braddon building company Construction Control and associated trades upgraded the site for free.
Arcadia Williams, 10 months, of Queanbeyan will be one of the children using the respite centre. She has Costello syndrome which means she cannot eat so is fed through the nose and stomach. She suffers from a range of health problems including seizures and a heart murmur. Mum Casey, who also has two sons, Tyeren, eight, and Benji, three, said the centre would provide a lifeline for the family.
