For Courtney Young, a mom of one with another child on the way, getting to her doctor's appointments is essential.
Since she is also a military spouse and has no family in the area, that can often be tough.
“I know I've been through it before to where you show up at the doctor with a child because you have no other option and they will literally turn you away,” said Young.
However, the Armed Services YMCA may have a solution for her.
On Thursday, the Copperas Cove ASYMCA Family Center celebrated the opening of the children's waiting room.
The Family Center will offer two free hours of childcare for active duty families, so they can attend medical appointments.
"You need reliable child care,” said William French, ASYMCA President and CEO. “So, we think this is part of the solution. So when folks have to go to the hospital, they've got a convenient, inexpensive location to drop off their kids and go to their medical appointment.”
Eight other Armed Services across the nation also offer this program in their communities, but the Children's Waiting Room is new to the fort hood area.
"What we found is, by doing that in other locations, the no-show rate for appointments at the hospital goes down by about 30 percent,” said French.
Young said she is glad a program like this one will now be in the area.
“This program will definitely help a lot of people to be able to go to their appointments,” said Young. “To be able to have a less stressful appointment with one less child or two fewer children. So I'm just super excited that everyone has the opportunity to do this now.”
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