Child Development Center expansion marks a new chapter for Baptist Health Louisville families

A 3-year-old recently informed Rebecca Thomas that she lives at work. There would be no convincing him otherwise. 

“Miss Rebecca, you and Miss Lori live here, right? You live in your office, right?” he asked. 

Rebecca, director of the Child Development Center at Baptist Health Louisville, assured him that they did, in fact, have homes of their own. 

“No, no, no, no,” he insisted. “You and Miss Lori live in your office. This is your home.” 

Standing before families, colleagues and donors at the center’s September 1 ribbon cutting, Rebecca admitted he might have had a point. 

“This really is our second home,” she said. “It is a second home to all the kids and our families that we serve on a daily basis.” 

For more than 11 years, Rebecca has watched life happen here in all its small, wonderful ways. First steps, first words, first friendships. Children growing from newborns into preschoolers, then returning years later to visit. 

Their parents are the doctors, nurses, pharmacists, therapists, food service workers and other employees who keep Baptist Health Louisville moving each day. 

“Every day, while they’re caring for patients and families throughout the hospital, we have the privilege and responsibility of caring for the person that means the most to them,” Rebecca said. “That’s their children.” 

Sometimes that proximity means a mother can walk over to nurse her baby, or a parent can check on a toddler who took a tumble. Some families have made a tradition of having lunch together during some workdays. Parents visit for career days and serve as special readers. The ordinary moments of childhood do not have to feel quite so fleeting. 

For years, however, more Baptist Health families wanted that opportunity than the center had room to serve. Children could remain on the waiting list for years. Rebecca saw the need almost immediately after becoming director and began asking for an expansion. 

More than a decade later, it became a reality. 

The donor-funded expansion adds capacity for approximately 80 more children, along with additional infant, toddler and preschool classrooms. Depending on ages and enrollment, the center can now care for around 150 to 175 children each day. 

There are also new spaces for art, music, yoga, and gardening. Children receiving speech or physical therapy have dedicated space. An interior courtyard gives the youngest children a place to play, while a lactation room gives mothers privacy to nurse, pump or spend a little extra time with their babies. 

Even the sinks and toilets were considered from a child’s point of view. 

Rebecca helped think through it all, drawing on nearly three decades in childcare. 

“Every detail came from my experience and what I wished we had when I worked in other places,” she said. “So now we have it all.” 

The expansion also carries forward a vision that began long before Rebecca arrived. 

The center now bears the name of Sue Stout Tamme, former president of Baptist Health Louisville, whose leadership helped bring the CDC to life decades ago. Known for valuing employees personally as well as professionally and pursuing opportunities for growth, Sue inspired a donor to make a generous gift to the expansion in her honor, placing her name on the center. 

She returned to celebrate the center’s next chapter, with more space to serve the employees and families at the heart of its mission. 

“Serving Baptist Health was and continues to be such a privilege,” Sue said. “I work every day to support the Foundation that is doing such great work and made this possible, because I truly believe that the only way I can give back to the organization and the people I love is by supporting the Foundation.” 

Children do not grow alone, and neither do the places built to care for them. Staff Chaplain Dale McAbee put that truth into words. 

“We are especially grateful for the generosity that made the expansion of our Child Development Center possible,” he prayed. “It does, indeed, take a village.” 

There may be no better description for a place where children grow up surrounded by teachers who celebrate their firsts, parents who can slip away from work for a lunchtime visit, leaders who see childcare as an investment in their employees, and donors who made room for more families to become part of it. 

“Remind us, O God, that we all can make a difference in someone’s life as we embody our values,” Dale continued. “And just as Jesus said, ‘Allow the children to come unto me,’ so we here today aspire to create a safe and generative home away from home for families who need the care our CDC offers. Amen.” 

Rebecca waited a long time for this day. But when it came time to celebrate what all that persistence and generosity had created, she did not end by discussing square footage or capacity details. 

“Without further ado, I would like to introduce the 30 reasons why this expansion means so much to me,” she told the crowd, “And I’m sure you’ll agree.” 

She brought out the children to sing. 

“The children at our new school thank you, thank you, thank you,” they sang along to the tune of The Wheels on the Bus. “Hip, hip, hooray!”