Healthcare Workers in Raleigh Rely on Cisco-Sponsored #FirstRespondersFirst Child Care Centers to Serve Their Communities

May 15, 2020 – For Andrea Jarrell, Manager of Special Testing in the Pathology department at WakeMed, and Eric Brolley, registered nurse at Fresenius Kidney Care, the free child care provided through Bright Horizons at Harrison Park, a #FirstRespondersFirst center sponsored by Cisco, has proven invaluable.

In her role managing a clinical lab team performing the COVID-19 testing for the greater Raleigh community, Andrea Jarrell serves a critical role in addressing the coronavirus pandemic – a job that cannot be performed from home. Not only is she extremely grateful to have found a child care environment that is focused on keeping her children safe and healthy, but her children are thriving as well.

“I feel confident in the quality of care my children are receiving,” she says. “I am also very pleased with the additional safety measures that have been put in place. My kids are in a safe and nurturing environment.”

“My eldest child was missing social interaction with his peers,” she continues. “Every day while at home he asked when the virus was going away and if he could go back to school to see his friends. This opportunity has certainly brightened his spirits and filled a void.”

Eric Brolley also serves a critical role administering dialysis to elderly patients with immune suppression, one of the populations most vulnerable to COVID-19. His patients cannot miss their dialysis treatments and, if Eric couldn’t make it to work, would be forced to go to the hospital to receive their treatment, putting them in a position to potentially contract the virus and overload the hospital system.

Finding the child care offered by the Cisco-sponsored Bright Horizons emergency child care center has been vital to Eric’s job, his patients, and his children. 

“I feel much less stress and relief that our children are well cared for and thriving in this environment,” he says. “My children really needed the structure that a classroom provides and thrive when around other children. Nothing can replace the peace of mind that they are happy and cared for.”