Busy Bees Childcare

By Scott Bidroski

Through a flurry of hard work and teamwork, a new childcare center has opened its doors.

Busy Bees Childcare Center had its first group of children begin on August 1, thus providing a much needed service to Gordon Memorial Health Service (GMHS) employees and the community.

Gordon native Breanna Eisenreich accepted the role of Director and has been putting in the work nonstop since she joined.

“This position is exactly what I am able to get up and do everyday with guy instincts,” said Eisenreich.

“I am very comfortable in this atmosphere and sincerely love it,” she added.

Eisenreich is a 2003 Gordon High School graduate and continued her education at Chadron State College, earning a degree in Family and Consumer Sciences.

Within in that realm of study, she took a lot of classes that focused on child growth and development.

Following her graduation, Eisenreich operated her own in-home daycare for 8 years and brings that experience to her new role.

“I love building relationships with children and their families. And I also really love teachable moments with children,” said Eisenreich.

“What can seem like something really simple from the outside looking in, those activities can amaze the students and I sincerely love those situation,” she added.

The home of Busy Bee’s took on a complete transformation in about 3 weeks.

A full kitchen was installed, new flooring was installed throughout the facility, everything was painted, wallpaper was removed, and a brand new fence enclosure was installed. A brand new playground is also set to be installed in September, essentially rounding out the upgrades for Busy Bees.

GMHS CEO Megan Heath knew the project would be quite the undertaking but knew that it would only be a positive for the community.

“Childcare has been a topic that has been explored by GMHS for a very long time, long before I began working at the facility,” said Heath.

“We had to apply for the grant, receive the funding, turn and burn to get everything ready by the end of July. You cannot do that without a team and the teamwork that we had was the only way we were able to get it done,” she added.

The facility had an Assisted Living role up until 2016. It then moved into temporary housing for GMHS employees. Whether it be a contract employee here for a set period of time or a temporary housing solution for a permanent employee.

The final tenant officially moved out on July 8 of this year and then the transformation began, giving the team only 3 weeks to turn this around.

And turn it around they did, with Busy Bees opening their doors on August 1.

Eisenreich notes that they have 22 current full-time children attending already and a few more that attend on a part-time basis. There is capacity for more in the facility but she wants to take it slow to make sure they get it right.

“We can fill up to 50 children but we want to find our footing and get the necessary parameters in place before we overload the facility and the staff,” said Eisenreich.

“This is a really, really important job. The teacher roles are not taken lightly and we want to make sure they are the right individual before we hire them,” she added.

Eisenreich is very excited about her current staff that has already jumped in.

Adrianna Fresquez, Madison Elsea, Sam Hinkle, and Nicole Hathorn have joined Eisenreich as teachers with each individual bringing in multiple aspects of childcare and instruction experience. The center also has multiple aides who help out on a part-time and full-time basis.

“We’ve only been open for a short time, but the staff take very little prompting and just dive in and do what needs to be done. And as their director, I appreciate that,” said Eisenreich.

That staff is also open for expansion and interested individuals can contact Eisenreich directly at 877-841-BEES (2337).