ORANGE PARK – Florida is facing a profound nursing shortage, and perhaps none have been hit harder than the families of children with special medical needs.

The increasing demand for pediatric home care nurses means that the parents of children who require daily medical attention are constantly struggling to find care, and are more often finding themselves forced out of jobs to stay home and care for their children.

Enter All Kids Care of Orange Park, Clay County’s first and only Prescribed Pediatric Extended Care center. Accredited by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, All Kids Care is a combined daycare and healthcare facility staffed by registered nurses that cares for children from birth to age 21 with complex medical concerns.

“A child that has a seizure disorder or is fed through a g-tube or requires oxygen, for example, may not be eligible to go to a regular day care center because they require that skilled nursing intervention,” said Debbie Schoen, All Kids Care’s director of nursing. “And it’s not just nursing tasks, it’s really integrated. We try to incorporate a lot of learning activities in a closed classroom environment.”

All Kids Care also provides occupational, physical, and speech therapy on site, keeping parents from needing to drive to appointments multiple times a week.

Making life easier for parents was a top priority for Carrie Moon, the owner and administrator of All Kids Care, who decided to open the PPEC in Orange Park in response to the struggle Clay County families have faced finding care for their medically fragile children.

“It’s really difficult for home care agencies to staff in Clay County, especially out in remote areas like Middleburg and Keystone Heights,” Moon said.

The nursing shortage has made it even tougher on home care agencies in the Jacksonville area, especially after several agencies recently sent out letters to parents asking them to give up some of their hours so that families could share nurses.

“This relieves the parent of the concern of waking up that morning and not knowing whether that nurse is going to be able to be there,” Schoen said. “They don’t have to think about that here, they know that they can bring them here and there is someone here every day from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. It’s a really big relief for them.”

Having access to a facility like All Kids Care gives parents of children with complex medical needs the ability to work, go to school, or simply take a day off from being a caregiver. As the only PPEC in metro Jacksonville that offers care on Saturdays, All Kids Care gives parents the opportunity to have leisure time on the weekends as well.

“Nowadays, it usually takes a two-parent income just to maintain a lifestyle,” Schoen said. “But when you’re not able to go to work because you don’t have consistent nursing, or you lose a position because you have to call out so often because your nurses have canceled, it makes it tough. A lot of families are struggling financially, and this helps give them a lot of financial freedom.”

“The best part is that the care is all covered under Medicaid,” added Moon, “so there’s no cost to the family, which is a huge blessing.”

“It gives them the option to have a safe, clinical and educational environment for their children while they either work or go to school,” Schoen said. “Two of our parents just took brand new jobs. They’re able to go to work now because they have the care that their kids need. It’s a real blessing to be able to provide that.”

All Kids Care officially opened the doors to its 3,000 square foot facility on Bolton Road in June, but already anticipate a waiting list for enrollment and have plans for opening a second center.