SMITHFIELD - Johnston Health is closing its day care in Smithfield. At an open discussion last week, hospital officials heard tearful pleas, heated condemnations and piercing questions from parents of children enrolled in the Early Learning Center.

The closing of the day care, which offers subsidized rates to hospital employees, is the latest in a series of spending cuts by the hospital. In the past few months, Johnston Health has ended some post-retirement insurance benefits for most employees and announced the closing of its coffee and sandwich shop in the Johnston Medical Mall.

The day care will close because it cannot stand on its own financially, said Tim Hays, vice president of human resources for Johnston Health. In essence, Johnston Health is no longer willing to prop up the day care, which has posted losses, Hays said.

"We functioned through all the years that the center has been open through the support and subsidies provided by the hospital," he told dozens parents and children gathered last week in the Medical Mall auditorium.

"It reached a point -- monies that come into the hospital, it's important that they're devoted to the continuance of patient care," Hays said.

In the last fiscal year, the day care ran more than a $100,000 deficit, spending about $495,000 while taking in only $380,000 in tuition, Hays said.

According to Hays, the math just doesn't work. The center would need about 150 children in order to become profitable, but its maximum capacity is about 100 students, and it only hosts about 60 students now.

The center will stay open through the end of August, he said.

Johnston Health has no plans for the space where the day care operates, Hays added.

Heated discussion

Many parents protested that the hospital had not considered enough options or done enough to save the center. Some hospital employees were stung by the loss of a valuable benefit, while non-employee parents said there were few local alternatives with the same level of quality.

"It's just like taking another benefit away from us, just like everything else," said Tracy Davis, a surgery technician.

"I came here two years ago and accepted this position because of this center," said Trisch Mahlschnee, a speech pathologist. "I chose this hospital because of this benefit."

The hospital heavily subsidizes tuition for children of its employees, who pay between $475 and $693 a month per child. Non-employee parents pay $704 to $866 a month.

Other parents said the hospital had done too little to promote the center and draw in outside customers. One woman noted that the day care doesn't have a Web site, which is true, although it does have a page on the hospital's site.

Later in the meeting, interim chief executive Chuck Elliott said the hospital simply "couldn't continue to take losses."

"We're not in the child-care business, we're in the health-care business," he said.

Hays added that only about 30 of the hospital's 1,300 employees used the day care. The service had been "identified as a benefit to the organization," he said, but "there has been minimal support from employees."

Lisa Herring, a Smithfield resident who is not a hospital employee, said the center's hours weren't extensive enough to attract hospital employees with odd hours.

"You're in the hospital business," she told Elliott. "This benefit was to serve hospital employees."

As the discussion wrapped up, some attendees criticized hospital leadership.

"This whole ordeal is about a dollar, and to me my kids are worth more than a dollar," one man said.

Todd Ramsey said it was "disgusting" that the hospital would no longer subsidize the Early Learning Center. "If the budget for this hospital can't absorb $100,000, the whole board needs to be fired."

Paul Worley told Elliott that the hospital system should tread lightly. "This hospital is part of this community," he said. "Be very careful with this decision."

By the end of the meeting, many parents wept as their options thinned. Some offered to donate bagged lunches and supplies, and others demanded to see detailed budgets. Elliott said he would have a more detailed conversation with a few parent delegates and that he was open to ideas.

"If you feel like you can turn this place around, then give your name," he said.