You may not know it, but NIH provides a variety of family and personal resources, like child, adult, and family care, financial and legal planning, and identity theft assistance to all its employees. These services extend beyond the NIH main campus to employees in all locations, including the NCI at Frederick and Shady Grove.
On Wednesday, September 11, NCI at Frederick employees will have a chance to learn more about these benefits. Tonya Lee, manager of NIH’s Child and Family Programs, will be on site in the Building 549 café from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. to answer questions and provide information. A representative from the Nursing Mothers Program will also be present to answer questions at 11:00 am and will give a brief presentation about the program at 12:00 pm.
“The NIH Child and Family Programs provide more than just child care. We have programs for everyone, including contractors,” Lee says. “We even have self-care/back-up care for when an NIH employee is recovering from an illness, receiving treatments, or having a procedure and needs someone to care for them. We want everyone to know the facts about the many NIH work–life programs that are available to employees and the community. Many of the programs are available nationwide.”
Lee added that the NIH Child and Family Programs website is a great resource for families looking for back-up care, information on child care subsidies, and more. Employees can also find out which services are available depending on their status (government employee, fellow, or contractor) through the NIH Workforce Resource Eligibility Matrix.
Several training courses are also available, including Work-Life@NIH, a supervisor’s guide to enhancing workforce well-being. Anyone interested in the course should contact Lee at leet2@mail.nih.gov or 301-827-3250.
See below for a brief summary of other available resources, along with contact and registration information.
NIH Resource and Referral Services
NIH has contracted with LifeWork Strategies, Inc., to provide free, unlimited access to five types of resource and referral services: child, adult/elder, legal, financial, and identity theft. This personalized, professional service is available by calling 1-800-777-1720 between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday.
Back-Up Care
NIH has contracted with Bright Horizons to offer NIH federal employees access to back-up care when they need to be at work and their regular child care or adult/elder care is unavailable. Register at https://backupcare.ors.nih.gov.
Parenting Coach
Parenting is one of life’s most rewarding jobs, but it can also be one of the most challenging. The NIH Parenting Coach can offer guidance and answers to your specific questions with a personalized email response within 48 hours. This service is free to the NIH community and their spouses. To contact the NIH Parenting Coach, email your questions to: nihparentingcoach@adventisthealthcare.com.
Nursing Mothers
Although the NIH Nursing Mothers Program does not provide on-site support for Frederick, pregnant moms and those preparing to return to work after giving birth can still contact lactation consultants by phone or email. Find more information at http://www.ors.od.nih.gov/sr/dohs/Resources/nursing/Pages/lactation.aspx or call 301-435-7850.
Frederick’s lactation rooms are in: Building 426 Room 123, Building 535 Room 105, Building 538 Room 136, Building 560 Room 12-92A, VCMP Building Room 331A, 8200 Research Plaza Room 1A127 (two stations).
NIH Lunch and Learn Seminars on Parenting, Children, Families, and Adult/Elderly Care
NIH Child and Family Programs offers Lunch and Learn seminars on various topics ranging from childbirth to caring for an elderly loved one. The seminars are webcast in real time and are archived for future viewing. They are available at https://www.ors.od.nih.gov/lunchlearnseminar.