The Spark
For UT Medical, child care was never framed as a perk. Chief People Officer Dr. Chandra Alston describes it the way she describes parking, technology, or clinical equipment: as workforce infrastructure. The problem it solves is concrete. When Alston joined UT Medical, the organization was already advancing plans for an on-site child care center. She viewed the initiative as a critical workforce investment for UT Medical’s more than 8,000 team members, helping strengthen recruitment and retention. Knoxville’s broader child care shortage only intensified the challenge, making it harder for team members to find reliable care.
The need cut across the entire workforce, not one corner of it. Nurses, certified nurse assistants, radiology techs, researchers, fellows, and resident physicians, all landed on the same list, spanning a wide range of roles and earning levels. Serving that full range, not just one tier of staff, was a priority for leadership from the start. Team member feedback over multiple years, including engagement surveys, consistently demonstrated strong demand for an on-site child care center. When leadership set out to quantify that demand, Alston estimated that at least 20 percent of the workforce could use a center like this, more than enough to justify acting.
The Solution
UT Medical is building a child care center from the ground up on its main campus, and it made one decision early that shaped everything else: it hired an experienced operator rather than trying to run the center itself. After an RFP process that evaluated several providers, UT Medical selected AIM Academy, an Alabama-based operator that will make UT Medical’s main campus its first Tennessee location. UT Medical’s role is to provide the facility and campus infrastructure, while AIM Academy oversees licensing, staffing, curriculum and day-to-day operations.
The center will license up to 175 children, ages 6 weeks to 5 years. Classrooms are designed to flex, so if one year brings more toddlers than infants, the space can shift with the enrollment. The building is also configured to add a summer program for up to 30 school-age children later, part of a deliberate plan to start traditional and scale. Published hours will run 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, with the operator accommodating a 5:00 a.m. drop-off to meet an early UT Medical schedule if needed.
Two moves made the project move fast. First, AIM Academy arrived with proven building designs from its Alabama centers, so UT Medical did not have to start at a blank drawing board on classroom count, size, or construction specs. Second, and decisively, the project won a state grant through the Tennessee Department of Human Services that covered much of the capital cost. The grant significantly accelerated the project by offsetting much of the capital cost. UT Medical paired it with a real governance structure: an advisory committee of team members, leadership, and community experts, including the University of Tennessee’s Early Learning Center, plus a parent representative once the doors open. Obtaining DHS licensing also matters for affordability, because it is a prerequisite for accepting state child care vouchers for income-eligible UTMC families.
The Results
The center has not opened yet, so there are no retention or absenteeism numbers to report. But the strongest signal is already visible in the demand UT Medical measured and in how employees are responding. Leadership estimated that at least a third of the workforce could use a center like this, a level of need that spans clinical and non-clinical roles across the organization. UT Medical built its business case on that demand, and expects to track results through turnover rates, engagement survey data, and focus groups over time.
The emotional response is telling too. In focus groups with employees who have been with UT Medical for three to seven years, Alston heard a version of the same thing from people whose own children are grown: “Even though I can't use it, I'm just excited we have it,” as she put it, describing the goodwill the announcement alone has generated. The announcement has generated enthusiasm well beyond team members who will personally use the center. Even team members who won’t personally use the center view it as a reflection of UT Medical’s commitment to supporting its workforce.
THE BLUEPRINT
Investment: A capital building project on UT Medical Center's own campus, offset by a significant state grant that covered much of the construction cost. Because AIM Academy operates the center, the medical center's ongoing role is essentially facility-related costs such as building upkeep, parking, campus security, groundskeeping, and utilities. Leadership expects these to be modest.
Timeline: Roughly 18 to 24 months from business case to open doors. Groundbreaking July 2026, with a target opening in Q2 2027.
Partners: AIM Academy (operator, handling licensing, staffing, curriculum, and day-to-day management); the Tennessee Department of Human Services (state grant funding and DHS licensing); and the UTK Early Learning Center, which sits on UT Medical Center's advisory committee as a local expert.
Key Decision: Hiring an experienced operator instead of running the center themselves. AIM Academy arrived with proven building designs, a community-based academic model, and a promise to be as flexible as the medical center needed, which compressed the timeline and avoiding the risk of a hospital trying to become a child care provider.
Their Advice: Alston's counsel is to start with the diagnosis: gauge whether employees want child care and would use it, weigh that against your recruitment and retention pain points, and factor in the goodwill the announcement alone can build across your culture. As she puts it, “Evaluate whether or not you have a workplace problem that child care can solve. Is child care going to solve that problem?”