The ghosts of Reader”™s Digest Association might be stirring this winter at the sounds of renewed activity in the publisher”™s vacated former headquarters in Chappaqua.
More than a year after the company”™s bankruptcy restructuring and relocation from the landmark campus it sold for $59 million in 2004, a new tenant has arrived at 480 Bedford Road to launch a novel enterprise that could be a model for national expansion.
Scheduled to open in mid-April, WeeZee”¦World of Yes I Can is an approximately 16,000-square-foot sensory play and fitness center for children ages 1 through 12. Though it will be open to all families, the center is especially designed for children with learning disabilities and autism spectrum disorders. Its play equipment is designed to stimulate the senses and break down the “sensory defensiveness” that impedes learning in children with neurological disorders, said founder Louise Weadock.
Exercises at an array of play stations and themed rooms being built in the former Reader”™s Digest building should improve academic performance, athletic coordination and social relationships, she said.
Trained as a registered child psychiatric nurse, Weadock has a long professional history as a health care entrepreneur. In 1985, she started Access Nursing Services, a provider of temporary private-duty nurses in hospitals and licensed home care aides, in her Manhattan apartment.
At the time, “I had not two nickels to rub together,” she said. “I started my business on my own Singer sewing machine” with a plywood sheet as a desktop and one of the earliest Macintosh computers as her office equipment.
“Today Access Nursing Services is a $50-million organization,” said Weadock, whose family nickname, Ouisie, was adapted when naming her new business.
Based in Pleasantville, her 37-year-old company operates private-duty nursing offices at five New York hospitals, including Mount Sinai, Lenox Hill and the New York University Medical Center, and in New Jersey and Maryland. Access employs about 2,800 nurses and health care professionals and an administrative staff of about 100 persons.
“I”™m probably the largest provider of private nursing services in the country,” Weadock said.
Weadock several years ago moved her family and her business from Manhattan to Westchester County to provide a daily environment better suited to the needs of her daughter Shannon, who had been diagnosed with a sensory disorder on the autism spectrum. The entrepreneurial nurse decided to turn her home into a “sensory gym” for Shannon and her friends. Her daughter now is an 18-year-old college student in Connecticut.
That home play center inspired Weadock”™s latest entrepreneurial venture. “In the beginning our idea was much smaller,” with plans for a 4,000 square-foot play space, she said. The company later abandoned plans to open a 10,000-square-foot center in Armonk, drawn instead to the larger space at Chappaqua Crossing to accommodate an expanded design for the business and to an office campus of more than 100 acres for outdoor play sessions.
Weadock signed a 10-year lease for 24,000 square feet of office space at Chappaqua Crossing. Access Nursing will move from its Pleasantville office to occupy about 8,000 square feet of space there. The company also is recruiting professionals in health-related fields to fill 15 small offices in WeeZee”™s therapeutic “village.” Physical and speech therapists, a nutritionist and a chiropractor already have signed up as on-site licensed operators, said Liz Crecco, WeeZee executive director for project development.
Weadock said more than $1 million has been invested in the startup.
She said she expects to receive grant funding from a major medical institution to support scientific research at the center on the effects of play and exercise on children with sensory integration disorders. WeeZee staff will do sensory assessments of children and use those to develop personalized exercise plans.
“Our whole thing is to research the world and find the most cutting-edge technology that meets the goals of our kids,” Weadock said.
“WeeZee is not a day care. It”™s a fitness facility. It”™s all about getting these kids into a healthier state of mind and body.”
“This will improve learning for every child, and the earlier the better,” Weadock said.
By recognizing learning disabilities and autism spectrum disorders in children at the age of 1 or 2, the tantrums and other disruptive behavior seen when children start elementary school can be averted, she said. “There”™s a potential to save insurance companies and school districts hundreds of millions of dollars.”
“This is the first WeeZee of many,” said Weadock. The company has identified 12 locations nationwide as potential sites for the play centers. “How fast this WeeZee gets off the ground will determine how quickly we can spread this,” she said.
I am intrigued by your project and concerned at what seems to be a innocence that comes from a lack of knowledge. Please share with me what is your knowledge of sensory defensiveness and activity analysis you that will make this project safe. What will a PT and Speech Therapist contribute to this venture? Do you have any skilled consultants?
Patricia Wilbarger