Hiring Kimberly Fields paid dividends for her employer – in more ways than one.
“Ethan is my miracle baby,” Kimberly Fields says.
Ethan is a tall, healthy, friendly 4-year-old. To see him, you’d never know he was born premature at just 32 weeks. Kimberly spent a month in the hospital before giving birth, but now that Ethan’s here, he’s changed his mother’s life in countless ways – including her career.
“I’m a family services advocate for Child Care Associates. They helped me, and now I’m helping others in the community.”
Texas Mutual Insurance Company is the workers’ comp provider for Child Care Associates, the largest child development nonprofit in North Texas. With 26 campuses throughout the region, they provide early education and other services for children and families.
“A family services advocate is someone that’s there to assist with each individual family, to find out what they’re needing as far as resources in the community, or finding out if there’s something they might need for the child that’s attending the school,” she explained. “Even though I’m not in the classroom, I’m there assisting the teachers, assisting my campus director, and speaking with the families to make sure they have everything they need.”
Kimberly enrolled Ethan in the program when he was six months old. She was familiar with Child Care Associates because she’d been enrolled in the program herself as a child. She was also hearing good things from other parents in the community. After she’d gotten to know the teachers and staff, she was asked to join the Parents Advisory Council.
“The director told me about it and said, ‘I think you’d be great on our Parents Advisory Council,’ and I said I’d like to do it, and then I was voted in by the parents. It was a great thing to be part of and I learned a lot. I wish more parents could be involved.”
A year ago, she joined Child Care Associates as an employee. On any given day, she might be moving furniture in the classroom, hanging a poster, helping children on playground equipment or, as happened recently, protecting the children when a tornado was spotted in the area. She knows there’s a risk of being injured, so she makes sure she works safe.
“I’m constantly checking my surroundings and making sure I’m aware of what’s going on with the cooking staff or with housekeeping. When the floor is wet, I make sure I have whatever tools and signage we need to make sure no one slips and gets hurt.”
She’s grateful that her employer provides training to help her stay safe on the job. Safety is important to her and her family, and by working safe, she helps Child Care Associates earn dividends from Texas Mutual, their workers’ comp provider. In 2019, Texas Mutual distributed a record $330 million in dividends to safe policyholders across the state. It’s money that allows Child Care Associates to continue doing good things for the community.
“They’re creating generations, they really are,” Kimberly said. “We need more of that.”
Texas Mutual is proud to be on the job with Kimberly Fields and 1.5 million other hard-working Texans. In 2019, 75% of our policyholders received a dividend, and we’ve sent $2.8 billion to Texas businesses since 1999.
Learn more about Texas Mutual's dividend program.
