Posted on: Friday, May 17, 2002
Ronald McDonald House also opens at second location
By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer
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| The new Ronald McDonald House on the 2300 block of Dole Street has 10 bedrooms, a full-size kitchen and a living room for families of hospitalized children.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser |
To expand its services for families with critically ill children, the Ronald McDonald House program is planning the first Ronald McDonald Family Room in Hawai'i, a haven within a hospital for the families of children undergoing treatment.
The Family Room will provide some comforts of home to alleviate the anxiety and frustration of the hospital environment, according to Jerri Chong, executive director of the charity's Hawai'i organization. Families will use the Family Room to rest, reflect, eat meals or even wash clothes.
"It's a piece of the Ronald McDonald House right at the hospital," Chong said. "The family room will offer everything we offer at the house except bedrooms."
The Ronald McDonald House, which has provided rooms for families of critically ill children on Judd Hillside Road for 15 years, also opened a second house
May 1 on Dole Street near University Avenue. The "house that love built" provides accommodations for families from the Neighbor Islands and other Pacific islands while their children are hospitalized on O'ahu.
Chong said that both the family room and the new Dole Street home are part of recent initiatives to expand services. The need for family support is increasing at a rate of about 10 percent a year, she said.
The family room located in the children's ward at Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children will have computers with Internet access and e-mail connections to allow families to keep in contact with each other. The 500-square-foot room will be staffed at all times by volunteers trained to provide advice and assistance. There will also be a play area for siblings of sick children who are too young to enter hospital rooms.
The Kapiolani project will cost about $75,000 to renovate and equip. Construction is expected to start in eight weeks, with the opening set for October or November.
The room will be open from at least 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, and depending on the availability of volunteers could be open until midnight, Chong said.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser Rose Mary Bucher, vice president for patient services at the Kapiolani hospital, said some family members are so worried about their children they never leave the hospital.
"Quite frequently, especially in the neonatal (Intensive Care Unit), they will sit there day and night," Bucher said. "It can go on for months. ... They worry that something is going to happen if they leave. I think the room will really be a huge help. Even if they can get a respite for just a couple hours, they are just a totally different person."
Bucher said when the emotional needs of family members are taken care of, it also benefits the sick children.
"The family stays intact and that will rub off on the patient," Bucher said.
The first Ronald McDonald Family Room opened in 1992 in Kansas City, Kan. Today, there are 48 Family Rooms in five countries.
Unlike the Judd Hillside facility, which is for parents and siblings, the new Dole Street home is just for parents. The home can accommodate up to nine couples.
Since opening in 1987, Hawai'i's Ronald McDonald House has been home to almost 7,000 families and more than 16,000 people. There are more than 200 Ronald McDonald Houses throughout the world.
For more information about Ronald McDonald House or how you can support the organization, call 973-5683.
Reach James Gonser at jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2431.
The new Dole Street Ronald McDonald House can accommodate up to nine couples.
