It’s difficult enough for a family to cope when a child, baby or pregnant woman is ill or injured and needs to be hospitalized. The disruption of family life, in addition to the illness, can make an already worrisome situation even more stressful.

The Ronald McDonald House of the Ozarks, located on east Primrose, has offered a special “home away from home” for Ozarks families since 1988. At the Ronald McDonald House, families can be together and keep the routines of normal life, away from hospital lobbies and hotel rooms. They also find a strong, supportive, and caring environment that encourages the development of parent-to-parent support systems. Parents of sick children gain strength and new understanding through the friendships they form with other parents who understand exactly how they feel.

To extend the care and support of Ronald McDonald House to families right inside the hospital, St. John’s and Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Ozarks will open a 10-bedroom house on the maternal/child unit of St. John’s Hospital in 2008.

“We are so excited about this new Ronald House,” says Bonnie Keller, president and CEO of Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Ozarks. “We see this as an opportunity for us, with St. John’s, to bring the comforts of home to families who feel they can’t leave the hospital during critical times. We want families to see this new house as a way for them to feel like they went home for a while, even though they remain just steps away from their child's hospital bedside. The house will also be available to those who may or may not need to stay overnight, but need private time.”

The new house will include a living room with a TV and reading materials, educational programs, a quiet room for private conversation and phone calls, a fully equipped kitchen, breast pumps, showers, 10 bedrooms and laundry facilities. As at the existing house, volunteers will bring in nightly dinners for the families staying there.

The project has been a decade-long labor of love for Keller and Susanne Miller, R.N., St. John’s vice president of women’s and children’s services.

“We’ve been working on this for about 10 years,” Miller says. “Because St. John’s is undergoing a major renovation during the next few years, we thought this was a perfect time to build a Ronald McDonald House inside St. John’s. We are looking at a 2008 opening because the new patient tower in the front of the hospital must be complete before we can begin construction for the house.”

St. John’s and the Ronald McDonald House have had a collaborative relationship for several years, says Mike Peters, vice president of public affairs and St. John’s Foundation for Community Health.

“St. John’s has been supportive of Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Ozarks for quite some time. Our foundation has been an annual sponsor of the ‘Grin’ Iron Classic, a high school all-star football game that benefits the Ronald McDonald Care Mobile (a.k.a. The Tooth Truck), which provides free dental care to Ozarks children in need,” Peters says. “We are looking forward to expanding our relationship with this new Ronald McDonald House. This will be a great benefit for families of sick children at St. John’s.”
Guests of the Ronald McDonald House will include not only families of sick children, but husbands or partners of high-risk maternity patients as well.

Currently, St. John’s Hospitality House offers basic lodging for patients from out of town who are being admitted to the hospital very early the next morning and family members of patients, such as parents of babies in the NICU or children on the pediatrics floor, who live out of town. The rooms are not, however, limited to families of children. St. John’s Hospitality House is often at around 90 percent capacity.

The Ronald McDonald House will be jointly operated by St. John’s and Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Ozarks. Staffing will include a house manager, an associate house manager, overnight and weekend staff, and volunteers. The house will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Much of the funding for the St. John’s Ronald McDonald House will come from public contributions. If you would like to help please call 417-886-0225 or visit www.ronaldmcdonaldhouse.org.

History of Ronald McDonald House Charities

What began as one family’s misfortune became good fortune for millions of families worldwide. In 1974, Kim Hill, the 3-year-old daughter of Philadelphia Eagles tight end Fred Hill, was diagnosed with leukemia.

During Kim’s three years of treatment, Fred and his wife Fran often camped out on hospital chairs and benches and ate makeshift meals out of vending machines. The Hills watched other parents around them doing the same thing. They learned that many of the families had traveled great distances to bring their children to the medical facility, but couldn’t afford hotel rooms.

The Hills began to think there had to be a solution. Fred rallied the support of his Eagles teammates to raise funds and help other families experiencing the same emotional and financial traumas as his own. Through Jim Murray, the Eagles’ general manager, the team offered its support to Dr. Audrey Evans, head of the pediatric oncology unit at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Dr. Evans dreamed of a home-like temporary residence for families of children being treated at her hospital.

Together, they created the first Ronald McDonald House.

That first Ronald McDonald House opened in Philadelphia in 1974. By 1979, 10 more houses had opened. By 1984, McDonald’s restaurants and local communities founded 60 more houses; then 53 more opened by 1989. Today, there are nearly 240 Ronald McDonald Houses in 25 countries around the world.