Ronald McDonald House Charities of Northeast Ohio

The Ronald McDonald Family Room program allows RMH to serve families while they are at the hospital, enabling them to stay close to their child’s bedside. Staffed by volunteers from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week, the Family Room provides families at the hospital with a warm comfortable atmosphere where they can have a brief respite from the clinical hospital environment. In 2006, RMH opened the first Ronald McDonald Family Room in Ohio at University Hospital’s Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital. In 2008, RMH opened the second Family Room at the Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital, followed by Cleveland Clinic Fairview in 2009, and MetroHealth Medical Center in 2010. In order to accommodate the demand for a place for a parent to stay close to their child at Cleveland Clinic Fairview, RMH added two overnight respite rooms to the Family Room. RMH anticipates opening four respite rooms at MetroHealth in 2018.

This past year, almost 80,000 visitors made use of the amenities offered in our Family Rooms including the respite rooms, a lounge area, kitchen with light refreshments, laundry facilities, computer with internet access, children’s play area, and shower facilities, or were served by the RMH Happy Wheels Cart which is taken directly to patient’s rooms.
amenities offered in our Family Rooms including the respite rooms, a lounge area, kitchen with light refreshments, laundry facilities, computer with internet access, children’s play area, and shower facilities, or were served by the RMH Happy Wheels Cart which is taken directly to patient’s rooms.

Formerly known as Tools for Today and Tomorrow, RedTreehouse.org, was created in 2004 based on feedback from families staying at the House. Families stated that they felt comfortable while at the House because RMH staff and volunteers could point them in the direction of resources that could benefit them. When they left the House, this safety net of support was gone and the families had a difficult time finding the resources available to them. RMH formed a partnership with 8 local organizations that support families with a child who has a disability or chronic illness. By 2010, this network had grown from 8 founding organizations to 40 partners.

The purpose of RedTreehouse.org is to provide information and resources that can help families with their challenging journey. This is accomplished through a website that serves as a clearinghouse for hundreds of valuable resources, a listing of support groups throughout the area, and a web-based community calendar with information on educational workshops. Educational webinars will be added in 2018. In 2017, RedTreehouse.org served over 32,000 visitors to the website.

The STAR Center provides Support, Teaching, Awareness and Resources to Families Receiving Medical Care at an Outpatient facility.

University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital (RBC) and Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital (CCCH) are both creating new, centralized outpatient Community Medical Centers to that will be accessible to lower income families. These new Medical Centers will open in 2018 and will improve access to quality health care for residents of Cleveland and surrounding communities, and will house innovative programs for pediatric primary care, women’s health care, and social services as well as education programs to support patients, their families and the community. RedTreehouse.org will be one of the resources promoted at these new facilities.

The Ronald McDonald STAR Center will be an extension of the Ronald McDonald Family Room program and will be located within these new Community Medical Centers. The rooms will provide a fun, colorful, welcoming environment and an educational place for children while their sibling receives outpatient treatment or their mother receives prenatal care. The non-clinical RMH staff will work with the children on age appropriate mini-lessons in healthy habits and positive well-being. Lessons will be posted as a resource on the RedTreehouse.org website.
The STAR Center will allow the child’s parent can focus their attention on their sibling who needs treatment, or on critical information about their own health and the health of their unborn baby. Without this option, parents may not bring their child in for treatment, or they may not come for prenatal care, because they do not have someone to watch the children. Babies of mothers who do not get prenatal care are three times more likely to have a low birth weight and five times more likely to die than those born to mothers who do get care. Inadequate prenatal care is associated with Low Birth Weight, Teen Birth Rates, Health Insurance Coverage, and School Readiness. The new STAR Center will help prevent one of the roadblocks to mother’s receiving prenatal care and siblings receiving outpatient treatment.