News Ronald McDonald House Charities Expands Services Inside Dell Children's Medical Center

Family Room to Allow Ronald McDonald House Charities to Serve Additional 500 Families Per Year

AUSTIN, Texas - (Sept. 14, 2011) - Ronald McDonald House Charities of Austin and Central Texas (RMHC Austin) has expanded its services to families with critically ill and injured children through the opening of a Ronald McDonald Family Room in Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas.

The project is an extension of the collaboration between the two organizations which are located adjacent to each other in the Mueller Community of Austin, Texas. The Ronald McDonald Family Room will serve families who cannot or do not want to leave the hospital while their newborn or child is being treated. With the new Family Room, RMHC Austin expects to service an additional 500 families per year.

"I visit my babies every day, so the Family Room is a home away from home for me," said Sarah Wells of College Station, and mother of four including twins born under 3 lbs and being cared for in Dell Children's NICU. "It provides some normalcy and comfort during this stressful time in my family's life."

The 861-square-foot Family Room, located adjacent to the Dell Children's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), includes two sleeping rooms, a bathroom with shower, kitchenette, laundry room, living area, internet-accessible computers, and children's play area. While primarily serving parents of newborn children in the NICU, the Family Room will be available to all families with children being cared for at Dell Children's.

(In the photo, Kent Burress, CEO of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Austin and Central Texas and Sister Teresa George, COO, Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas)

"This exciting collaboration meets a dramatic need by locating a Ronald McDonald House Charities program directly in the children's hospital so that parents will have space to recharge or relax during their long days of caring for their children," said Kent Burress, chief executive officer of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Austin and Central Texas.

Dell Children's serves a 46-county area and offers some of the highest level of pediatric care in the region. While the Family Room is open to all families at Dell Children's, many live in areas where they are unable to make a quick trip back to their home. The Family Room is especially helpful for these families, by providing a place to take a break or to spend the night without leaving the building.

"For Dell Children's, this is a natural extension of our strong relationship with Ronald McDonald House Charities-our two organizations share similar missions to help patients and families in need," said Sr. Teresa George, chief operating officer of Dell Children's and board of directors member for Ronald McDonald House Charities. "Families with children in intensive care often neglect care for themselves, and with the Family Room they now have a means to rest and recoup while staying close to their newborn or child's bedside."

The Family Room is a program of RMHC Austin, and volunteers from the organization are assisting with the day-to-day operations. The Family Room is open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

An initial investment of $100,000 by the RMHC Austin Chapter was made to construct and furnish the Family Room. Dell Children's Medical Center donated the space. Major RMHC Austin donors to the project include HEB, the Home Builders Association of Central Texas, and LCRA Employees United Charities.

Fast Facts

• The Ronald McDonald House is adjacent to Dell Children's Medical Center in the Mueller Community of Austin, Texas.
• The Ronald McDonald House and Dell Children's are built to US Green Building Council LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards. Dell Children's is the first LEED Platinum certified hospital in the world. Austin's Ronald McDonald House is the first LEED Platinum certified Ronald McDonald House in the world.
• LEED Platinum standards include renewable materials, low VOC products, high efficiency lighting, water efficient plumbing fixtures, and ADA standards.
• The Family Room is open to all families with children being cared for at Dell Children's Medical Center, even those that do not meet the distance qualifications for use of the Ronald McDonald House located in the Mueller Development next to the Dell Children's.
• There are currently 171 Ronald McDonald Family Rooms in 19 countries and regions worldwide.
• In 2010, RMHC Austin served over 1400 families through the Ronald McDonald House, Ronald McDonald Family Room, Day Pass and Healing Hearts programs.
• The addition of the Ronald McDonald Family Room at Dell Children's Medical Center will allow RMHC Austin to serve approximately 500 more families each year.
• Dell Children's Medical Center offers an array of medical services to Central Texas families within a 46-county region including the area's only Level I pediatric trauma center, the highest level for trauma care, and a Level 4 epilepsy center, the highest level for epilepsy care.
• The Level 3 NICU at Dell Children's Medical Center treated more than 300 neonates in 2010.
• A Level 3 NICU offers care for the sickest babies and offers the greatest variety of support including being staffed by physicians (neonatologists), nurse practitioners, nurses and respiratory therapists who are specially trained to care for premature and critically-ill newborns.