When a child is diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, specialized and often urgent, life-saving pediatric care may only be available in Vancouver. In these circumstances, Ronald McDonald House British Columbia & Yukon can play a pivotal role, as a home away from home for families during the treatment process.
So, it’s only fitting that Family Day, February 19 will signal the start of a fundraising campaign to create awareness about the critical role of RMH BC & Yukon in supporting families, and the increasing challenges associated with the rising cost of providing food and lodging for families from across the province.
When a child requires urgent, life-saving pediatric care, their family faces the prospect of being uprooted so they can be close to their child’s critical medical treatment, and they must overcome a host of barriers. Hotel stays are expensive, siblings need to be cared for, and the cost of day-to-day necessities, such as meals can be unsustainable.
“The 73-bedroom House and 4-bedroom Family Room caters to families and is strategically located 575 steps from BC Children’s and BC Women’s Hospital. But its function goes well beyond bricks and mortar,” said Richard Pass, CEO of Ronald McDonald House BC & Yukon. “The House is a place of comfort, healing, and a home away from home for kids and families across BC and Yukon—whether they be from Terrace, Prince George, Kamloops, Penticton, Cranbrook, Victoria, or Whitehorse.”
Ronald McDonald House BC & Yukon serves up to 2,000 families from 200+ communities across the province annually. Since 1983, more than 25,000 families have been assisted, of which 28% are from the interior, 20% from Vancouver Island, and 25% from the North.
“Each and every day, I interact with a family whose child has been diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, and it serves as a constant reminder of the critical partnership between Ronald McDonald House and BC’s healthcare system,” said Pass. “However, we face significant pressure to grow our services and infrastructure to continue increased access to BC’s pediatric health care system. RMH BC & Yukon operates at 100% capacity, we face ever-increasing costs associated with lodging and meeting the meal requirements of families at a time when the cost of food items is at an all-time high.”
To continue to meet the growing demand for our services, this summer, RMH BC & Yukon will be opening another Family Room at Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops and planning to build a second House, adjacent to its Vancouver site in order to double the number of families supported daily.
On New Year’s Eve, 17-year-old Jocelyn Kerr of Prince George was diagnosed with Stage 4 Hodgkins Lymphoma. She and her family have spent 85 nights in RMH BC & Yukon and expect to stay until at least mid-June. Mother Carlene says the House is welcoming and filled with other families – from teens to little kids – all facing similar struggles. “You eat every breakfast, lunch and dinner together.” And while it can be tough sometimes to talk to friends back home about what they are going through, here at RMH BC & Yukon, they are surrounded by people who just get it, and know exactly what they mean. “It puts things into perspective – what ‘hard’ truly is,” says Carlene. Read their story here.
Rhonda Togyis and her husband John are far from their home of Vanderhoof and at RMH BC & Yukon because their son Avery has a form of cancer that he is battling it for the third time. John says, “ being able to eat together is so important and there are family meals, there are so many families that we have gotten to know, and it’s nice to be able to sit down with people who can relate to our experience – and that’s what the house does, is bring people together. It allows them to share that collective strength as well.” View their story here.