What do you do if your child needs hospital treatment, but your family lives far away?
65% of Canadians don’t live in a city with a children’s hospital.
With only 16 specialty children’s hospitals in Canada many families must travel long distances for their child to receive medical treatment. Families are forced to leave their homes, families, jobs and community support at a time when they need them the most, often causing significant emotional and financial stress.
Ronald McDonald House is a place for families to stay while their child is in hospital.
When families learn their child is sick and must be hospitalized, life as they know it changes overnight. RMHC provides families with a place to stay, where they can sleep, enjoy home cooked meals, do laundry, be supported by other families, and receive the care that can help make their journey a little easier. Because when family stay together, sick children get stronger.
Every 20 minutes a new family arrives at an RMHC doorstep.
In an average year, RMHC helps over 26,000 families across Canada from more than 3,400 communities. But sadly, there are up to 45,000 families each year across Canada that we are unable to support today due to a lack of space, with thousands of families on our waitlists. We are making plans to expand existing Ronald McDonald Houses and build new ones with a goal to nearly double the number of bedrooms available.
Help us keep more families together and close to their sick child in hospital. Because when families stay together, sick children get stronger.