How in the USA they help parents of seriously ill children

Ronald McDonald House. Photo author

I have a neighbor, a widow named Virginia. I once asked her what she did in her free time? The pensioner replied: "My niece studies, and I take her child from school and look after him until she returns."

Some Russians are convinced that American grandmothers do not help their grandchildren raise, but this is not true. This is not the first time I've come across such grannies! Then Virginia said: “I volunteer at the Ronald McDonald House.”

I did not understand what she was talking about. Virginia told me that 30 years ago her 3-year-old son became ill with leukemia. The treatment took place in another city. And she could be with him thanks to the Ronald MacDonald House charity. Son survived, works, for him already for 30. And Virginia gives its debt to society, working there as a volunteer.

Children may end up in hospitals for a variety of reasons. For example, premature babies who must be nursed for weeks or months in hatcheries. In people's lives, accidents, serious illnesses, and operations happen. For a child with a complex diagnosis, pain and the treatment itself are stressful, and not having the support of mom or dad nearby would be monstrous. Because love is also medicine.

If parents live from a hospital in 25 for miles and more, then they are provided with accommodation and meals at the Ronald MacDonald Charity House. It can be inexpensive, all 12 dollars per night in our center at Mobile, or for free, depending on family income. Parents do not have a headache about paying for expensive hotels, nor about products. Different stores supply their goods to Ronald MacDonald House - coffee, tea, bread, pies, meat, soap, toilet paper and so on. At the center there are people who work there for a bet or half-time, and there are quite a few who come to help once a week, what they can do - to clean rooms, for example, to clean up the storeroom, in the kitchen or in the nursery.

Some families live in this hostel all day. One unfortunate mother stayed there for long 8 months.

In every major city near the hospital there is such an organization “Ronald MacDonald”. Her motto is “Finding hope and healing for families.” This hostel is called “home away from home”.

A little history. Pediatric oncologist Dr. Evans worried that parents could not be with their sick children in the hospital. And many could not afford to live in hotels for weeks. And it dawned on her: to create a kind of dormitory at the hospital, in which families could spend the night and concentrate on the moral support of their sick child, without worrying about where to get food, where to wash things and how to entertain their other child, a healthy one... In 1974, the daughter A football player named Fred Hill of the Philadelphia Eagles developed leukemia and was treated at the hospital where Dr. Evans worked. The oncologist shared her ideas about a charity home with the football player and his team manager, and they came up with the idea of ​​​​creating a fund, agreeing with the McDonald's restaurant on advertising and a campaign. All money received from the sale of the green mint cocktail “clover” was the first contribution. When you buy food at an American McDonald's, there is a change box near the cash register in which you can put a couple of coins - they also go to a fund to help families with sick children.

So the doctor, the football player and the McDonald’s restaurant “figured out for three” and created the first “Ronald McDonald House” on October 15 of the year 1974. Now around 300 such centers in the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia.

The name is associated with the name of the clown, because the clown is a symbol of joy, family and children. Now this organization is sponsored by corporations, and shops, and individuals, which are called "donors." For many Russians, the word “donor” is associated with blood, in the understanding of Americans it is a person who donates not only blood, but money and time for the good of other people.

Virginia gave me a tour of this center. I saw a children's room with toys, an office with several computers and books.

I also saw a giant living room and dining room with TVs and sofas, laundry rooms with several washing machines and dryers. In the kitchen there are 6 huge refrigerators and 8 stoves so that people can cook for themselves from the products that are available in the center.

Virginia showed me a vacant room. Well, the most ordinary hotel room with a toilet, 2 beds, a built-in wardrobe for clothes, side tables, curtains, carpet, a picture on the wall. On each door there is a lock with a code so that parents of seriously ill children feel safe. In the pantry, on the shelves were rows of shampoos, soap, paper towels, laundry detergents, and even jars of Coke and Sprite donated by Coca-Cola.

I brought for the Ronald MacDonald library several children's books and my novel in English "Your body is my prison" You never know, adults are different, maybe in order to escape from reality, someone will want to plunge into the world of fantasy. When someone in the family is seriously ill, it takes time, money, and energy. And this is one of the themes of my novel - the body of a sick person becomes a prison for a healthy one.

Excursion to Ronald McDonald House

Front view from the parking

The assistant director, an American, Lisa, posed with me near the center symbol.

Laundry

On the walls of the center there are framed “stars” with the names of children who did not survive

Kitchen. Pay attention to 4 plates, cabinets, cleanliness

All these pies, buns and bread are delivered to Ronald MacDonald House by the PUBLIX / PUBLIX supermarket.

Virginia - one of those old ladies whom we call "God's dandelion." In any state where I lived since 1998, I found a sweet, gray-haired, intelligent and sincere granny to communicate with, who would remind me of my dear and distant grandmother Maria Stepanovna. When I hug Virginia, I actually hug my grandmother - her wisdom, kindness, purity, tenderness.

How wonderful it is when there are people who spend their time not on idleness, gossip and slander, but on real help in real charity centers.

About the author: Oksana Leslie is a writer, author of the novel “Is America Mother Calling?”, Author of the popular video blog about life in the USA.

Original article published on Online Oksana Leslie and reprinted with permission of the author.

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