Children’s Hospital of Richmond Vice President Jeniece Roane, left, with children who received care at the hospital and others who participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the hospital’s new Ronald McDonald House center. (Jack Jacobs photos)
A nonprofit that provides lodging and hospitality services to families with kids undergoing medical treatment has opened a new support center at VCU Health’s downtown children’s hospital.
The local arm of Ronald McDonald House Charities held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday for a center dedicated to families of patients at the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU.
The new facility comes as the nonprofit continues to plan for a larger, regional family center on the scale of what it envisioned for the nixed VCU Health-anchored redevelopment of the nearby Public Safety Building property.
The 3,300-square-foot center in the children’s hospital features bedrooms and a kitchen space, among other amenities. The center provides a place for the families of patients of the hospital to rest and stay while their children are treated.
In addition to four bedrooms and a kitchen, the center features a lounge, a laundry room, outdoor patio and children’s play area.
“They’re designed to support families for a short stay,” Ronald McDonald House Charities of Richmond CEO Kerry Blumberg said in an interview after the ribbon-cutting.
The space is also intended for the nonprofit’s staff and volunteers to hold programming.
A play area is among the amenities at the Ronald McDonald House center at VCU Health’s children’s hospital in downtown Richmond.
The center cost $1.5 million. The money for the project came by way of a capital fundraising campaign, in which John and Deborah Kemper, for whom the center is named, were leading donors. The center was scheduled to open today (Wednesday).
DPR was the project’s general contractor. Architecture firm SMBW designed the center.
The center is in the hospital’s Children’s Tower, a $420 million addition to the pediatric hospital that was completed earlier this year. The new center is a consolidation and expansion of the nonprofit’s offerings for the families of the hospital’s patients.
“The old rooms were like half this size, no windows and no real common area,” Blumberg said. “We want to be walking beside them to make the families have all the support they need. So as their services increase, we need our services to increase.”
The new family support center at the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU features four bedrooms for families of patients receiving care at the hospital.
Ronald McDonald House has signed a memorandum of understanding to operate the center for 25 years.
The opening of the center, a project that Blumberg said had been years in the making, comes as the nonprofit explores a new way forward for a large family center project that had been planned as part of the failed VCU Health-anchored redevelopment of the city’s Public Safety Building site at 500 N. 10th St.
Blumberg said the need for the larger center remains.
“Based on discharge data from local hospitals in our region, the true need for pediatric medical hospitality, which is what we call what we do, is up to 62 sleep rooms a night. We are not currently able to meet the needs of our footprint, so we have a dream of a bigger facility,” Blumberg said.
She continued: “We’ve been working on it for a long time. Land is expensive and building a facility is expensive. We want to get it right, so we want to make sure we have the right location and then we’ll look to the community to support us and make that dream a reality.”
Ronald McDonald House was to be a subtenant of VCU Health as part of the development, which VCU Health exited for financial reasons. The health system is on the hook for demolition of the city-owned property. Richmond City Council voted to authorize the start of demolition last month.
A February 2021 development agreement for the failed project laid out a Ronald McDonald House facility at the complex that would have been at least 65,000 square feet and would have featured 60 guest rooms for families with children receiving medical care.
Blumberg said Ronald McDonald House isn’t involved in any future redevelopment plans for the Public Safety Building property, which VCU, the university, is now eyeing for a new dentistry school.
The Ronald McDonald House at 2330 Monument Ave. continues to operate. That center features nine bedrooms and is used by families of children receiving care at local hospitals. The downtown facility is dedicated to the children’s hospital.
A two-bedroom family center operates at Bon Secours St. Mary’s Hospital. Blumberg said the nonprofit is looking at potential expansions of services at other local hospitals.
Ronald McDonald House is an independent nonprofit. Fast-food chain McDonald’s is the largest corporate partner of the charity organization but doesn’t own it, per the nonprofit’s website.
Children’s Hospital of Richmond Vice President Jeniece Roane, left, with children who received care at the hospital and others who participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the hospital’s new Ronald McDonald House center. (Jack Jacobs photos)
A nonprofit that provides lodging and hospitality services to families with kids undergoing medical treatment has opened a new support center at VCU Health’s downtown children’s hospital.
The local arm of Ronald McDonald House Charities held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday for a center dedicated to families of patients at the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU.
The new facility comes as the nonprofit continues to plan for a larger, regional family center on the scale of what it envisioned for the nixed VCU Health-anchored redevelopment of the nearby Public Safety Building property.
The 3,300-square-foot center in the children’s hospital features bedrooms and a kitchen space, among other amenities. The center provides a place for the families of patients of the hospital to rest and stay while their children are treated.
In addition to four bedrooms and a kitchen, the center features a lounge, a laundry room, outdoor patio and children’s play area.
“They’re designed to support families for a short stay,” Ronald McDonald House Charities of Richmond CEO Kerry Blumberg said in an interview after the ribbon-cutting.
The space is also intended for the nonprofit’s staff and volunteers to hold programming.
A play area is among the amenities at the Ronald McDonald House center at VCU Health’s children’s hospital in downtown Richmond.
The center cost $1.5 million. The money for the project came by way of a capital fundraising campaign, in which John and Deborah Kemper, for whom the center is named, were leading donors. The center was scheduled to open today (Wednesday).
DPR was the project’s general contractor. Architecture firm SMBW designed the center.
The center is in the hospital’s Children’s Tower, a $420 million addition to the pediatric hospital that was completed earlier this year. The new center is a consolidation and expansion of the nonprofit’s offerings for the families of the hospital’s patients.
“The old rooms were like half this size, no windows and no real common area,” Blumberg said. “We want to be walking beside them to make the families have all the support they need. So as their services increase, we need our services to increase.”
The new family support center at the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU features four bedrooms for families of patients receiving care at the hospital.
Ronald McDonald House has signed a memorandum of understanding to operate the center for 25 years.
The opening of the center, a project that Blumberg said had been years in the making, comes as the nonprofit explores a new way forward for a large family center project that had been planned as part of the failed VCU Health-anchored redevelopment of the city’s Public Safety Building site at 500 N. 10th St.
Blumberg said the need for the larger center remains.
“Based on discharge data from local hospitals in our region, the true need for pediatric medical hospitality, which is what we call what we do, is up to 62 sleep rooms a night. We are not currently able to meet the needs of our footprint, so we have a dream of a bigger facility,” Blumberg said.
She continued: “We’ve been working on it for a long time. Land is expensive and building a facility is expensive. We want to get it right, so we want to make sure we have the right location and then we’ll look to the community to support us and make that dream a reality.”
Ronald McDonald House was to be a subtenant of VCU Health as part of the development, which VCU Health exited for financial reasons. The health system is on the hook for demolition of the city-owned property. Richmond City Council voted to authorize the start of demolition last month.
A February 2021 development agreement for the failed project laid out a Ronald McDonald House facility at the complex that would have been at least 65,000 square feet and would have featured 60 guest rooms for families with children receiving medical care.
Blumberg said Ronald McDonald House isn’t involved in any future redevelopment plans for the Public Safety Building property, which VCU, the university, is now eyeing for a new dentistry school.
The Ronald McDonald House at 2330 Monument Ave. continues to operate. That center features nine bedrooms and is used by families of children receiving care at local hospitals. The downtown facility is dedicated to the children’s hospital.
A two-bedroom family center operates at Bon Secours St. Mary’s Hospital. Blumberg said the nonprofit is looking at potential expansions of services at other local hospitals.
Ronald McDonald House is an independent nonprofit. Fast-food chain McDonald’s is the largest corporate partner of the charity organization but doesn’t own it, per the nonprofit’s website.
The Ronald McDonald house is a blessing!!! My daughter was in a hospital in Denver for 4 months and they allowed my wife to stay there which allowed my daughter to have family nearby until she got healthy again. Local churches and other community members brought food to the facility. It was comforting not have to worry about lodging.
Did I read that right? $1.5 million for 4 bedrooms?
No, you didn’t. But can’t say I’m surprised…
$1.5 million for a 3,300 sq ft. center with four bedrooms, a kitchen space, a lounge, an outdoor patio, a children’s play area and room for staff to hold programming. Physical features aside, this looks like a much-needed improvement for a space devoted to families going through an unimaginable process.
Wait until people find out the truth about places like the Ronald McDonald house. Sound of Freedom has already revealed a lot to the public eye.