The Ronald Mcdonald House is a charity organization that helps give families a welcoming place to stay while their child is suffering from an illness that requires long-term hospitalization. The house also gives families three meals a day, necessary sanitary products, sometimes clothes, and access to a food pantry. Most Ronald Mcdonald houses only have a handful of paid employees, the rest are volunteers. Depending on their position they organize necessities, rooms, payment methods, fundraising efforts, food accessibility, and people who come in to cook one of the three meals a day for the families. The easiest way to volunteer at a Ronald McDonald House, or at least the one in my hometown is to sign up to cook a hot meal in their kitchen for the families. The RMHC mission is to create, find, and support programs that directly improve the health and well-being of children and their families. This charity helps people in their community have a place to stay while their family member is incapable of living at home.

This organization extends the arm of the importance of a patient’s health to the people who surround the patient. A hospital patient’s family is part of their main support system and if those people aren’t in the best health they can be at, then the patient won’t be either. The RMHC values the health of those in need and their families, this shows me that a patient’s care is more than the patient. My values and opinions of the importance of health have grown, they don’t just apply to the person in need of healthcare, they apply that to that person’s surrounding unit. The social well being and mental health of the people surrounding the patient are also very important. 

The RMHV services are highly related to my intended career field. The houses help hospital families, I hope to work in the hospital environment after college as an RN. I will be working directly with patients and their families. People with a psychology, early childhood development, business or health and wellness degrees or anything in the healthcare field. I would consider pursuing public health as my parallel major. I first applied to colleges as a public health major but decided nursing was the better path. Maybe it would be a great parallel major option. 

Below is a short informational video about the Ronald McDonald House Charities.