The mayor of Kamloops is welcoming news that the community will soon get its own Ronald McDonald satellite house.
Ken Christian says a Ronald McDonald family room will be coming to Royal Inland Hospital, which will help provide families in Kamloops and the surrounding area a sense of security and healing.
“Fortunately, I never had to avail myself of Ronald McDonald House, but I know people of Kamloops that did, and there were two things that they brought back,” he said. “First of all, it was affordable to be with your child in Vancouver while they were undergoing specialized treatment at BC Women’s and Children’s mainly or VGH.”
Christian says the second thing was they found was other families dealing with similar trauma, which helped offer both reassurance and support for their journey.
The Ronald McDonald family room will essentially be like a condo or apartment unit in RIH to provide families a supportive safe space away from the hospital environment as their children receive treatment.
“We’re going to have people from 100 Mile House and from Blue River and Lillooet coming here for specialized procedures,” Christian added. “We hope to be able to provide the same sense of security and healing that they do in Vancouver.”
The Ronald McDonald satellite house is slated to open in 2022.