
The Ronald McDonald Family Room began welcoming guests in 2009 inside the walls of Kentucky Children’s Hospital in Lexington, KY. The Family Room provides a comforting and quiet area of respite, relaxation and reflection for families and loved ones of children who are being treated in the critical care units (NICU, PICU) of the hospital.
The Ronald McDonald Family Room, open from 9 a.m to 9 p.m, seven days a week, is staffed with helpful specially trained and screened volunteers. Guests of the Family Room will find comfortable seating areas, complimentary snacks, McDonald’s® coffee, books and magazines as well as the use of portable electronic devices (DVD and CD players) with a library of family-friendly media. For the siblings, toys, crayons/coloring books, and games are also available.Families of children facing life and death circumstances are often hesitant to leave the hospital even for one minute and the Family Room provides a few moments of escape throughout the day away from the stress of their situation.
In 2024:
- 8,542 people were served in the Family Room
- Over 1,500 Lunches with Love were distributed
- 2 new Care Carts (KCH Richmond Road Specialty Clinic, KCH Pediatric Extended Recovery Unit) were launched and we implemented a Care Cart that visits KCH inpatient units (non-intensive care), antepartum, postpartum, and mother-baby units once a week, expanding access to and awareness of RMHC programs.
- We began providing snack bags to general pediatric clinics at UK, have provided 100 so far
- We hired a part-time Care Cart Coordinator and increased service to families and children by 287%
- 97 new volunteers attended Family Room orientations
- We began hosting quarterly Rise & Shine events in our Family Room to raise awareness with all Kentucky Children’s Hospital staff, and out last one had 81 attendees
The Ronald McDonald Family Room program at Kentucky Children’s Hospital is made possible through leadership support from McDonald’s of Southeastern and Central Kentucky and UK HealthCare as well as individuals, companies, and organizations who provide in-kind and financial contributions.