By Rick Shepherd, Communications Manager, RMHC of Central Ohio

Some may not be aware that we are required by Nationwide Children’s Hospital to have staff members, not volunteers, welcome families and family members to our Ronald McDonald Family Room in the Big Lots Behavioral Health Pavilion. That’s why many of us who wear different hats professionally with our chapter, can often be found greeting folks to our room in the BHP.

I just wanted to share a short chat I had with the grandma of a patient being cared for here in the BHP, where I’m working today. When checking her in to our family room, she said she was from nearby Pickerington, Ohio and she’s been here to the room several times over that past several weeks, but the patient is being released and she would be headed home today…except that now, a hurricane is probably destroying her house as we speak. She further explained, with tears in her eyes, she’s the patient’s grandma from Florida and she’s actually been staying with the patient’s parent’s home in Pickerington to support them and her grandchild during this tough mental health crisis for the family. However, she actually lives in Punta Gorda, Florida where Hurricane Ian – a category 4 storm at the moment and one of the worst in a hundred years to hit the area – is currently baring down. She tells me she may not have a house to go home to now and feels fortunate to be staying with family up here a little longer, until the storm passes and she can return to assess the damage. There have been more than a few families here today in the sitting area watching The Weather Channel coverage of the storm with great concern for those they know there.

It’s a good reminder of the additional stressors, unrelated to their medical journey here, that can be playing a part in the lives of the families we’re caring for when they’re in our House or one of our family rooms. We here at RMHC of Central Ohio are also thinking of our volunteers and “extended work family” here who may be in Florida, have homes there, or who themselves have family members there as well as all of the RMHC chapters in Florida – especially along the west coast – who are facing quite a stress-test right now themselves. Here’s hoping everyone who lives in Florida is staying safe and has the best possible outcome.

Organizers of The Columbus Food Truck Festival are supporting Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Ohio by providing a cash donation for the 200 volunteers the RMHC chapter is providing for the event over this coming weekend. Even many staff members from our chapter will be on hand Saturday night to fill the last gap left in the volunteer shifts that needed filled. (Chief Marketing Officer Ryan Wilkins won’t just be helping out alongside volunteers Saturday night. The former recording artist will also be one of the entertainers on stage this weekend singing and playing guitar.) Getting this many volunteers gathered for this event at the Franklin County Fairgrounds in Hilliard, Ohio is quite an achievement for RMHC of Central Ohio and its volunteer manager Meika Hilles. As one of the largest, and most fun, out-of-House events where recruiting volunteers is vital to the success of the event, Hilles was able to get just enough volunteers right down to the wire before the festival. Volunteer recruitment has been a bit tougher since trying to get back to normal numbers of volunteers after some left our roster following the height of the pandemic. That’s why Hilles is especially appreciative of all those who have committed to helping this weekend.

Click here to read the story in the Columbus Dispatch about this large gathering of food trucks in Franklin County.

Photo Courtesy: Columbus Food Truck Festival

He’s the leader of the band. The NACHO Street Band, that is, which is currently fundraising for Ronald McDonald House Charities for Central Ohio so more families can be accommodated. The publication Voyage Ohio recently published an interview with Steven Poast about the band. Check out Steven Poast’s Story here.

Just a few weeks ago, NBC4’s anchor Matt Barnes stopped by the House to interview Poast and frequent audience-involvement performer Peter Quint. That report can be watched by clicking the image below.

It will have been twenty years ago this September, that the Ronald McDonald House became the Rupp family’s home away from home when their daughter, Morgan, was born weighing only 1 pound, 9 ounces. Today, Morgan’s mom Melissa happens to work for an Extension Office of The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences. So when Melissa learned of the OSU CFAES Dean’s Charity Steer Show, she couldn’t wait for her family to get involved. Click the image to hear Melissa talk about this exciting fundraising event coming to the Ohio State Fair on Tuesday benefiting Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Ohio.

The 2022 Dean’s Charity Steer Show will be at The Ohio State Fair on August 2. Ohio Farm Bureau president Bill Patterson and senior director of communications Ty Higgins are among the teams of ag community leaders, business leaders, and area broadcasting celebrities learning from experienced, young 4-H exhibitors to raise money for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Ohio. Ty Higgins, senior director of media relations for the Ohio Farm Bureau interviewed Cathann Kress vice president for agricultural administration and dean of The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences about this fundraiser that is back after the inaugural show in 2019. Kress says she was pleasantly surprised when the group at RMHC liked her unorthodox idea.

To learn more about the steer show and contribute to the fundraiser through one of the teams, click here.

The Ronald McDonald House in Columbus, Ohio is growing for a million reasons. Click the image below to watch the video that aired on NBC4 this week featuring two of our board members, Bruce Burkholder and Tammy Roberts Myers, speaking with Shawn Ireland on the Live Happy, Live Well program. To learn more about our campaign, visit www.RMHC-CentralOhio.org/amillionreasons .

An open letter to Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Ohio:

I have had a dual career and when I retired from nursing, I was back into real estate full time. I was a NICU RN for 26 years. I now own my own Real Estate brokerage here in Mason County, West Virginia. I actually drove from here to Columbus my last six years before retiring and worked at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital NICU at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. Ronald McDonald Charities has always held a special place for me because of my NICU background as an RN. I worked in Phoenix for 20 years and upon moving back here to be near family, but did my last 6 years in Columbus.

My brokerage was a center here in Mason County for donations over the holidays in honor of one of your guests Hannah and Jay Parrack and their son Sutton that had a lengthy stay at NCH. We spearheaded the effort and took donations from individuals, businesses, plus a few 4-H clubs and an elementary school. We advertised on social media and walked in the Christmas parade and handed out a 1000 flyers plus advertised about the donation drive at other holiday events.

Not just Sutton, but so many children in this area end up at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus. It is rural here for the most part, so our sick babies and children almost always have to leave the area. Yes, we have Ronald McDonald Charities here in Huntington, but I know it’s even a greater burden when our families have to be in Columbus as it’s over 2 hours away. So many children in this area have benefited from your Columbus Ronald McDonald House.

We aimed to deliver everything to you in January, but the weather has not been cooperative to us! My secretary worked tirelessly and organized everything we delivered today. You should have seen our office the last few weeks of the year when donations were coming in!!!

Kind Regards,
Angie

Angie Cline Zimmerman, Broker/Owner, The Angie Zimmerman Realty Group

A Response From The Parrack on Facebook

Click here to see the post on Facebook.

Thank you so much to Angie Cline Zimmerman, Broker/Owner, The Angie Zimmerman Realty Group and group, Point Pleasant Primary School and all the people who donated to Angie to support the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Ohio. I was truly amazed to walk in today and see how many items have been collected. I cannot wait for it to get delivered! We stayed at the [Ronald McDonald House in Columbus] for 90 straight days. To say RMHC is a blessing is an understatement. I’m so proud to be part of a community that is willing to support this cause! Thank you so much Angie for putting this all together to honor Sutton and any other local kids who have used the Ronald McDonald House! What a blessing this will be for all the families in need!!

Sutton wanted to help start carrying it all to the truck.

Photo credit: Sutton Strong/Facebook

Guest Blog & Photos By Bryana Wallace

My name is Bryana Wallace, I am 18 years old, and I am currently a sophomore in the nursing program at Ohio University. All throughout high school, I participated in competitive and school cheerleading as well as cross country. In January 2019, I was throwing my flyer around at competitive cheer practice, when she came down and elbowed me in the neck causing swelling. We thought nothing of it. I sat out that week until the swelling went down. After the swelling went down there was a lump right above my collarbone. For months we thought it was nothing, I had an ultrasound, and everything seemed fine. I was told it was just an internal bruise and it would go away on its own. Many months went by, and the lump was not getting smaller, some days it even looked bigger. A biopsy was then taken and on August 15th, 2019, I was told I had stage 2 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

The week of August 19th, 2019, I had many scans and appointments with the doctor only to hear I would be starting Chemo treatments August 23rd. I attended the first day of my junior year and on the second day of school I started chemotherapy. After treatments began, I could not go to school. I missed half of my junior year but thanks to Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Ohio State University and Alexander High School, I was able to get a robot that I could connect to from home so that I could be in classes.

The nurses and doctors at NCH were amazing. They made me feel as at home as possible. I might have been receiving chemo and going through the hardest parts in my life, but I will never forget the amount of comfort I felt at NCH. The nurses made a big impact on me personally. I knew I always wanted to be a nurse, but I wasn’t quite sure just what kind of nursing I wanted to do. It wasn’t until a nurse came in who was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s at the age of 16. She told me her story and to see where she was now, inspired me. It made me realize that I wanted to help other children and be able to share my story as a Pediatric Oncology Nurse.

The Ronald McDonald House will forever have a special place in the hearts of me and my family. On the eighth day of my chemo schedule, like clock-work, I would get a fever about 4 hours after treatment. I lived about 2 hours away from NCH so whenever I got a fever, I was sent to my local ER, then was taken to NCH by an ambulance. After that first ride in an ambulance, we knew something needed to change. Fortunately, I was given the opportunity to stay at the Ronald McDonald House with my family. After staying that first night, my family and I made it a point to stay there after day eight of each cycle, knowing what was coming. The workers – including volunteers – at the Ronald McDonald House were the sweetest people with the biggest hearts. They made sure everyone had what was needed, snacks were provided all day, and they arranged for people to come in to make food for the families staying there, including mine. I was not able to stay an entire night at the House, except for the last cycle of treatments. That’s because after getting a fever, I would be admitted, of course. However, whenever I had to go to the ER, the workers at Ronald McDonald would allow us to keep our bags in the room until we had time to go back over and process our check out.

The Ronald McDonald house helped relieve a burden for my family by providing all of the comforts of home and knowing we were right across the street from the hospital when I would get sick. It can never be expressed enough how valuable a resource the Ronald McDonald House is and the services they provide to people that desperately need them. I can never thank the Ronald McDonald house enough for not only me but all of the other families that have stayed, are staying there now, or ever will stay there in the future as the House gets bigger.

In 2020, I spoke at the Bobcathon dance marathon and shared my story. After hearing that they raised money for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Ohio, I knew this would be a great opportunity to give back. I am currently the Director of Fundraising for the student group. The biggest event I planned was a 5k. We ended up raising over $1,500 for the Ronald McDonald House! I have learned so much being a part of Bobcathon. Being able to raise money for such a great place has been amazing. RMHC helped not only my family but thousands of families as they go through some of the hardest journeys in their lives.

To all of the supporters and potential sponsors of this year’s Bobcathon, I cannot begin to thank everyone enough. Without the support of many people around not only the Athens community but all over, we would not have been able to make this all possible to help the House. Knowing that so many people have already donated to the Ronald McDonald House hits really close to home, especially in my family. No family should have to fight their battles alone!

To learn more about BobcaThon or make a donation, click here.

Bryana with fellow BobcaThon student organizers visit the Ronald McDonald House to volunteer.

For several years, Village Green Properties in Central Ohio have had a fundraising day called Splash Day, centered around the pool at its residential complexes.  On May 2 Industry, Village Green’s newest Columbus property, held it’s first Splash Day at its roof-top pool. Welcoming guests and residents of the party to the lobby was a red and white play house with a yellow flower box on it’s big window. It turns out that a couple of the Industry staff decided to use some left over construction materials from the new structure to build that play house to be delivered to the Ronald McDonald House in Columbus. A few days later, the man who built the little house was dropping it off at the Ronald McDonald House for children to use while staying in our big House. Click the image below to see a short video about the arrival of the little house and hear from the Industry maintenance pro who built it.

NBC News senior investigative correspondent, Cynthia McFadden, and her crew were the first TV news cameras allowed inside the new psychiatric tower at Nationwide Children’s Hospital recently. McFadden aired a lengthy feature report on the Today Show this morning as part of it’s Mind Matters series, and followed up with a more serious report inside the crisis department for Nightly News with Lester Holt, as the anchor broadcast LIVE from Cleveland for an 0n-the-road edition of the newscast.

We’re proud to have the first-of-its-kind Ronald McDonald Family Room in a pediatric-specific psychiatric facility, where family members can take a break from the patient’s room, but still be close by. Since the hospital can’t offer tours to groups, this rare glimpse inside the hospital shows the important work going on that we’re so happy to support.

The pandemic has led to a troubling increase in mental health issues for young people across the country, even as many resources are shrinking. The past year has brought a stunning increase in the proportion of mental health visits to the ER — up 31 percent nationally for those 12 to 17, and 24 percent for kids 5 to 11. The hospital’s new Behavioral Health Pavilion is one of only a few pediatric psychiatry hospitals in the country with in-patient treatment.

Watch both of McFadden’s reports below and take a tour of our family room in the third video.