Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Intermountain Area

Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Intermountain Area provides a temporary home-away-from-home that serves and sustains families of seriously ill children receiving treatment at area hospitals, as well as providing support to other programs that assist children in our community. Children heal faster and cope better when surrounded by their loved ones. We have been helping families for over 35 years since a group of community leaders came together to open the Ronald McDonald House in Salt Lake City in 1988.

Our vision of success = Families Healing Together

Goal One: Increased Access to Specialty Pediatric Care.

Goal Two: Access to Family Centered Support to Improve Outcomes and Reduce Psychosocial Impacts.

Goal Three: Continuing Health and Well-being of Families as they Transition Home.

RMHC staff receives regular leadership coaching and hospitality professional development in order to provide needed support, empathy and kindness/love for a family experiencing a difficult time during their child’s care. Staff receives training on the Eleven Tenants of Companioning the Bereaved, self-care, meditation and wellness. Senior Management has received coaching sessions with Beth Strathum of Firebrand Consulting to help them achieve strategic goals by optimizing leadership talent, team talent, and employee productivity, all management level staff received a DISC assessment as well as group training sessions on Courageous Leadership by Brene Brown. All staff are invited to attend conferences, webinars and training that support their role. Our HR Director regularly researches and presents opportunities for staff and leadership development.

RMHC’s highest priority is – and has always been – the health and safety of pediatric patient families. In March 2020, when the CDC and Utah’s local state, county and city governments issued public health orders, the Ronald McDonald House was filled with families who had very high acuity children in the trauma units, NICUs, PICUs, UNI, pre or post organ transplantation programs, or were undergoing cancer treatments. The RMHC leadership team responded quickly by creating the RMHC Emergency Medical Housing Relief Program to ensure that all families with children hospitalized in Salt Lake City continued to receive the services they needed despite the global pandemic. Families with high-acuity children were moved into separate off-site housing where they could safely quarantine during the pandemic. RMHC also created new community partnerships to ensure that families continued to receive critical supportive services such as free transportation to and from the hospital, meals, laundering, personal care/hygiene items, children’s activities, and virtual resources for both the parents and siblings of the hospitalized children. RMHC’s charitable mission is to keep families close when they need each other most. The RMHC leadership team has taken unprecedented steps to minimize the spread of the COVID-19 virus while continuing to fulfill RMHC’s mission of creating a safe and supportive environment for families in crisis. Over the last year the RMHC staff has worked tirelessly to modify the Ronald McDonald House layout and procedures so that they adhere to public health and safety guidelines so that families can move back in. We developed a phased RMHC Program Reinstatement Plan to guide introducing families back on-site to RMHC programs. We will continue to provide both on- and offsite lodging, food, transportation, and amenities as we progress through the RMHC Program Reinstatement Plan. We are currently serving approximately 50 families on-site and 25 families off-site.