My first experience at the House

My first experience at the Ronald McDonald House was an interesting experience as it did not go as I had expected it to. Typically a volunteer shift is either two or four hours so I decided that I was going to do a shift of four hours. When I first walked into the house, the house manager seemed to be confused that a volunteer was showing up at that hour. However, this was not exactly her fault as I had only been put on the schedule less than a week prior and she was not the usual house manager for that particular shift. Unfortunately, my first volunteer experience at the house was not off to a great start as she also did not know what there was to do for me seeing as it was my first visit. As I had already had a house orientation, I sort of knew what I could expect to be doing around the house. Most of the jobs that the volunteers at the house would be doing are jobs that help with the day to day operations such as cleaning out rooms that have been recently vacated, getting the rooms ready for a new guest, helping keep the kitchen clean, laundry, sorting pop tabs, etc. A majority of the work that the volunteers complete is very mundane work and does not completely provide for an enriching experience that one would expect out of service work. The first job that I was given was to mop the kitchen and dining area floors as they had not been mopped for some time and needed a good cleaning. One of the ladies that was volunteering helped to show me where all of the supplies that I would need were located and then I was on my way to mop the floors. While this was not exactly the job that I had in mind, it is none the less an important job since the people there are always going in and out of the hospital, and it is important to keep people healthy, especially the kids that are recovering in the hospital.

The picture above is what a typical room at the house looks like. Later on, I ended up helping clean and prepare a room that had been vacated the previous day. This job involved cleaning all of the surfaces in the room, making the bed, setting out clean towels, toiletry supplies and other small tasks to get the room ready for the next family. Overall, this was the most time consuming task as there are so many little jobs that have to be completed in order for the room to be ready. After this task was done, I sat around at the front desk for awhile talking to the manager that was on duty and another volunteer that I had been working with to clean and prepare the room. While there several people walked in and out of the house, some of them walked by the desk and went about their day, others would stop at the desk and talk. This was the most interesting part of the day because  I was able to learn about the people that stay at the house. A majority of the families that the house serves come from Eastern Kentucky in some of the poorest counties of the United States. Most of these families have a child in the NICU as they are born prematurely or they are in the PICU as they have a child with cancer. Overall, it was an interesting experience and I look forward to my second visit.

Financial Burdens of Families

This is an infographic that I composed on social issues that are relevant to the Ronald McDonald House here in Lexington, Ky, as well as across the globe. It specifically discusses the effects of the Affordable Care Act and the financial burden on the families of those with children who have been diagnosed with pediatric cancer.  One of the issues that the Ronald McDonald House helps families with is the access to a place to stay while their child is in the hospital as well as after major treatments to help them recover. By providing the families with a place to stay it allows the families to be close to their child which is said to help aid in the recovery of the child as they are with people that love them. Many of the families that the house here in Lexington serves come from primarily Eastern Kentucky as well as Southwest Kentucky so these families do not have that much money to begin with. The cost of the treatments creates a significant financial burden on these families as some may or may not have insurance that will be able to help cover the costs of these medical procedures. One of the workers at the house on the first day that I went there for a volunteer orientation said that a large majority of the families that stay there pay less than $2 a night to stay there, instead they are given a chore to do around the house that they have to complete. The Ronald McDonald House provides them with an affordable place to stay as many of them simply can not afford a hotel room while their child is in the hospital for extensive periods of time.