Dear Guests, Donors, Staff, and Volunteers,
Ronald McDonald House is committed to providing comfort, care and support to children and their families during their most difficult times. This remains the case with and through the current COVID-19 situation. We have been proactively communicating with the local healthcare providers, health department, State of Ohio, and other Ronald McDonald Houses to ensure we maintain the impact of our mission.
Current Plan for Families/Guests
Effective immediately, we will be implementing the following actions:
- Screening new families who check in to the House with questions around travel and areas of exposure. We will evaluate on a case-by-case basis but will work to get people in the House as best we can.
- Suspending the Day Guest Program effective 3-16-2020 at 6:00 a.m., but will continue to work to provide meals and supplies to families. We will evaluate the Day Guest Program on a biweekly basis to determine the best time for its reinstatement. We know this is an important program and a lifeline for families.
- Closing the Hospitality Suite as of 3-16-2020 at 6:00am until further determined.
- Limiting visitors to the House to only nurses of the patients as needed.
- Suspending the meal program effective 3-16-2020. This will place a burden on our ability to prepare meals and/or making more food available to the families. This effort will be high priority for the staff.
Volunteers
We will be suspending the volunteer shifts as of 3-16-2020 at 6:00 a.m. This is expected to provide a toll on our staffing; thus, we will be increasing the number of staff shifts and covering with the administrative staff to reduce the number of people and potential exposure to our families.
We will close down the use of external groups in the Conference Room and move all internal meetings to electronic information and/or remote/call in meetings as of 3-16-2020. All donations will be left in the front vestibule and processed from that point.
Staffing
We reinforce immediately — any staff member not feeling well is not to report to work.
The administrative staff will be working from home.
Our cleaning schedule has been significantly increased and will continue until further notice.
Final Thoughts
Our goal is to maintain proper precautions to support the health of our organization as a whole. We feel a proactive and inclusive look at this situation is best for all.
Our priorities are simple.
- Keep families close to their children while supporting them getting healthy enough to go home.
- Make sure the health of all volunteers, staff and families are regarded equally to provide the best possible care.
- Communicate openly and clearly about these priorities and the expectations we all make in a unified fashion.
- TAKE CARE OF FAMILY NEEDS!
Despite scaling down some of our services, we feel confident we can provide the same level of service and maintain a strong culture of support. We will continue to provide quality care and a place these families can still call home at a very important time.
We understand the gravity of these decisions and these changes to our programs.
Ronald McDonald House Charities of Northwest Ohio will maintain communication with our healthcare providers and RMHC globally. Thank you for your understanding during this challenging time.
Chad Bringman
Executive Director
419-559-5011
Chad@rmhctoledo.org
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Our Mission Statement Ronald McDonald House Charities of Northwest Ohio is committed to enriching the lives of children by providing comfort, care, and support to families in Northwest Ohio, Southeast Michigan, and beyond.
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