C‘it is a forest painted on the wall, which seems to have come out of a fairy tale book. In reality this is a work of “Terapiarte” by the artist Domenico Fazzari and is located in the corridor that connects the rPediatric department of the Niguarda hospital in Milan with the Family Room of Ronald McDonald Children’s Foundation.
A passage that is almost a breath of fresh air, but above all a journey within a treatment path, because when the door opens you enter an environment that seems to have come out of a design magazine, with quiet and tastefully furnished rooms, fully equipped kitchen, a well-stocked pantrylaundry and ironing area, spacious bathrooms, rooms for playing and for smart working, sofas for watching TV or reading a book taken from the bookshelves.
The Ronald McDonald Family Rooms
The Foundation is a non-profit organization founded in the United States in 1974 and present in Italy since 1999. Its main purpose is to create and manage both the Ronald McDonald Family Rooms, which are currently four and are located within the pediatric departments (Milan, Bologna, Alessandria, Florence), and the Ronald McDonald houses, again four, located near excellent hospital facilities (Brescia, Rome Palidoro, Rome Bellosguardo and Florence).
Since the opening of the first House in Italy, in 2007, to date more than fifty thousand people have been welcomed free of charge, with reservations that are managed thanks to the support of the hospitals with which the Foundation collaborates. Every year they allow host families to save almost two million euros in accommodation costs.
Maria Chiara Roti, General Director of the Ronald McDonald Italia Children’s Foundation, in the pediatrics and neonatal department of the Niguarda Hospital in Milan. Photo by Giovanni Diffidenti
Four Italian projects
But there are many new features and there are plenty to illustrate them Maria Chiara Roti, General Director of the Ronald McDonald Italia Foundation. You recently received the Leads-Alessandra Pederzoli award, established by the Association of Women Leaders in Healthcare. A prestigious recognition for the Foundation’s commitment towards inclusiveness and gender equality, values that Maria Chiara exercises and implements in the programs and represents firsthand. «We are working on several projects which are also construction sites.
The first, in order of time, is the new one Casa Ronald inside the Sant’Orsola hospital in Bolognaof 300 square meters, intended for the departments of Pediatrics and Neonatal Intensive Care. The House is made up of five bedrooms and large common areas: in addition to mothers, we can also host fathers, grandparents and little brothers, so that the treatment process is also shared with other family members. What will characterize the House will be the creation of an XL format sculpture created by Italian artists who participated in a competition, because we believe that even within culture there is care. A motto that will be visible at the entrance.”
The second project concerns the large Casa Ronald in Milanone thousand square meters with 22 bedrooms, which will be ready in 2026 and intended forBuzzi Children’s Hospital and the Milan Polyclinic, specifically the Mangiagalli and De Marchi clinics. «I find this to be a unique project – continues Roti – because it will be built in a social housing context, right in the heart of Milan, in the Sarpi-Bramante district. We know that today social issues tend to be moved to the suburbs, where there is more space, there are more needs, more fragility, which is why I think that bringing a social welcoming project to the center is truly innovative.”
The relaxation room of the renovated space in Niguarda, with the mural of the forest. Photo by Giovanni Diffidenti
Families arriving from far away, from other regions, but also from the Lombardy provinces will be hosted, because even those who live in Como, Lecco, Sondrio, Lodi, Mantua and have a sick child need a place near the hospital. And Milan is very expensive. «In addition to the rooms, two apartments are also planned for medical or nursing students, to provide 24-hour coverage for the House, as is our international standards, but also to give a small response to the issue of the lack of accommodation and the high rents” explains Roti. «The House is not intended to be a guesthouse, but a space in which to feel protected, cared for, with all the services of a “home away from home”, and with beneficial knock-on effects for everyone. They are good for the mother who does not lose her job, for the little brother who can stay close to his parents, for the healthcare workers who are less stressed by non-clinical problems and therefore less stressed, for the healthcare system all because beds are freed up for other treatments, they are freed public resources to be used for prevention”.
In Niguarda it doubles
The third ongoing project is the expansion of the Family Room inside the Niguarda hospital of Milan which in 2024 will double the spaces, going from the current 300 square meters to 600. The new structure will be made available to the Pediatrics and Neonatal Intensive Care departments and will also expand the reception for mothers of young people in care in the disorders department food, with common areas and an island kitchen.
The shared kitchen of the Family Room currently being expanded in Niguarda. Photo by Giovanni Diffidenti
Support for mothers
The latest project, the first to take place, is the Family Centered Care roundtable: a question for everyone. A journey, from the hospital to home, which will be held on Monday 4 December at the Bocconi University in Milan (see box below). The top Italian experts will talk about the topic of pediatric care away from home. «This is the second conference – continues Roti after the one two years ago in Florence on the topic of Family Centered Care, an American practice also widespread in Italian hospitals, but still little known».
According to the scientific literaturewhen a hospital or a “home away from home” or a welcoming social context takes care of the parents of a hospitalized child, the little patient benefits more from the therapy, hospitalization times are shortened and if the disease is chronic the quality of life is better over time because the entire family group is better. «The contribution of healthcare workers and those like us who work in the social sector», explains Ruti, «is to transform the moment of your child’s diagnosis into a shared suffering, and as far as possible, shared. And this is especially important for women who need to be helped to overcome the concept of oneself as the patient’s sole point of reference, a genetic and ancestral, social role, to become aware of the benefits for everyone of sharing care with others. This implies a transformation, an enhancement, a feeling-behavior that can have a resolution, transformation and relief effect. Our Houses and Family Rooms also have the aim of helping mothers, who is also a woman, partner, daughter, professional and sometimes mother of another child. And therefore to preserve these aspects of her existence. And when we succeed we can say we have hit the mark, because otherwise the risk is of losing everything: the child’s health, loved ones, routine, work, social life.”
Best memories in your work? «It’s the successful challenges, the birth of new friendships, the female alliances that are formed, the great lunches together» concludes the General Director of the RolandMcDonald Italia Foundation. «I felt great confidence in myself when I gave little Marina the first swim of her life, in the sea, in front of our house in Rome Palidoro. Her mother entrusted her to me and we all entered the water, with her little brother. I keep the photos, we smile happily.”
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