The $3.5 million Ronald McDonald House in Charleston was dedicated Thursday during a ceremony. The building, which is about 8,000 square feet larger than the current house in Kanawha City, can comfortably house 14 families of children being treated in Charleston hospitals. The building is scheduled to open in about 10 days.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Jennifer Oliver’s son, Ethan, was coughing up blood and pieces of the lining of his esophagus at one point during his chemotherapy treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
Getting up extra early once a week in the winter, during the hardest part of Ethan’s cancer treatment, to drive from Athens to Charleston for appointments was an added stress. The chemotherapy included 23 spinal taps.
“We didn’t qualify for Medicaid or anything … by the time you pay tolls and $150 for a hotel room, I mean we just couldn’t do that,” Oliver said. “So we were just forced to, like, me working 12 hours, I would get off at midnight, get home and in the bed by 1:30 [a.m.] and then be up by 4:30 [a.m.].”
Eventually, someone suggested trying out the Charleston Ronald McDonald House, a charity that freely provides lodging to families with children seeking treatment.
Oliver said her family has since stayed at the Charleston location 20 or 30 times. And when Ethan — now 7 years old, five years into remission and two years off treatment — and his family return in the future to Charleston Area Medical Center Women and Children’s Hospital for regular checkups, they’ll have an even nicer place — even closer to the hospital — to stay overnight.
Dewayne Dickens, executive director of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Southern West Virginia, said he expects the new, expanded Charleston location to open for families in about 10 days. The $3.5 million facility at 910 Pennsylvania Ave., near the West Virginia Lottery building, is located on the same campus as Women and Children’s, further saving families the 4-mile drive from the existing Kanawha City location.
Dickens said CAMC has purchased the existing location, but he doesn’t know what the hospital chain plans to do with it.
He said the new location is about 8,000 square feet larger and has four more guest rooms, meaning it can simultaneously house about 14 families, compared to the 10 at the existing location. The existing location has 10 families, all of whom will be moving into the new location. Even families nearby will be able to stay at the location if they have children in the hospital, he said.
Dickens said that, of the 8,000 added square feet, 4,000 are part of a third “shell” story that doesn’t yet have walls or furnishings. It is being used for storage but could be converted into six more guest rooms, if the demand is great enough.
Unlike the existing house, the new location is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act and includes an elevator.
Construction began last October. The opening originally was planned for last month, but Dickens said a delay in acquiring some construction materials delayed the process. The charity held a dedication ceremony Thursday night that he said about 175-200 people were to attend.
Dickens said the new location, brightly painted in blue, red, yellow and green on the front, with a heart set in red brick on the concrete sidewalk out front, includes greatly expanded common and kitchen areas.
In the first-floor common area, couches surround a large fireplace below a wall-mounted sculpture in the shape of West Virginia. Doors off the common room lead into the large kitchen, with tables and a long bar-type service area with tall chairs.
There are two refrigerators, stoves and microwaves, along with an expansive guest pantry that looks like a locker room, with 18 large cabinets, each with several shelves.
The common area also has a large window that looks onto a play area with a colorful carpet that has “river” of blue running under a wooden playhouse designed like a grist mill. The blue slide that exits the playhouse lands children in front of a wall of books with classics like “The Velveteen Rabbit” and “Where the Wild Things Are.”
The guest rooms each have two donated Tempur-Pedic full-sized beds and large televisions.
Oliver calls the new building beautiful and praises the location. She said the house allows them to make family meals, instead of relying on drive-thrus or hospital cafeterias.
“The staff has been wonderful, they’re family,” she said, noting they’d had a “no more chemo” party for Ethan.
Reach Ryan Quinn at [email protected], facebook.com/ryanedwinquinn, 304-348-1254 or follow @RyanEQuinn on Twitter.
