A Home Away f rom Hospital
Out-of-town families with seriously ill youngsters now can
find rest, reflection and privacy within the walls of Riley Hospital
for Children.
To break away from the bedside of a gravely ill child is a tough
thing for a family to do. Uncertainty, worry and fatigue take their
toll when there is no privacy for families remaining close by their
child’s side.
But now such a place exists within the walls of Riley Hospital
for Children. The Frank and Marian Snyder Family Resource Center,
the third largest of its kind in the country, offers families a
haven while their children are being treated at Riley.
“Each area of the center was designed with convenience and
comfort in mind, and provides in every sense a healing environment,”
says Richard L. Schreiner, MD, Riley’s physician-in-chief
and the Edward L. Gresham Professor of Pediatrics at Indiana University
School of Medicine. “The facility is an educational resource
as well as a sanctuary for parents, patients and other family members.”
The $5 million, 13,000-square-foot facility, which incorporates
a Ronald McDonald House, Riley Chapel, a new library and a new education
center, was made possible by the private contributions of Frank
and Marian Snyder of Indianapolis, who are frequent donors to charitable
or worthwhile causes, especially those involving children. Others
contributing to the building of the center include the Edward A.
Block family, Ronald McDonald House and the Riley Children’s
Foundation.
Step inside the Frank and Marian Snyder Family Resource Center
and learn what makes it unique among the nation’s children’s
hospitals:
Ronald McDonald House
The opening of a new Ronald McDonald House within Riley offers
six fully furnished overnight guest rooms and are available to families
with a child in any of Riley critical care units.
During the day, any family with an inpatient can use a large common
area, which includes a double-sided fireplace, dining room and well-stocked
pantry and laundry facilities. A courtyard, specifically for Ronald
McDonald House guests, is located nearby.
The first Ronald McDonald House opened near the IU Medical Center
campus in 1982, offering close and inexpensive quarters to families
of children hospitalized at Riley. It currently serves more than
1,100 families annually.
“The partnership with Riley has proved to be a creative,
convenient and timely way to expand the comfort we provide to patients’
families,” says Jeffery Qualkinbush, president of Ronald McDonald
House of Indiana’s board of directors.
Edward A. Block Family Library
The library contains many resources for parents and children, including
computer and Internet access, books, brochures, magazines, videotapes,
audiotapes, radios, and board and video games.
A partnership between the Riley Community Education and Advocacy
Department and the Indiana Parent and Information Network offers
programs and materials about injury prevention, health and wellness,
support groups and legal, social and financial issues of interest
to families.
The library is funded through the estate of the late Edward A.
Block, an Indianapolis business executive who died in 1982.
Riley Family Education Center
The center provides a personalized teaching environment away from
the distractions of a hospital room or floor. In most hospitals,
the only education parents receive is at their child’s bedside
or in a lounge or small office area.
The Riley Family Education Center takes a more proactive approach.
Classes are offered on how families can adapt their home environment
to meet the needs of their children once they leave the hospital.
For example, parents can rearrange a furnished mock bedroom to learn
how to accommodate medical equipment at home.
Riley Chapel
The original Riley Chapel is the fourth component of the Family
Resource Center. The chapel, open twenty-four hours, remains a peaceful
sanctuary for parents and families. Family also can find spiritual
support, as always, through the chaplaincy department at Riley.
The Family Resource Center complements the important role families
play in the delivery of care to their hospitalized children. Riley’s
Families as Faculty program puts parents of previously hospitalized
youngsters in the teaching role, explaining to physicians, medical
students and nurses what their Riley experience was like. Such collaborations
help staff better understand their roles as medical professionals
and improve their communication skills with patients and families.
“After the first eighty years of serving Hoosier families,
we are ready to embark on the next eighty, and this means finding
new ways to enhance the care provided at Riley,” says Gary
Miller, Riley’s vice president of pediatrics.
“The new center certainly puts us on that path.”
For more information about the Frank and Marian Snyder Family Resource
Center, call 317-274-4071.
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