The $1.1 million expansion of the Central New York Ronald McDonald House in Syracuse is good news for Mohawk Valley residents with sick kids.
In the first half of the year, 22% of the 194 families who stayed at the house came from Oneida, Herkimer and Madison counties, according to Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central New York, or RMHC of CNY.
Families stay at the house for free while their children received specialized medical care in Syracuse. The services most commonly needed by kids whose families stay at the house are: the neonatal intensive care unit, pediatric hematology and oncology, the pediatric intensive care unit and pediatric surgery.
The recently completed expansion added six new family suites to 9,000 square feet of previously unfinished space on the house’s fourth floor. These suites will better accommodate large and multigenerational families, parents who need to work remotely during their stay and families who need private living space because their child is immunocompromised.