Making room for more families

When Angie Barron brought her son, Skyyler, to Spokane for a new round of chemotherapy last month, the two of them had to stay in motels for a week because the Ronald McDonald House had a waiting list.

They were not alone in finding no room at the Ronald McDonald House.

Over the course of a year, hundreds of people are turned away at the lodging facility, which has become an increasingly important refuge for out-of-town families with children who are undergoing medical treatment at Spokane medical facilities.

The charitable organization that runs Ronald McDonald House wants to fix the problem and make more room for temporary family housing.

The nonprofit has applied with the city to expand its facility by up to 29,000 square feet at the southwest corner of Fifth Avenue and Monroe Street. The proposal calls for a new building of at least two stories on the east side of the existing facility.

“That would be incredible if that would happen,” said Barron, of Missoula.

She said Spokane is the nearest city with a pediatric oncologist who can treat Skyyler. He is fighting neuroblastoma, a type of cancer that attacks the nervous system and occurs only in young children. Skyyler was diagnosed nearly four years ago after it started in his right kidney, and it had been in remission until recently.

As a result, the Ronald McDonald House has become something of a refuge, Barron said. It is clean, safe and comfortable. Skyyler enjoys the video games. “If you want somebody to talk to, there’s somebody to talk to,” she said, or you can be alone in your room.

“After all this time, it really is like a home away from home,” Barron said.

Mike Forness, executive director of Ronald McDonald House Charities, said the facility was unable to accommodate more than 5,000 daily requests for lodging during a 12-month period ending last August, the last full year for which statistics were available.

The house does not take reservations. Families are asked to call a day in advance. The Barrons waited six days for a room on their first trip to Spokane in 2003.

Almost half of the families staying at Ronald McDonald House last year were there because of premature births or treatment of newborns with complications. Treatment of children for cancer, including leukemia, made up the next largest group at 17 percent.

Forness said the availability of low-cost or no-cost lodging at Ronald McDonald House has become an important factor in families choosing Spokane for their children’s treatment.

“Not only are we part of the emergency support of the family, we are part of the economic support of the family,” he said.

“There is a long waiting list of families that need a place to stay while their children are being treated,” he said.

Families are asked to make a donation of $24 a night but are not required to pay if they cannot afford it. Many families are eligible for Medicaid reimbursement for lodging, Forness said. The actual cost to the charities is about $70 a night per room.

The charities’ board executive committee has not decided when to begin construction. A capital campaign is being launched this year to raise from $3 million to $5 million for the project. The plan tentatively envisions construction by 2010, but it could come sooner if the project fund drive is successful early, Forness said.

The proposal involves demolishing the 1910 Monrovia Apartments, a vacant three-story brick building that would be too expensive to renovate for additional accommodations, he said. The demolition is scheduled to begin on March 12.

Forness said that limitations in the building were another reason in deciding to tear down the Monrovia. For example, the building does not have large windows, while the design philosophy behind Ronald McDonald House is to let in as much outdoor light as possible to create cheery surroundings.

Ronald McDonald House, 1015 W. Fifth, opened in 1987 after five years of fundraising and construction. It was expanded by 5,000 square feet in 2001, and currently has 18,700 square feet.

At the time of the expansion, the charities lost nearly $500,000 in operating costs, but have since turned around finances, in part by sponsoring community fundraising events.

They include the current carrousel horse art project and a 2005 bear art project. This year’s carrousel horses, currently seen throughout downtown, are being auctioned on April 27 at Northern Quest Casino.

Another event that the charities hope to continue is an annual Ronald McDonald House Charities Classic college basketball game, which could involve a two-game event in coming years. The first one last month featured Gonzaga against Memphis at Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena.

McDonald’s Corp., the area’s owner-operators and McDonald’s customers, contribute 15 percent of the operating costs annually, but the charity needs wider support to be successful, Forness said.

Because of financial problems earlier in the decade, the board executive committee decided to take a go-slow approach to expansion. It still hasn’t decided whether to build a facility that will have room for growth or to simply design the expansion so that it can hold additional floors in subsequent phases, Forness said.