Ronald McDonald House opens Family Room for NICU families at Stony Brook...

Ronald McDonald House opens Family Room for NICU families at Stony Brook Hospital

From left, Mike Fallarino, Chairman of the Board, RMHC NY Metro; Margreet Cevasco, Cevasco Design, Designer of RMHC NY Metro Family Room; Carolyn Milana, MD, Chair, Department of Pediatrics, Stony Brook Medicine; Dr. Hal Paz, Executive Vice President of Health Sciences, CEO of Stony Brook University Medicine; Carol A. Gomes, MS, FACHE, CPHQ, CEO, Stony Brook University Hospital; and Matt Campo, CEO, RMHC NY Metro cut the ribbon to officially open the new Family Room at the Stony Brook Hospital NICU. Photo from RMHC NY Metro

Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) NY Metro officially opened its newest Family Room at the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Stony Brook Hospital on Aug. 4. The space will serve as a respite area for parents and families caring for a newborn in the NICU receiving life-saving treatment. 

The new family room was designed and decorated mostly with donated goods and services and is equipped with a kitchen area, laundry facility and shower, all to keep families close to their ill children in the hospital. Coffee and snacks are also made available free of charge and local restaurants regularly donate warm meals to serve to families. 

“This has been a labor of love,” said Matt Campo, CEO of RMHC NY Metro. “We have partnered with Stony Brook over the last two years to see this come to fruition. Families have been stopping in, expressing their gratitude, and using the facilities that we built for them. It’s providing so much comfort and has given us a glimpse of what this room will mean to them.” 

The room is the second at Stony Brook Hospital. Ronald McDonald House opened a family room in the Stony Brook Children’s Hospital before the COVID pandemic. Both rooms are staffed entirely by volunteers from around Long Island. 

“Serving families is at the heart of what we do,” said Dr. Hal Paz, Executive Vice President of Health Sciences, CEO of Stony Brook University Medicine. “Having the opportunity to provide a quiet space for families is an essential part of providing quality care for all of our patients. Partnerships like these are fundamental to the care that our hospital system provides, allowing us to meet the needs of our patients and their families more fully.

More photos of the Ronald McDonald NICU Respite Lounge at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital can be found here