Leslie Akin
December 7th, Every Saturday
Ronald McDonald House - Stanford
Monica Makela
mmakela@ronaldhouse.net
Before starting my first visit at the Ronald McDonald House, I had the preconceptions that I would be working with a lot of sick children, with disabilities, and their over protective parents. The issue I am focusing on is creating a home environment for the children and their families. Not only low income families, but families from all over the world visit Stanford Hospital/Lucile Packard Hospital for specific treatments. Some visits are months long, and simply a hotel room would not be reasonable. So, at the Ronald McDonald house we strive to make it as homie and comfortable for all visitors. My work is at the CARE Center, aka the play rooms and outside. My work challenged my preconceptions becuase I worked mostly with the sick children's siblings, most of whom were very shaken up by their families problems. I discovered I am very nervous around sick people, but soon I realized because I had not been very exposed to them I was uncertain what to do. After two visits I had lots of exposure and totally felt comfortable. Although some kids would not be able to respond to me, I would still talk to them. I very much believe I had an impact. I play with the siblings when the parents have to go visit their sick child. I cannot imagine leaving my sick child alone in the hospital, so I have a lot of respect for the parents there. On one girls birthday (I cannot say her name) her parents just dropped her off to me. I realized how upset I would be if that was me. And decided I have to make her birthday special. I may have impacts on the small personal level, but ultimately I will help a lot of families, and improve the environment's attitude at the house.
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