Ronald McDonald Children's Foundation comes to southern Italy at AOU Federico II

It will be the Maternal and Childhood Department of the Federico II University Hospital, directed by Professor Giuseppe Bifulco, that will host the first facility in southern Italy of the Ronald McDonald Children's Foundation. The Ronald McDonald Family Room will be a real home built among the Department's halls, ready to welcome the families of children facing difficult treatment paths.

"We are proud that the first Ronald McDonald Foundation Family Room in Southern Italy will come to life right inside the Federico II University Hospital. It is a project that we feel deeply, because it allows us to really be closer to people's needs and to continue the humanization of pathways. Offering families a welcoming, serene and functional space means accompanying them on the path of care and alleviating, at least in part, the emotional and practical burden they live next to their children," emphasize School of Medicine President Giovanni Esposito and Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Federico II General Director Giuseppe Longo.

"In our Department, the care pathway inevitably involves the entire family unit whose support is an integral part of the care process, both clinically and psychologically. The family rooms represent a concrete support in this direction: dedicated spaces that allow families to stay close, in a protected and welcoming environment, even in the most difficult moments, enhancing the continuity between assistance, care and welcome," the words of the Director of the Department of Integrated Maternal and Childhood Activities Giuseppe Bifulco.

The new Family Room will be about 230 square meters in size and will be connected to the Maternal and Infantile Department pavilion at the Federico II. The strutta will be equipped with four bedrooms, large common areas, a kitchen and a room used for smartworking: a valuable place that allows families to stay close to their children in their care journey, being able to count on a real home where they can find support and comfort.

Work will begin by the end of 2025 and be completed by 2026.

"The phenomenon of health mobility in Italy affects more than 90,000 children and caregivers, a flow that travels mainly from south to north. This new first program in southern Italy marks an important course change, which will allow young patients who need it to stay in their own region, close to home." Commented Giuseppe Pisani, President of Ronald McDonald Children's Foundation ETS. "For me, a citizen of Naples, and for the Foundation, the new Family Room is a source of great pride, as it represents a significant project to enhance the area in service to the community. I launch an appeal to the volunteers and new partners in my city who will be able to support us in this new adventure, and I sincerely thank the institutions of the Athenaeum and the Hospital that made it possible."

For more than 25 years, Fondazione Ronald has been present on the Italian territory with its reception facilities where it hosts entire families, about 3,000 each year: from the parents, to the brothers and sisters of sick children undergoing treatment far from their cities of origin. These are the Family Rooms located within hospitals of excellence and the Ronald Homes, positioned in their vicinity, created to promote the "Family Centered Care" model of care that places the entire family at the center of a sick child's care journey.