ELIGIBILITY AND ADMISSION INFORMATION
- To stay at the Ronald McDonald House, families must have a child (up to 21 years of age) receiving weekly medical care at any of South Florida pediatric hospitals such as Holtz Children’s Hospital; Nicklaus Children’s Hospital; Baptist Hospital; Shala Foundation Children’s Hospital at Broward General Hospital, St. Mary’s Hospital, Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital, Plantation General Hospital and / or Holy Cross Hospital.
- Families must live 20 miles or more, away from the hospital. A referral is required from the hospital or treatment facility and submitted by assigned social worker or case manager.
- The Ronald McDonald House is walking distance from Holtz Children’s Hospital; 20 minutes to Nicklaus Children’s Hospital and 30 minutes to Baptist Hospital. It will take 40 minutes or more to drive to Broward or Palm Beach Counties.
REFERRAL
- A referral is required by an authorized hospital staff person such as nurse, social worker or doctor in order to receive a room.
- Families will need to call the House the day before check in to confirm availability.
- Accommodations are offered to those family members involved in the daily care of the patient.
- All family members 18 years of age and older requesting to stay overnight, must agree to a criminal background screening. If your social workers or case manager has already made a room request, each individual 18 years of age or older need to fill out a criminal background screening authorization.
- Any potential guest of the house may be refused admission to the house if they or a family member may have been exposed within three weeks of their check in date to any communicable diseases such as:
chicken pox, measles, whooping cough, hepatitis, herpes, mumps, salmonella, shingles, tuberculosis, or acute diarrhea. All potential guests must complete an Health Screening form. - House Manager will communicate with family for room availability and date of check in.
- Rooms are assigned on a first come, first-served basis and one per family. Rooms can not be reserved or guaranteed.
- We operate with a waiting list, and we never know when a child is going to be released from the hospital and the family will be ready to go home.
- Once availability is confirmed, families will receive a link via email to fill out our Paperless Guest Registration Packet before checking in.
- The check in procedure usually takes approximately 30 minutes and includes the processing of the mandatory $20 key deposit, a tour of the House, and a friendly reminder of the House Rules and Policies. After orientation, families are shown to their room. Please allow time for proper check in.
- The maximum length of stay is 30 consecutive days. After this, a new referral is needed for continuous lodging.
- Rooms must be slept in nightly to retain your stay. If this is not the case, management needs to be notified.
- Although families are asked to make a donation of $20 per night while staying with us, no one is ever turned away due to inability to contribute.
- At time of check in, a valid photo ID (such as drivers license, State Issue ID, a valid passport, USA Employment Authorization or State ID) is needed. No guest will be allowed to check in without proper identification.