McHappy Day is back in full swing for its 29th year! Visit any McDonald’s location in Barrie on May 10th and a portion proceeds from every menu item sold that day will support RVH’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and Ronald McDonald House Toronto.
Last year, more than 165 babies required the support of RVH’s NICU, spending, on average, 13 days receiving critical care before going home with their families.
“When a baby needs life-saving care in our NICU, it can be a very emotional and difficult time,” says RVH Foundation CEO Pamela Ross. “It is vital this specialized care can be accessed close to family and friends who are so crucial to a baby’s health and healing. Community support for our NICU through participation in McHappy Day plays an important part in helping us continue to provide world-class care to our tiniest patients right here in our own backyard.”
RVH’s NICU is original to the Georgian Drive facility and is long overdue to be modernized and expanded. Our region’s sickest babies are cared for in a very tight space – about 35 square feet for each of its 12 bed-spots – well below current recommendations.
A planned re-design and expansion of the NICU will give families additional space, with more privacy to bond and heal, and updated and additional specialized equipment for resuscitation, ventilation, and monitoring. And donations from our generous community partners like McDonald’s will play a vital role in making that expansion possible.
Local McDonald’s Restaurant owners/operators Jason and Jennifer O’Neill, and Trevor McKee recognize how essential this kind of compassionate care is to families in moments of crisis. “This McHappy Day, we are thrilled to contribute to the future expansion of RVH’s NICU, and to support Ronald McDonald House– both of these charities are so important to families when their children are facing life-changing medical issues,” says Jason O’Neill.
“McHappy Day really is all about community, and children are at the centre of our community,” says Trevor McKee. “Ronald McDonald House provides a place where families with sick or injured children undergoing treatment can relax and recharge just steps away from Toronto hospitals. And our own RVH NICU is providing extraordinary care to our tiniest community members, right here at home in Barrie.”