Imagine yourself facing a family health crisis,
…with all the stress and emotional and financial turmoil that comes along with it. Now imagine facing that crisis in an unfamiliar place, far away from your home, your friends, and your community. Over 40,000 inpatients and their families who travel to Winston-Salem for medical care each year experience this situation.
Winston-Salem has two major tertiary care medical centers, Forsyth Medical Center (FMC), and Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center (WFUBMC). Winston-Salem is fortunate to have a wonderful Ronald McDonald House to serve pediatric families, but there is no comparable resource to offer lodging and support to the many adult patients and their families who would benefit from such a facility.
Across the nation, communities are addressing this dilemma by establishing Hospital Hospitality Houses. These are not medical care centers, but are the epitome of compassionate care and family-centered care. Thanks to grass-roots efforts, Hospital Hospitality Houses are becoming an integral part of healthcare and a way that community volunteers and donors can join the hospitals in impacting patient and family care by providing a safe, comfortable and welcoming guest house.
Since the idea first was presented in Winston-Salem, support has been widespread and truly heart warming, as representatives from both medical centers have joined with community leaders, businesses and individuals to lay a solid foundation. Outstanding progress has been made, and we are very close to our dream of breaking ground this year, with our doors open and families being served in early 2011.
Our official name reflects two of our foundational sponsors: State Employee Credit Union (SECU) and the Richard J. Reynolds III and Marie M. Reynolds Foundation.
A special thanks to these wonderful organizations and the many others who have so generously contributed financially and by volunteering time, talent and services as we have moved from initial dream through an impressive list of milestones to near our groundbreaking date.
We encourage you, your company, your church or your favorite organization to be part of this exciting venture. Our community is such an acclaimed leader in the quality of life we provide for residents, and in the caliber of health care we provide for our entire region. Let’s add SECU Family House as yet another bright spot in Winston-Salem’s reputation as a city to be respected and emulated.
My goal as Executive Director is to make it easy to support this wonderful initiative in whatever way works best for you. Just call or email at your convenience. Thank you for your interest, and we encourage you to help us spread the word!
