They often have to pay the cost of expensive hotel or motel accommodations, or sleep any place they can find at a hospital, such as a sofa or chair in a waiting room or corridor to be close to their sick child. Although some hospitals provide limited live-in accommodations, parents just cannot be at a child's bedside 24 hours a day. At a Ronald McDonald House, the parents have a place to rest and let their other children lead as normal a life as possible. Children being treated as out-patients can often stay at the House, too. Here parents can share their worries and concerns with other parents who can best understand the emotional strain and psychological pressure placed upon them.
Parents can offer each other a great deal of support during times of crises.
In 1973, Kim Hill, the three-year old daughter of Philadelphia Eagles football player Fred Hill, was treated for leukaemia at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Hill and his Eagles' teammates became determined to do something to benefit families using Children's Hospital. McDonald's restaurant owners to support the purchase and renovation of an older home near the hospital with seven bedrooms, a living room, kitchen and laundry. In 1975, Dr. Edward Baum, a physician at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, and Charles Marino, a parent of a child with leukaemia, learned of the Philadelphia House and decided to create a similar facility in Chicago. This second House proved that the concept would work in other areas, so an organization was formed to share information and assist people throughout the country who also saw a need for such facilities.