The Niguarda Hospital in Milan takes a fundamental step towards increasingly human and people-friendly care, inaugurating the new Ronald McDonald House in the presence of the president of the Lombardy Region Attilio Fontana, the general director Alberto Zoli, the president of the Ronald McDonald House Nicola Antonacci and the director Maria Chiara Roti. Born in December 2020 as simple Family Room and grown thanks to the start of the expansion works on 29 January 2025, the structure now extends over an area of 600 square meters on the second floor of the North Area, directly connected to the pediatric and neonatal departments. The work responds to the crucial need to offer a safe refuge to mothers, fathers, brothers and uncles forced to move from other regions or abroad to allow their children to face specialized therapies and particularly long hospitalizations, exceeding 3,000 families hosted in total since the initial opening.
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An apartment equipped to preserve daily normality
The new structure was designed down to the smallest detail to recreate a welcoming home environment capable of mitigating the stress of the disease. Inside there are 7 bedrooms equipped with private toilets and showers, 2 fully equipped kitchens for preparing meals, 2 large living rooms with play areas for children and 2 laundries.
Particular attention was paid to the professional needs of parents, thanks to the presence of 2 multifunctional rooms equipped for smart working, flanked by a charming room of silence designed for meditation and relaxation after tiring hours spent in the ward. The daily management is entrusted to the constant support of the staff and volunteers, enriched by an inaugural moment dedicated to music together with Paolo Jannacci.
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The centrality of the family in care
The intervention is fully within the philosophy of Family Centered Carea clinical approach that considers the closeness of family members an integral part of the therapeutic path of young patients. During the inauguration, Alberto Zoli highlighted the importance of offering parents a space to sleep, eat or simply breathe without leaving their children. The reception model, which has already demonstrated its value even during the emergency following the Crans-Montana fire, is destined to expand further in Lombardy with a future opening at the Irccs Carlo Besta in Milan, confirming the common commitment in combining the highest medical specialization with a profound attention to the human dimension.
