Learning from Families: New Study Reveals What Families with Critically Sick and Injured Children Need – and How Ronald McDonald House is Responding

Families navigating Canada’s pediatric healthcare system shoulder burdens that often go unseen in a child’s clinical chart but shape every step of their care. The Learning from Families Study (study details below) offers one of the clearest pictures yet of what families with critically sick and injured children experience before, during, and after hospitalization. The Study lifts the veil on those realities, showing how emotional strain, financial pressure, and practical barriers affect a family’s ability to actively participate in their child’s medical journey.

For Ronald McDonald House across Canada, the findings reinforce a core truth: families lived experience must also play a role in how supports are designed and delivered. As the only national organization enabling access to Canada’s paediatric healthcare system, Ronald McDonald House is using this data to ensure the family voice remains central as it expands and deepens its impact, enabling the best possible health outcomes.

1. Families arrive under significant emotional and financial strain

• 77 percent of caregivers staying at Ronald McDonald House in Canada reported clinically significant anxiety at check‑in.

• 56 percent reported clinically significant depression.

• One in three families had at least one unmet basic need on arrival—food, childcare, transportation, or healthcare access.

These pressures are compounded by distance and cost. Nine in ten families travel more than 80 km for care; eight in ten travel two or more hours one‑way. One in three families identified as low income, and many face lost wages: over 50 percent took leave from work, 30 percent reduced hours, and 15 percent quit jobs. Without Ronald McDonald House, a one‑month hospital stay could cost families up to $25,108 in out-of-pocket expenses related to their child’s medical care – a third of a families’ average disposable income in Ontario[1].

2. Supportive environments measurably improve family well-being

When families stay at Ronald McDonald House, their well-being improves quickly:

• Only 1 in 4 families reported sleeping well on arrival, increasing to nearly 2 in 3 by discharge.

• Only 3 in 10 reported eating a balanced diet on arrival, increasing to over half by discharge.

Families also reported increased social support, meaningful advice, and a stronger sense of community that stabilizes their emotional wellbeing. The Study found that better sleep and nutrition is directly correlated with reduced symptoms of depression and anxiety. Families with reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression showed a strengthened ability to stay involved in their child’s care.

Nearly all families surveyed (95 percent) said stable overnight housing enabled their participation in their child’s care, and 92 percent identified Ronald McDonald House as their most helpful support. When caregivers are rested, nourished, and supported, they can be full partners in care, contributing to better health outcomes for children.

3. The transition home is a critical vulnerability

After discharge, needs often intensify; 59 percent of caregivers reported post‑traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and unmet food and transportation needs nearly doubled. This reveals a gap in support once families leave the hospital, highlighting a critical opportunity for continued, post-discharge support across the system.

The Study reinforces a principle that guides Ronald McDonald House across Canada: lived experiences of families play a critical role to shape how paediatric care is designed, delivered, and improved. As Ronald McDonald House looks to expand and deepen its impact on the lives of families with Canada’s most medically vulnerable children and youth, this data provides a powerful foundation for ensuring the family voice remains at the heart of everything we do.

Across the country, Ronald McDonald House is leveraging these insights to strengthen programs, inform future growth, and ensure our essential support evolves alongside the changing realities families face. For example, Ronald McDonald House Alberta recently launched a pilot Art and Music Therapy program for families with critically sick and injured children staying at one of their four Houses in the province, aligning with its mission to provide essential services that remove barriers, strengthen families, and promote healing when children need healthcare.

By translating lived experience into measurable indicators, the Study shows how family‑reported needs can guide quality improvement both during hospitalization and after discharge. Tracking caregiver well-being alongside clinical outcomes creates a more complete picture of paediatric care quality - one that recognizes rest, nourishment, emotional safety, and caregiver presence as essential components of a child’s health journey.

For Ronald McDonald House, these insights are not abstract. They directly inform how the mission operates across Canada today, and how the organization plans for tomorrow: from expanding access through footprint growth, to deepening mental health supports and meal programming, to ensuring families have the stability they need to stay engaged in their child’s care. Ultimately, this approach helps enable better health outcomes by ensuring families can remain active participants in their child’s medical care.

As Meghan McGill, Director of Strategy, Research and Insights at Ronald McDonald House Canada, puts it:

“This Study gives voice to what families have been telling us for years: when you support the whole family, you strengthen the entire care journey. These insights are not just data points - they are a roadmap for how organizations like ours can enable better paediatric care nationwide.”

Led by Dr. Linda Franck at the University of California San Francisco in partnership with Ronald McDonald House Global, the Study surveyed caregivers at three points in the care journey. From March 2023 to August 2024, 3,350 caregivers participated globally, including 486 across four Canadian Ronald McDonald House Chapters. Learning from Families 2 will expand to eight Canadian Chapters with results expected in 2026, continuing to inform program delivery and system improvements.