Anna was severely burnt - during the crisis, the family found a vacancy. Now more people will have the opportunity.

Anna was severely burned - in the midst of a crisis, the family found a respite. Now more will have that opportunity

Danish second Ronald McDonald House opens at Nyt OUH in the spring

Anna was hospitalized for 45 days, which in addition to extensive treatment also included visits from race car driver Kevin Magnussen, who was one of the major experiences. (photo: private) (Photo: © unknown, DR)

By Charlotte Pedersen ( [email protected] ) 19 minutes ago

The accident happened in a split second.

Seven-year-old Anna was severely burned - so seriously and violently that she had to be rushed from her home in West Jutland to treatment at Rigshospitalet.

- It was just gone. She was admitted to the burn ward and stayed there for 45 days. She was burned on large parts of her body, tells Malene Jespersen, Anna's mother.

She is happy that the family is now well above it.

It is due in no small part to the fact that they, her husband and Anna's two small sisters, aged one and five, had a place to stay at Ronald McDonald House at Rigshospitalet. It gave the family a place to be together during a crisis time and allowed both parents to be there for Anna and for the two little ones.

Ronald McDonald House at Nyt OUH has been available to families with seriously ill children for 22 years, but a new house is set to open - at Nyt OUH in Odense. This is despite the fact that the hospital itself is not yet completed, and no one knows the time horizon for its completion.

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Ronald McDonald House at Nyt OUH

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In 2012, Region Syddanmark and Ronald McDonald signed an agreement that the foundation would operate a Ronald McDonald House at Nyt OUH in Odense.

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The house is located on a 4000 square meter plot, which Region Syddanmark makes available.

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The house covers 1600 square meters.

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It has 15 furnished rooms, a common room, playrooms, a kitchen, etc.

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It is ready for March 2025.

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It is for families with seriously ill children.

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Children can be between 0 and 18 years old.

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It is families who are visited at the house.

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Ronald McDonald Children's Foundation is a self-governing foundation that establishes and operates Ronald McDonald Houses in Denmark.

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Rigshospitalet has had a Ronald McDonald House since 2002.

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With a kissing hand

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Ronald McDonald House is a house that offers families with seriously ill children a room where they can stay as long as the child is in the hospital. It is a house that is cozily furnished and receives visits from volunteers who bake cookies and play. A possibility and a refuge that the family gratefully accepted with open arms.

- It allowed us to be together as a family. It was difficult to have the two little sisters stay at home with Anna, who couldn't stand the noise and chaos around her, but at the same time we couldn't be far away. There was no one who would have had to stay in West Jutland and miss mom and dad, tells Malene Jespersen.

Five-year-old Karen, Anna's sister, spent many hours comforting and playing in Ronald McDonald House - here she is in good company with pediatrician Nicoline Stig Christensen, who brightens the days for the families. (Photo: private) (Photo: © unknown, DR)

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The house is the most important thing

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And the director of Ronald McDonald Children's Foundation, Rikke Holm, is pleased that the new children's house is ready, even though Nyt OUH is not.

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> We had a base, even if we weren't home.

> Malene Jespersen, Anna's mother

- The ideal would have been for Nyt OUH to be ready when we open the doors, so families don't have to travel so far, but really we're just happy that we get to open because the need is there. And once the families are in the house, the surroundings outside don't matter much. They seek comfort and peace, and fortunately, we have a really nice place at Nyt OUH, where there are beautiful natural surroundings. So the building site itself is not the one that dominates, says Rikke Holm.

Since Nyt OUH is not yet completed, families will have to travel back and forth between the existing OUH in the center of Odense and the children's house at Nyt OUH, but it is a small price to pay for the fact that families can be together.

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It makes a difference

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And even though Malene Jespersen would have preferred the accident not to have happened, she is convinced that the stay at Ronald McDonald House meant that the family got through the 45 days well. And that the children didn't notice.

Read also: House for families with seriously ill children opens, even though the neighbor is a construction site ( )

- It makes a difference. We have talked back and forth about what we would have done if we hadn't had that opportunity. One of us would have had to stay home in West Jutland and take care of the two little ones. It could have created a distance between the sisters, but Anna found comfort in the fact that her two sisters were close by. We had a base, even if we weren't home, says Malene Jespersen.

Nyt OUH is being built by the Italian total contractor JV CMB/Itinera, which Region Syddanmark has hired. It was originally scheduled to be completed in 2022. (Photo: Thea Bjørn, DR) (Photo: © Thea Bjørn, DR)

She is looking forward to being able to help more families.

- It gives the whole family a better experience. Anna's little sister saw her stay at Ronald McDonald as a kind of extra summer vacation. She had the opportunity to go out and see a lot, because there were so many opportunities around the house.

The Fyn Ronald McDonald House opens on March 19 and has room for 15 families, who are offered a room and can stay together while the child is undergoing treatment. The house will be located next to Nyt OUH, whose opening date is uncertain.

Region Syddanmark and the total contractor are currently negotiating about a new time plan for the construction of what will be Denmark's largest newly built super hospital. The current plan says completion in late 2025 or early 2026, but it is not holding, admits Region Syddanmark, which is the owner.

Anna was discharged in September.

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