These Long Island Jewish Valley Stream Hospital nurses celebrated their month by donating to the Ronald McDonald House

In honor of May’s National Nurse Month, Long Island Jewish Valley Stream Hospital nurses donated their time to the Ronald McDonald House in Queens, loading over 30 boxes of donations from each department of the hospital and delivering the care packages to families staying at the facility.

It’s a central tenet of the nursing team at LIJVS to give back to the host area of the hospital.

The Ronald McDonald House is a network of facilities that host families of sick children while they undergo medical treatment. Families that stay at one of the houses are asked to donate $25 a day, but are never expected to pay for their stay. The Ronald McDonald House in New Hyde Park opened in 1986 with 18 rooms. Now the facility, which is near both Zucker Hillside Hospital and LIJ, has 42 rooms for families of young patients.

The Ronald McDonald House provided lists specific to each family’s needs, including items such as clothes, toys, toiletries, food and more. and volunteer did their best to fill them.

Savita Amin and Cynthia Varughese organized the event in honor of National Nurse Month.  Both work in the Nurse Education Department at LIJVS.

“We wanted to collaborate with the Ronald McDonald House because we think their purpose is just so amazing,” Varughese said.

They tasked each department to decorate and donate a care package for a family. “It was way beyond what we expected,” Amin added. “They really did an amazing job.”

Although the event was spearheaded by the hospital’s nursing department, other staffers contributed as well. Varughese and Amin mentioned the Environmental Services Department, which collaborated with the nursing department to collect all the donations and fill boxes with them. “We could not have done this without them,” Varughese said.

The Nursing Department of Long Island  Jewish Valley Stream Hospital is committed to continuing its volunteer work with the Ronald McDonald House.

“Our next task is giving our units a chance to come and make dinner or dessert for the families,” Varughese said, “Everyone is so excited to come out and support these families, who are going through a tough time.”

There were nothing but happy faces while the seven nurses loaded and unloaded the boxes.

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