Aspiring Doctor Treats Coping Families, Doctors to Dinner

Many people like to volunteer, but coordinating a dinner for 40-plus people is an event that takes a little help from some friends. And a dinner for the residents at the Ronald McDonald House (RMH) in Oak Lawn, was just what the doctor ordered. Or what a doctor-to-be ordered.

Tim Prajka, a 2014 graduate of University of Illinois Urbana Champaign in Molecular Cellular Biology, recently did just that. Prajka, who lives in Orland Park and works at Northwestern Memorial in breast cancer research, called upon a few family friends to join him in the mission.

Prajka’s story began 22 years ago when he was born six weeks prematurely at Advocate Christ Hospital in an emergency situation. He had always heard stories about his two weeks’ stay in the hospital after his birth.

“My parents lived relatively close at the time of my birth, so they did not have too far to travel to see me while I remained at Christ, but other families my parents had met were not so lucky, and had to travel long distances.” Nowadays these families with children in the medical facility are able to stay directly across the street at the Ronald McDonald House, which opened in 2008 and is one five in the Chicagoland area.

Today, Prajka focuses his efforts into two main things, his future as a physician and his research work. He also spends time as a tutor and a mentor at Gigi’s Playhouse.

“After listening to my family’s stories, and how gracious people were to my parents after my early birth, I thought it would be nice to give back to the Advocate Christ Hospital community,” he said. It took him three months to get a date that worked well, but on Wednesday, July 1, “Tim and friends” had “Dinner with the Doctors.”

Prajka contacted family friends, all of whom are successful physicians, asking them to participate. Two of the doctors—Dr. Kathleen Slugocki, D.O. and Dr. Vasireddy Bhoopal, M.D.—are both on staff at Advocate Christ Hospital. The third doctor to volunteer with Tim’s team was Dr. Ming Xu, M.D., from Presence Health. All three doctors, along with their families, prepared food for the event. Rounding out the team was Professional Chef Eddie Jiminian and his wife, Ashley, a former chef, who met while working at the Coral Reef restaurant in Walt Disney World. “Chef Eddie” now works at Parkers’ Restaurant and Bar in Downers Grove.

“The house staff was very gracious,” Prajka said. “They told me that they had not seen such a diversity of food in a long time and thanked the group efforts many times for the thought that went into the planning and execution. My team provided some delicious food. We offered Indian, Latino, Chinese (homemade eggrolls), Polish, and American cuisines, along with gluten-free meal options and desserts. I was asked to bring enough food to feed 40 people but we could have fed far more than that.”

The only rule that the future physician had for his team was to be mindful of allergies. He asked that none of the products contain peanuts, tree nuts or shellfish, since those are the “big three,” as the Prajka called them.

The team prepared for the six o’clock dinnertime, but when not manning the stoves or watching “Chef Eddie” organizing the food display, they spent time talking with the residents. Prajka’s brother Nicholas, who is fluent in Spanish, was a particularly big help.

“Nicholas’ Spanish fluency was huge as some of the people there did not speak English and he is not shy to use it. He translated the food options and then sat with residents listening to their stories about their kids. Many of the residents wanted someone to talk with, but the language barrier prevented that. It was great to have him on the team for sure.”

Dr. Slugocki, an OB/GYN out of Mokena, spent part of the night listening to some of the parents with premature babies in the Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

“Being an OB/GYN part of what I do is deliver babies,” she said. “Some are born very prematurely, but I have the utmost confidence that these newborns are getting the best care possible at Advocate Children’s Hospital (formerly Hope Children’s Hospital). I am grateful to know that the Ronald McDonald house is here to assist the families in their time of need. It is stressful enough to leave your child, but if you know you are only right across the street, that does bring a level of comfort to families. Just knowing that they do not need to leave the area to get some rest or freshen up for the day is a relief for them. Plus they know they can get their meals at the house. Ronald McDonald Houses are just wonderful. I was very grateful Tim asked me to participate.”

Afterwards, efforts are put into cleaning the kitchen, which consisted of three stoves and one cooktop range, four refrigerators and three dishwashers. Dishes are put into dishwashers and started up, counters wiped down, floors are swept, garbage bags thrown away.

One of the youngest team members to pitch in was Kara Xu, age 12. “I loved this volunteering opportunity. I had so much fun and it made me happy to make a difference in the life of these families. I can’t wait to do this again, and told my dad that I want to plan a dinner, too. Maybe Tim will come mine.”

Prajka said at the end of a very long night, “This event was even more rewarding than I expected. The families were so gracious and people had stories to tell. I was able to take some time and offer my full attention as they told me about their children. Sometimes all these people look for is someone to listen, and someone to say, ‘It will be okay’. This was such a great night for us all. I am sure that I will be putting together another dinner, but in the meantime it looks like I inspired others to host a dinner. I was asked by some family members to participate in their dinner at the RMH near Luries in September. Looking forward to it.”

For those interested, the RMH kitchen are fully stocked with dishes, utensils, and such, and leftovers are placed into containers and marked so that residents can choose to eat a late-night meal, if they wish. All meals are donated by the dinner hosts. If anyone is interested in setting up their own Meals from the Heart, they can go on the website for Ronald McDonald House and check out their event calendar.

Photos:

MAIN: Tim Prajka helps Bella, 4 and Kara, 12, decorate cupcakes.

LARGE GROUP: left to right: front row: Bill Barnum, Dr. Kathy Slugocki, Bella Jiminian, Kara Xu, and Sophia & Ashley Jiminian. Back row: Dr. Ming Xu, Dr. Vasireddy Bhoopal, Nicholas Prajka, Tim Prajka, Eddie Jiminian, Dave Prajka

DiSPLAY OF FOOD: Items prepared fresh for the doctors and families of Ronald McDonald House.

SMALL GROUP: Dr. Xu, Dr. Bhoopal and Dave Prajka prepare the serving area for the residents