City Takeover Of Long Branch Ronald McDonald House Upsets Families

LONG BRANCH, NJ — The city of Long Branch's plans to take over ownership of the Ronald McDonald House, close it and turn it into a "health/tech center" has not gone over well with the current occupants.

Families who currently use the house for their sick children said the news took them by surprise, and they are not happy.

RWJBarnabas, which owns nearby Monmouth Medical Center, said Ronald McDonald House is mostly used for administrative offices. But Tennessee mom Linnet Hunt said that's not true, and there are many families who currently stay at the house.

Hunt said she is one of four families staying at the house this week. She travels to Long Branch from Tennessee to receive medical care for her daughter, who has special needs. Her daughter receives treatment from an osteopathic doctor in Tinton Falls.

She said when she found out about Long Branch's plans to close Ronald McDonald House, she was very upset.

"COVID is responsible for a decrease in family volume, for sure ... But there ARE families here," said Hunt. "There were two families here before we arrived, a couple that stayed here with us while their newborn was at the hospital, and a repeat family arriving on Wednesday."

"You can imagine my surprise when (I saw) the article announcing the city was re-purposing the house, and that families don't stay here anymore," she said.

Ronald McDonald House only charges families $10 a night to stay there while their children receive medical care.

"So we can stay here for two months for what maybe we could at a hotel for 3-4 nights in this area," said Hunt. "We always paid the house directly (our own funds) at departure, but if a family cannot pay, for whatever reason, there are no questions asked."

Monmouth Medical Center has one of the top-ranked newborn intensive care units in the state, and many families who stay at the house have newborn babies undergoing intensive care at the PICU.

An RWJBarnabas spokeswoman said families such as those — or out-of-state family of any patient receiving care at their hospital — will now be relocated to an on-site family care area inside Monmouth Medical Center, complete with sleeping and family rooms, bathrooms with showers, and kitchen and laundry facilities.

Or, they will be relocated to the New Brunswick Ronald McDonald House, next to Robert Wood Johnson University and Saint Peter’s University hospitals. She said the New Brunswick Ronald McDonald House is about to undergo expansion and renovation, funded by the New Brunswick Development Corporation.

But not all of the families staying at the Long Branch house receive care at Monmouth Medical Center.

And Hunt said the New Brunswick Ronald McDonald House can be difficult to get into.

"I’ve been told to keep in mind (for future trips) that it’s extremely difficult to get into the New Brunswick house. Currently, there are multiple families on the waiting list," she said. "This house serves ALL children and their families who live beyond a 10-mile radius and are in need of medical care, not only those at Monmouth. The service for those families is not going to be better — it is going to not exist."

Mayor John Pallone declined to comment further on the matter. The CEO of the Long Branch Ronald McDonald House, Anna Burian, did not return an email from Patch seeking comment.

Monmouth Medical Center donated land to city of Long Branch

RWJBarnabas owns the land on which Ronald McDonald House sits and as part of a deal between RWJBarnabas and the city of Long Branch, the health system agreed to give the city four acres on the corners of Third and Bath avenues to build a new town court and the tech center.

The buildings on that land include Ronald McDonald House; the former Kindercare daycare building, the abandoned Auxiliary Hall that fronts on Bath Avenue, and some vacant apartments. The Kindercare building will become the new municipal court and the Ronald McDonald House will be turned into the new health/tech center.

Pallone previously said he got the idea to create a Health and Technology Center amidst the COVID pandemic. He said he realized residents needed a centralized government building not only for testing and vaccines, but also for general wellness programs.

"The plan is to provide expanded health and wellness programs for our residents such as physical fitness, healthy eating and cooking," said Pallone. "We will utilize the outside areas for recreational activities such as a walking path and gardening."

The city will also install free computers there, because many Long Branch residents don't have access to a computer or the Internet.

Initial Patch report: Old Daycare Will Become Long Branch's New Municipal Court, And More (Sept. 29)