Oak Park Rotary House
The Oak Park Rotary House Foundation has modified its mission. We are now accepting domestic patients and we have formed a partnership with UC Davis Children’s Hospital. The social workers at UC Davis refer families whose child is being treated at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NIQU). On a tour of Rotary House, Theresa Arciniega, one of the social workers at UC Davis, remarked, “When you walk through Rotary House, you can just feel the love in every nail.”
We recently received an update from Kayla, the previous occupant. Kayla stayed at Rotary House for about two months while her newborn, Ryder, remained at the NIQU at UC Davis Children’s Hospital. He was born with a number of conditions, including spina bifida and hydro encephalitis. Kayla wrote, “I wanted to take the time and thank you for all your help. Ryder is finally home with no vent, but still has the tracheostomy tube. He is starting to lift his head now. He weighs 16 pounds 9 ounces and is 26 inches long. Without Rotary House, I wouldn't have been able to see my son as much as I did.”
The current family’s child is a 9-year-old who has brain cancer. After several surgeries, he is now undergoing radiation and chemotherapy. The family has been a guest of Rotary House for more than a year. Rotary House allows him and his family to have a continuous place to stay during his entire course of treatment. They won’t have to worry about where they’ll stay in Sacramento or about the cost to constantly travel between home and the hospital.
When the seven partner clubs built Rotary House, we did not appreciate that it’s location a few blocks from the hospitals, Ronald McDonald House, Kiwanis House and the other temporary housing facilities would be an advantage. Cancer patients have compromised immune systems and the isolation of Rotary House actually helps patients limit their exposure to diseases like the common cold and flu.
In a recent letter, the child's caregiver said the boy was in the final part of treatment and he was doing well despite his compromised immune system. The caregiver wrote, " Everything is great at Rotary House and we know what a blessing it is for us to be here. I want every single person that was involved in creating Rotary House to know that this is more then just a temporary place to stay. This is a home and a sanctuary. From the day that we moved in, we felt comfortable and cared for. We have met some of the most interesting people that include: The many Rotary members that have checked in on us from day one, those who maintained the house, and the different Rotary clubs that have come to the house to care for the yard and other home needs. We thank you all from the bottom of our hearts; our wonderful neighbors who befriended us from the moment we moved in; UC Davis Medical Center staff, from the surgeons, doctors and nurses, to the cooks, cleaners, volunteers and every specialty clinic we've been too, we thank them always; the Patient Transport Team, whom are some of the nicest people in the world, have picked us up and brought us back from every UC Davis medical appointment we have had since the day we moved into Rotary House. They are all awesome and we are blessed to have every one of them in our lives.