New family room at Monash announced

Southern Health has unveiled plans for a new family room to be built at the Monash Medical Centre in Clayton later this year.

The family room will provide a comfortable, secure retreat for parents and families of children being treated at the Monash centre, including a place to relax, sleep, shower and eat away from their child’s bedside.

The new facility will include a kitchen, shower, laundry, library and lounge facilities as well as an area to relax or have a nap. It will provide a normal, family-like environment for parents needing a break from the hospital setting.

The new family room will provide much needed respite for families and carers of children who are under the care of Monash Children’s, including Monash Newborn, cancer patients, intensive care, emergency and the general paediatric wards.

Ms Shelly Park, Chief Executive, Southern Health said the new family room will be a wonderful addition to the Monash Children’s facilities and is very much in line with our mission of providing a holistic model of care to patients, families and carers.

"We know that children respond much better to treatment when their families are close by and this facility will make it easier for them to do that," Ms Park said.

The Monash Medical Centre is one of two Victorian hospitals providing tertiary paediatric services, with more than 25,000 children admitted in 2007-08.

An initiative of Ronald McDonald House in partnership with Southern Health, the retreat will be known as the Ronald McDonald Family Room.

Work on the new room begins in August and is scheduled for completion later this year.