When a child is seriously ill, the whole family feels it. To better understand what helps families stay present for their child’s care, and what gets in the way, Ronald McDonald House Bay Area sat down with 20 hospital leaders, clinicians, nurses, social workers, and resource coordinators at a leading Bay Area children’s hospital. Their insights are now shared in our new white paper, Beyond the Hospital Room: What It Really Takes to Put Families at the Heart of Care.
As Ronald McDonald House co-founder Dr. Audrey Evans put it, “A family with a sick child is a sick family.” This research shows what that looks like in practice today.
Sally Duplantier, MS, DrPH Student, is a researcher, public health educator, and doctoral student in Global Health Leadership at the Indiana University Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health. Her work focuses on the intersection of healthcare systems, community-based organizations, and the social drivers of health, with particular interest in how non-medical support systems shape health outcomes, care engagement, and family well-being. She has co-authored multiple peer-reviewed publications on community health, behavioral health, and family and caregiver support, and collaborates with nonprofit and healthcare partners to translate research into practical, systems-level solutions
Nicole Frances Williams, MSW, is the Senior Strategy Officer at Ronald McDonald House Bay Area. She collaborates with nonprofit, healthcare, and community partners to develop and implement strategies that strengthen organizational capacity, evaluate program impact, and expand services for families navigating pediatric medical crises. Drawing from both professional and lived experience with medical crisis and family trauma, she is particularly interested in the intersection of community-based services, social systems, and social drivers of health. She earned her Master of Social Work from the University of Michigan.
Kathleen Kelly, MPH Student, is the Manager of Board Affairs and Stewardship at Ronald McDonald House Bay Area. She is a Master of Public Health Candidate in Health Policy and Management at the University of California, Berkeley, where she also earned her B.A. in Interdisciplinary Media Studies and Human Rights. Her work is driven by advancing how family-centered care helps families navigate childhood illness, informed by growing up with a critically ill sibling. She also volunteers at Camp Okizu, a Northern California non-profit that provides recreational programs for families affected by childhood cancer and serves on the organization’s Young Professional Board.
