Walk this Way: Home Away From Home.....RMH of Cincinnati

Here is where we live! This place is pretty incredible....its the 3rd largest RMH in the country. After Tim and I stayed at the RMH in Iowa City, this place is very special since we have something to compare it to. The one in Iowa City was awesome but this is like nothing we knew existed. It certainly isn't home but we feel very fortunate to be able to stay here. We were told that this is the first year this RMH location had to turn away more families than they were able to help this year due to the high demand of 'long term' families staying here. The waiting list is based on how many check outs they have each day. This house is completely full 24/7 so as one family checks out, the next family gets a phone call to come and check in. If they have already had their hospital appt and left the area with no need to stay at RMH anymore, the next family on the waiting list gets a phone call. Once you check in and get your room, you are able to stay here up to 2 years. CCH is known for their transplants so there are many families here for Bone Marrow Transplants, Liver Transplants etc and will be here for 6 months to a year. You can check out at any time but there is no time limit to check out until you reach the 2 year mark. Current families in the house are here from local cities in Ohio, out of state (like us) and some are here from Kenya, Greece, Honduras, and Russia. There are 30 paid staff members along with dozens of volunteers. We were surprised to find out a complete background check was required to stay here. Now that we are here, we see why that is a stipulation. There are 78 rooms here and 2 complete industrial kitchens, a workout room, game room, 2 living rooms, dvd rental room, library, and conference room. There is a play ground on the main level and 2 huge play rooms (one in the main house and one in the west wing). The main kitchen is like a hospital cafeteria and the west wing kitchen (where we live) is 1/2 the size. The main kitchen has 5 refrigerators for leftovers, dairy, and condiments and then 6 refrigerators for the families living in the main house. Each family has a bin in a frig that they are assigned to for keeping their own bought food in. Same in the west wing kitchen. Each family has a food cabinet (food is not allowed in your room) with a lock so that is essentially our 'cabinet.' Each person staying here is required to wear a lanyard with a key fab. That is how we have access to enter our room, main house, west wing, and it allows us access to the main gate to enter the RMH when we leave the property. Here are lots of pictures! Enjoy!