Few people know exactly what you do, tell Bodil!
Ronald McDonald House in Gothenburg is a non-profit foundation. The house is adjacent to Queen Silvia's Children's Hospital, with which it also works closely.
The Ronald McDonald House is home to families whose children have been affected by serious illness. The families often come from far away and have been referred to Queen Silvia Children's Hospital to receive the right specialist care. We also house families from Iceland and our other Nordic countries
During difficult and often long periods of treatment, families are offered accommodation and a reasonably normal everyday life in the midst of everything they are going through. It becomes a 'home from home' when it is needed most and where the whole family can be together. We aim to be as much like a home as possible, where families can 'relax' and recharge for the tough days at the children's hospital. The length of stay varies greatly - from single nights to weeks, months and even longer.
We work to make everyday life easier for our families and to bring a little bit of joy to an otherwise tough and anxious period for the families. We do this through partnerships with companies and help from individuals, as well as through various types of fundraising.

What are the main challenges you face?
It has been two tough years with the pandemic and it has become clear which challenges we cannot influence. One example is our occupancy rate. In the best of worlds, we would wish that we were not needed and that children would not suffer from severe illness but that is not the reality unfortunately. So when a lot of care has had to be postponed, it has affected our Houses financially due to lower occupancy and also lower county reimbursements.
Fundraising is another challenge that has also been more difficult during the pandemic. But now we are looking forward to a fresh start even though we are still living in a troubled time with war in Europe. The pandemic has taught us to be very creative in finding new solutions.

What is it that makes you feel so good as Operations Manager at Ronald McDonald House?
What drives me most as Director of Operations is being able to make a difference for families whose lives are turned upside down when their children are affected by a serious illness. To be able to work together with my fantastic staff and constantly develop our business always with our families in focus is so nice and motivating. I am so happy that I have the best job in the world. But much of what we do in our business is not possible without our fantastic House Friends (partners) who are involved in making a difference for our families and to meet new companies, associations, individuals who choose to get involved in our business for our families is so enriching. That together we are strong and do good.