Bridging our partnership: Ronald McDonald House and Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin

As we celebrate our 30th year of Ronald McDonald House serving families with critically ill or injured children, the completion of the pedestrian sky bridge over Watertown Plank Road signifies a great achievement. We celebrated the milestone with a ribbon cutting today.

Now we can offer a solution to our families for a safe and efficient way to cross Watertown Plank Road to and from Children’s Wisconsin. The bridge also represents the great relationship that unites our Ronald McDonald House with Children’s Wisconsin.

It brings a huge amount of relief knowing that families do not have to wait for our scheduled volunteer van service to get a ride to or from the hospital, or even worse, have to cross Watertown Plank Road in front of our building — many times in the dark with significant traffic.

And how exciting that in the same month we celebrate the completion of this bridge, we also celebrate the completion of our expansion. We are about to open a whole new part of our house. The addition will allow us to serve up to 1,800 families — that’s 800 more than we currently can help. With that many more families having to get to Children’s Wisconsin, we are all extremely grateful for this pedestrian bridge.

There are so many to thank for giving this bridge to Ronald McDonald House and Children’s Wisconsin families, including:

• The Department of Transportation and its amazing crew, who kept us informed of all construction happenings throughout this past year
• The city of Wauwatosa, which supported the bridge being added to city’s landscape and is taking ownership of the bridge and its responsibilities going forward
• The Ronald McDonald House Board of Directors and Children’s Wisconsin, who advocated many years for a solution to the safety concerns of our guest families

Together, Ronald McDonald House and Children’s Wisconsin are so important to this community, and to our larger community extending beyond Wauwatosa, in helping families and their children heal.

Ann Petrie President Ronald McDonald House

Children’s Wisconsin is the region’s only independent health care system dedicated solely to the health and well-being of children. At Children’s Wisconsin, we know kids aren’t just little adults and we tailor care specifically for the unique needs of a small, growing body.