IMD GUEST HOUSE FOUNDATION
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Mission Statement
Guest House builds community and healing by providing comfortable, affordable accommodation for patients and their families throughout their treatment. Ours is the only facility in the Chicago area that is open to patients of all ages, and that supports patients receiving any type of treatment. These include cancer patients, transplant recipients, parents of children in the neonatal ICU, accident victims, and many more. We also host military veterans receiving treatment for PTSD. We provide need-based financial assistance so that no family is turned away because they cannot pay. In fact, many of our guests would not be able to complete treatment without our services.
About This Cause
Guest House began serving patients in 2005, providing temporary lodging to medical patients and their families, when they seek treatment away from home. We have 47 one-bedroom apartments in our facility' located in the heart of the Illinois Medical District. We also have a Community Room that offers weekly group dinners and other programming. We have partnerships with Rush University Medical Center, John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, University of Illinois Hospital, and the University of Chicago Medicine. We support patients & caregivers of any age, receiving any type of treatment at these medical centers. Thanks to a partnership with American Cancer Society, we support cancer patients receiving treatment at any Chicago area hospital, and their caregivers. We enjoy a similar relationship with Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Donor Network, opening our services to solid organ transplant patients from any Chicago area hospital. We also host veterans receiving treatment for PTSD through Road Home program at the Rush Center for Veterans and their families. In a typical year, we support more than 700 families and provide more than 12,000 nights of service. We continued to operate throughout the COVID pandemic. During the height of the pandemic, patient usage slowed and we allocated available capacity to provide lodging for front line medical staff from our partner hospitals at no charge. Our base nightly rate is $72, and we provide room rate discounts based on need, so that no family is turned away for financial reasons. Veterans in the Road Home program are not charged. More than 50% of our nights of service to medical patients support low-income families. In many cases, our program often makes the difference that allows our guests to receive, or complete, treatment. The average guest saves nearly $200 per night, verses the average cost of a hotel room in Chicago. While these savings are substantial, and the benefits are real, they do not tell the full story, because they do not bring the IMD Guest House experience to life. To really understand how we impact the lives of our guests, imagine that you or a loved-one had a serious medical condition. Typically, people in that situation feel scared and alone. For them, the time seems to stand still while the rest of the world keeps going. Now, imagine that to receive treatment you had to travel to an unfamiliar big city, like Chicago. You would not know anybody, and you might be far away from home. Think how much more isolated you would feel. Then, try to picture facing this situation and having very little money, and limited income due your medical condition. Your best option might be sleep in your car, or in the hospital waiting rooms. It's a bleak picture, which can be all too real. Patients and caregivers who come to the Guest House are relieved of some of these concerns, because they are able to enjoy clean, secure, affordable lodging. They also get to interact with other members of our community. Their sense of isolation and dislocation start to recede. For patients, having a caregiver close-at-hand improves compliance with post-treatment protocols and routines. In addition, some of the stress that families feel because of the financial challenges are reduced. Being very sick, or being the relative of a sick person is stressful, without the added worries about having a good place to stay.