Each year, hundreds of seriously ill children travel to the world’s leading biomedical research facility, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to participate in cutting-edge research. For most of these patients, conventional treatments for their illnesses have failed, so the trip is often an uneasy one.
But although the circumstances may be solemn, patients and families find warmth and welcome when they reach the Children’s Inn at NIH, a non-profit residence facility in Bethesda, Maryland.
Since it opened in 1990, the Inn has operated continuously, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, hosting pediatric patients and their families at no cost for as long as the child receives treatment at NIH. To date, almost 8,700 children who suffer from cancer, HIV infection, mental illness, heart, lung, and blood diseases, or other afflictions have made 40,000 visits to stay at this “place like home.”
Booz Allen Hamilton volunteers have been a vital component of the Inn’s service. “Booz Allen has been such a valuable partner and is a key part of making what we do here at the Inn possible,” says Children’s Inn CEO Kathy Russell. “The firm has been a leader in focusing solutions and resources to address some of our most challenging issues.”
The firm’s partnership with the Inn started in 2006 and never wavered. Vice president Susan Penfield recruited more than 70 staff as volunteers who have supported the Inn with pro bono consulting services and administrative, communications, and technology assistance on an ongoing basis. Their most extensive effort involved integrating a new hotel reservation system into the Inn’s existing architecture to enhance its registration process.
In addition, the Inn engaged the firm in 2008 on a contract to implement knowledge management best practices, which includes providing training, technical, and other services now under way.
Associate Rose Clark, a volunteer since 2005, was introduced to the Inn by Penfield. Clark coordinates volunteer events at the Inn, such as its expanded “Sunday Suppers,” where volunteers serve dinners to patients and families several times a week; volunteers who provide interpreting services to non-English-speaking patients visiting the Inn; and volunteer drives to collect international food items for the Inn’s pantry for families who visit the Inn from the U.S. and 67 countries.
In May 2008, Booz Allen helped sponsor the First Annual Children’s INNvitational golf tournament, drawing 130 participants and raising $105,000 to help establish an endowment.
Clark remembers meeting two teenage siblings while volunteering at the Inn. “They both were born with the same medical issue, so they’d been visiting the Inn and NIH for treatment every school break and summer since they were small children,” she says. “They talked about their memories of the Inn with such fondness that I realized what a special place this is. If children who have to return there year after year actually look forward to it, then the Inn is doing its job of making them feel at home and forget for a time what they’re going through.”
“These tireless efforts are an exemplary reflection of the Booz Allen philosophy of creating a culture of giving back,” says Lauren V. Wood, MD, chair of The Children’s Inn Board of Directors. “We thank Susan Penfield and Booz Allen for the tremendous difference they make in the lives of children and families in our corner of the world.”
Customized Technology Serves 500 Children and Families Each Year
Booz Allen’s involvement with the Children’s Inn began when Penfield forged a business partnership by using her expertise and that of her team to upgrade the Inn’s electronic infrastructure. This led to the development of new hotel management software to more efficiently record information and handle patient reservations.
For 28 years, the Inn had used an ineffective and antiquated reservation system. The Booz Allen team helped identify potential replacement systems, evaluate implications for integration into the existing architecture, and select the system.
“After evaluating several COTS products, we decided that to customize the application to include features that were not available with the previous system,” says senior associate and project manager Brenda Ecken. That application became the ResInn Reservation System. Booz Allen worked with staff and volunteers to design an architecture to support the product and delivered an implementation plan and training.
Ecken says, “The ResInn system allows the staff and volunteers to check patient accounts, track reservations based on ID numbers, and support other administrative operations related to reservations.” The system’s user-friendly interface will also provide a more accurate view of registration totals, length of stays, and availability, allowing the Inn to better serve more than 500 children and their families each year.
Associate Sandy Davis, who has volunteered at the Inn for over six years, uses the new system when she works the front desk shift twice a month. “The front desk is the first place people see when entering the Inn,” she says. She takes reservations, checks families in and out, and serves as a friendly, smiling face to greet patients and families after a long day of tests at the Clinical Center.
Davis has been nominated to the advisory board of the 300 Inn volunteers, on whom the Inn relies heavily. She also helps organize one of the main charity events for the Inn, “A Night for the Children.” “Our efforts raised almost $2 million for the Inn and helped them build an additional wing to accommodate more families,” she says.
Davis volunteers because she feels it’s important to give back. “The Children’s Inn has a special place in my heart—there’s nothing worse than seeing a sick child—and if I can help to make their visit to NIH better, happier, and easier, it’s important for me to try to do so,” she says.
“I have learned that the best way to feel fulfilled in life is to give of yourself. Years ago, I went through a very difficult time and my mother-in-law said to me, stop feeling sorry for yourself and go do something good for someone else. At the time I thought those words were harsh, but I took her advice and have never looked back—only forward.”
“The Children’s Inn has become a passion for our team,” Penfield says, “and we are continuously looking for ways that we can support the children and their families. Our hearts and minds are touched by the differences we make in their lives.”
story posted October 1, 2008
