All Are Welcome at Guest House

Imagine needing daily treatment for a serious illness. Now imagine you live several hours’ drive from the closest hospital or treatment facility. The high travel and lodging costs can be astronomical in a city like Chicago, where the average hotel room costs nearly $250 per night. Hopefully, you have insurance, but even if you do, a two-week stay in Chicago for food and lodging can easily exceed $5,000. Finally, imagine that you are one of thousands of low-income residents.

Sadly, this is the reality for many in the greater Chicago area, who might end up sleeping in their cars or hospital waiting rooms, relying on public restrooms and vending machines to get by while undergoing treatment.

Founded in 1999, IMD Guest House Foundation (Guest House) in downtown Chicago has a mission to build community and healing by providing safe, affordable accommodations in a caring environment for patients and their families throughout their treatment.

“Guest House addresses the financial, emotional, and physical stressors patients and families in a health crisis face by providing affordable medical lodging and support services seven days a week, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year,” states IMD Guest House Director of Development, Dionne Nicole Smith. “Guests arrive from around the world, although the greatest percentage (45%) are from here in Illinois. We serve patients and families battling a wide range of serious health issues, including cancer, solid organ transplants, and neonatal/pediatric intensive care.”

Matson Giving recently approved a donation of $1,500 to help Guest House fulfill its mission. “Guest House fills a void in the healthcare landscape by providing safe, affordable, temporary lodging for medical patients and their families, and military veterans when obtaining treatment at Chicagoland hospitals,” Smith added. “We are the only organization of our kind in Chicago that supports inpatients or outpatients of any age, any diagnoses, receiving any type of treatment, and never turns away guests for an inability to pay, which is critical when you talk about access to quality healthcare.”

Guest House has 47 fully furnished apartments close to its legacy hospital partners: Rush University Medical Center, John H. Stroger Hospital of Cook County, University of Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences System, and UChicago Medicine. In addition, Guest House partners with the American Cancer Society and Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Donor Network and can accept any organ transplant patient from any hospital.

“The Guest House is truly grateful for the financial contributions from Matson two years in a row,” expressed Smith. “As a nonprofit organization whose focus is to provide temporary lodging to military veterans, medical patients, and their families who seek life-saving treatment from Chicago hospitals, it means a great deal to have the support of a company like Matson. Our guests travel from all over the country, including California and Hawaii, so knowing that Matson’s corporate culture revolves around improving quality of life, we feel proud to be connected.”