Kathy Carr, Executive Director of the State Employee’s Credit Union Family House said since it opened in September, SECU House has provided a respite for more than 20 families and their caregivers.

“It’s this really great warm and welcoming hotel that is like a home and if you walk into our doors you really feel that. We provide a place of respite from the hospital hallways and the communal kitchen is creating this great heart of the house where families are interacting with each other, so they have this place to stay but then they also have this built in support,” said Carr.

The idea for SECU House began with Sandy and Beth Baldwin of Forsyth County. In 2000, they sought cancer treatments for their 26 year-old son Branner at a hospital in Pennsylvania. The Baldwin’s relied on the compassion and care from a Family House in Pittsburgh and saw a need for a similar facility in Winston-Salem. 

The center is funded by donations from local foundations, organizations and other
community members. SECU House relies on volunteers to help with tasks
like cooking meals for visiting families.  

Carr said she also hopes to raise funds to help develop an educational partnership with local universities.

“What we are hoping to create is an opportunity where we would have medical or physician assistant students from Wake Forest University Medical Center partner with nursing and respiratory therapist students from Forsyth Tech, or Winston-Salem State. They would come over to the house and interact with the families that are there and learn about how grief and how a medical situation affects the financial situation of a family and all of the dynamics that go along with that,” said Carr.

Carr said a $35 donation is requested to stay in SECU House, but staff will work with families who can’t afford it.

For more information log onto www.familyhousews.org.