When your child is sick in hospital for weeks on end, it can be the simple things that can make a difference.
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A space to make a cup of tea or a piece of toast, a place to sleep close by and even the chance to freshen up without having to rush home.
Wollongong Hospital's children's ward now offers all of that, and more, thanks to a $2 million upgrade.
The jewel in the crown of this, the first stage of its major redevelopment, is Wollongong's first ever Ronald McDonald family room.
More like an apartment, the room offers a kitchen, living area, laundry and bathroom.
What's more it comes with a roster of volunteers overseen by Ronald McDonald House Charities who'll actually make you a cuppa or a cupcake, and do a load of laundry for you.
The room officially opens early next month but Woonona mum Belinda Partridge got a sneak peak on Friday.
Mrs Partridge and husband Troy have spent three weeks in Wollongong, and Randwick children's hospital, after their 21-month-old daughter Hazel contracted a life-threatening condition.
"She had pneumonia which led to a group A strep infection which caused sepsis in her blood," Mrs Partridge said.
"She was transferred from Wollongong to Sydney and was in intensive care for two weeks as her body went into toxic shock syndrome.
"At one time doctors thought she might need a lung and heart bypass but she's a little fighter and she beat all the odds."
Hazel was transferred back to Wollongong Hospital to recuperate last week, and Mrs Partridge said the new family room would be a blessing for parents and siblings.
"It's got a very homely feel and after you've been in a hospital ward for a while you really miss home, so this is great," she said.
Dr Susie Piper, Kids and Families co-director for the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District, said they'd tried hard to recreate that "home away from home" for parents.
"We all know how stressful having a sick child in hospital can be," she said. "The goal of the family room is to try and make that time a little bit less stressful."
Dr Piper said it was good to have the first of five stages now complete, with stage one the "biggest and the most complex" part of the redevelopment.
It has changed the whole footprint of the ward thanks to the realignment of a main corridor on level three of the hospital.
As well as the new family room and two parents' bedrooms, it also features additional offices, staff facilities and teaching spaces for professional development and training.
"The money for this stage came from a $1 million donation from the Illawarra Community Foundation from the Convoy, as well as funds from the NSW Government and the proceeds of Run Wollongong," she said.
"It has set us up well for the next stage of the redevelopment which we're very excited about, as it will include a new playground."
Mark Rigby from the Illawarra Community Foundation said the generosity of residents through the i98FM Illawarra Convoy had helped them make a $1 million donation towards the upgrade.
"This is the biggest project we have supported since establishing the foundation, and we're proud to support something that will make such a big difference to local families."
Dr Piper said the philosophy of the ward was to "provide top quality care as close to home as possible" and the upgrade would only enhance that.
"There's around 3500 children through the ward each year, as well as thousands more going through our clinics," she said.
"We do as much as we can locally, although there are of course some conditions where children do need to travel to Sydney.
"When this is necessary, we partner with Sydney hospitals to provide shared care to reduce the amount of travel for children and their families."
Meantime the Ronald McDonald Family Room is expected to receive more than a thousand visits a month.
Simone Daher, CEO of Ronald McDonald House Charities Sydney, knows just how much facilities like this are needed.
"Our focus in family rooms is to support the carers of children who are spending longs days and nights by the bedside, who are travelling back and forth in a day to attend appointments, or anxiously waiting for surgeries to finish," she said.
"Carers spend so much time focusing on the care of their child, that it's important for them to have a place they can step into, where they become cared for.
"It gives them the support they need to re-focus and return to the ward to be the best advocate for their child."
