RONALD McDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES
TO DONATE DENTAL CARE MOBILE
FOR SANTA CLARA COUNTY CHILDREN IN NEED

Helping to Meet County Goal of
Providing Comprehensive Health Insurance to Every Child

SAN FRANCISCO - March 29, 2001 - Ronald McDonald House Charities today announced the donation of the West's first Ronald McDonald Care Mobile, a mobile dental care unit, to the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. The Ronald McDonald Care Mobile will help the county achieve its goal of providing comprehensive health care Ð including full medical, dental and vision care - to every child in Santa Clara County. The Ronald McDonald Care Mobile healthcare units - the most high-tech and comprehensive vehicles of their kind - have been serving communities across the United States since 1998. The dental care unit will be officially launched Thursday, March 29.

"Through the donation of the Ronald McDonald Care Mobile dental unit, we will provide complete dental care to children who would otherwise be overlooked due to a variety of socioeconomic factors," said Scott Rodrick, President of Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Bay Area and McDonald's owner/operator. "We view the Care Mobile as the next generation of healthcare that will help children in need - with the goal of becoming as prevalent in communities around the world as our Ronald McDonald Houses are today," he added.

State-of-the-art mobile unit offers FULL DENTAL SERVICE

Partnering with local hospitals and health systems, the Ronald McDonald Care Mobile initiative brings educational, preventive and medical/dental services directly into neighborhoods with unmet healthcare needs. Each healthcare unit is designed and built specifically for the delivery of pediatric health care tailored to each community. The dental care unit to be donated to the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center will provide a much-needed service, based on a recent study released by United States Surgeon General, Dr. David Satcher, in which he reports that there are great disparities in good oral health care - specifically with children and the nation's poor. According to the U.S. Surgeon General's Report on Oral Health, children without dental insurance are 2.5 times less likely to receive dental care and three times more likely to have dental problems**.

"The children of Santa Clara County are in great need of accessible dental care," said Robert Sillen, Executive Director of the Santa Clara Valley Health and Hospital System. "A major obstacle we face is in reaching the tens of thousands of children in the county who lack adequate dental care. The Ronald McDonald Care Mobile will help provide access to many of these children in need."

As the most comprehensive vehicle of its kind, the Ronald McDonald Care Mobile is a 40-foot long, 8-foot wide vehicle and costs approximately $250,000. The unit accommodates two patient examination rooms, a laboratory, a reception area and a medical records area. The Care Mobile dental care team consists of a dentist, two dental hygienists and a unit manager; other staff members may include a social worker.

By sending the Ronald McDonald Care Mobile dental unit to accessible locations such as Valley Health Centers throughout Santa Clara County, the Ronald McDonald House Charities outreach effort is expected to improve health for thousands of children who would otherwise receive little or no dental care services.

BACKGROUND

The first Ronald McDonald House Charities-supported mobile healthcare unit was launched in conjunction with the Children's Care Foundation at the Ronald McDonald Children's Hospital of Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Ill., in September, 1998. Since that time, Loyola physicians have cared for more than 7,000 children, providing thousands of immunizations, medical screenings, educational sessions, physicals, individual hygiene consultations and hundreds of asthma and pulmonary function tests. Because of the incredible success with this unit and the overwhelming need for health care, Ronald McDonald House Charities made the decision to expand to other areas around the world.

The program officially launched in 2000 with Ronald McDonald Care Mobile units located in three communities: Worcester, Massachusetts; Winston-Salem, North Carolina and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. More units are scheduled to launch in the following communities and more in 2001: San Jose, California; Houston, Texas; Chicago, Illinois; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Billings, Montana; and Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Ronald McDonald House Charities, a non-profit, 501(c)3, creates, finds and supports programs that directly improve the health and well-being of children through its network of nearly 170 local Charities currently serving in 32 countries. The Charity makes grants to not-for-profit organizations and provides support to Ronald McDonald Houses and Ronald McDonald Care Mobiles worldwide. To date, Ronald McDonald House Charities' national body and global network of local Charities have awarded nearly $250 million to childrenÕs programs worldwide. Locally, RMHCBA has donated more than $3 million to nonprofit children's organizations since its inception in 1988. For more information on Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Bay Area and local community efforts, visit the Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Bay Area Web site at www.rmhcbayarea.com or call (415) 434-8500.

**Report on oral health statistics from Reuters Health Press Release, www.reutershealth.com, December 20, 2000.