Grand Opening Planned for Village at Mayo Clinic on Phoenix Campus

Monday, November 02, 2009

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The Arizona Transplant House has officially embarked on a new era in providing housing, friendship and a healing environment for Mayo Clinic transplant patients. And now a new partner in this hospitality effort has joined transplant patients in the venture.

The formal grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Village at Mayo Clinic will take place at 11 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 6, 2009, at which time representatives of Mayo Clinic. The Arizona Transplant House and the American Cancer Society — Hope Lodge (a collaboration among the organizations) will formally usher in a unique housing concept for transplant and cancer patients.

Official move-in day for the first Arizona Transplant House patients and caregivers was on Saturday, June 27, when they were moved from their previous home at the Arizona Transplant house at Brusally Ranch in Scottsdale, Ariz., to the new Village at Mayo Clinic on the Phoenix campus of Mayo Clinic. Immediately upon opening, the six rooms in the first transplant casita were filled.

On Sept. 8, the first casita for the American Cancer Society — Hope Lodge opened for cancer patients and their caregivers. The second casita for transplant patients followed, opening on Sept. 18. The transplant and cancer patients share a common area facility as well — the Brusally Center, named for the people who donated the original home, a former Arabian horse ranch, to Mayo Clinic.

The American Cancer Society — Hope Lodge at the Village is a first for the organization in the western states. The facility is intended for out-of-town patients who face long-term chemotherapy or radiation treatment.

Undergoing a transplant can be a profound and daunting journey, and the experience does not end with the surgery or a blood and marrow transplant for transplant patients. Significant challenges still lie ahead for patients. The healing process involves follow-up appointments for blood draws, biopsies, consults and medication adjustments.

It's one thing to live in the Phoenix area and have the luxury of retreating to the comfort of one's own bed while recuperating and having easy access to appointments at Mayo Clinic Hospital. But for out-of-town patients, a motel room can be an expensive proposition over a period of several weeks or even months. What has been greatly needed is a home-away-from-home to house such patients in a caring and supportive environment.

The Arizona Transplant House at Brusally Ranch had served that purpose for transplant patients very well since 1999.

The Village at Mayo Clinic now carries on the tradition that has touched nearly 3,000 transplant patients and their family members since the opening of the Arizona Transplant House. But with only seven rooms, the Transplant House could no longer serve Mayo's growing numbers of transplant patients.

Plans call for the development to include nine casitas in all when completed, which would accommodate about 70 patients and family members. The Village at Mayo Clinic, located near the Hospice of the Valley on the Phoenix campus, depends entirely on contributions, and completion of the entire community depends on the progress of aggressive fund raising.

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About Mayo Clinic

Mayo Clinic is the first and largest integrated, not-for-profit group practice in the world. Doctors from every medical specialty work together to care for patients, joined by common systems and a philosophy of "the needs of the patient come first." More than 3,700 physicians, scientists and researchers, and 50,100 allied health staff work at Mayo Clinic, which has campuses in Rochester, Minn; Jacksonville, Fla; and Scottsdale/Phoenix, Ariz.; and community-based providers in more than 70 locations in southern Minnesota., western Wisconsin and northeast Iowa. These locations treat more than half a million people each year. To obtain the latest news releases from Mayo Clinic, go to www.mayoclinic.org/news. For information about research and education, visit www.mayo.edu. MayoClinic.com (www.mayoclinic.com) is available as a resource for your health stories.