Arizona Transplant House

Arizona Transplant House serves transplant patients — donors as well as recipients — with a full range of medical needs. Length of stay varies from a few weeks to several months. Someone waiting for a liver transplant, for instance, must live there while waiting for an organ to become available, Executive Director Tom Davie explains, adding that one patient was recently released after an eight-month stay. For heart transplant patients, doctors recommend a minimum three-month stay after the surgery to monitor their progress.

November 9, Arizona Transplant House will host one of its two major annual fundraisers — Denim N’ Dreams dinner and silent auction — at the Armenian Cultural Center. The event is informal and relaxed, with food donated by local restaurants offered at stations throughout the facility for attendees to savor while engaged in the silent auction. One or two former patients will share their testimonial about their healthcare journey “and what it meant to them to have the hospitality facility,” Davie says. With 250 to 300 guests plus sponsorships, Arizona Transplant House hopes the event will raise $50,000 to $60,000.

Snapshot

• The Transplant House is an independent 501(C)3 nonprofit organization on the campus of the Mayo Clinic in Arizona, and serves Mayo Clinic patients who live here or travel here. Its annual operating budget is $2.5 million.
• The Transplant House is comprised of three stand-alone six-bedroom casitas, each of which is able to accommodate a minimum of 12 people (patient and caregiver) with bedroom and private bath and shared kitchen and dining area.
• Patients are asked to pay $35 per night for their stay, but the organization covers the cost for those who cannot afford the full or even any of that fee.
• A major fundraiser in the spring is an interactive dinner presented by the medical center staff at the organization’s community center, which has proven so popular that its run has been extended to two nights and, next year, possibly a third.
• Major sponsorships are provided by Mayo Clinic in Arizona and Gannen Jewelry, and smaller fundraisers throughout the year are enabled by volunteers and donors.