Transplant Housing
GoodHearts Sets $50,000 for Transplant
Housing
The University of Alberta Hospital is the
largest single transplant facility in Canada.
The Edmonton hospital serves Alberta, Saskatchewan,
northern British Columbia and Manitoba, and
the Territories.
In 2008, medical teams performed 245 organ
transplants and provided 1,022 tissue grafts.
The number of patients on the hospitalÕs transplant
waiting list was 621 Ñ and the number keeps
rising. About 400 of those patients were out
of town residents.
To be listed for a transplant, each patient
must have a caregiver Ñ usually a family member
Ñ who must be with the patient during the transplant
process which takes an average of five months.
This means that neither the patient nor the
caregiver is able to work to support the family.
There
are lots of resources available for pediatric
transplant patients, but thereÕs very little
for adult patients and caregivers. A study done
almost 10 years ago clearly stated this need,
but nothing else was done.
GoodHearts, a support group for transplant
patients and caregivers, aims to provide temporary
housing. A fund-raising dinner (view
photo album) held last May launched the campaign
to raise $50,000 needed to make the project
a reality. The dinner and
donations raised $9,000 for the GoodHearts
project.
The idea to provide housing was sparked by
some 60 donations made in the memory of Kaelyn
MacKenzie. She was 24 years old when she passed
away on Jan. 25, 2009.
Kaelyn had been waiting for a heart transplant
since May 2008 and was a patient at the U of
A Hospital. Her family knows and understands
the financial challenges such a move and travel
impose.
Brenda and Ward MacKenzie wrote to GoodHearts: "We
are from Yorkton, Saskatchewan, and over the
last six years have made more trips then we
care to count to Calgary and then to Edmonton
with Kaelyn. All these trips were costly and
we knew down the road we would be making Edmonton
our home for at least three to four months
when the time came for Kaelyn's transplant.
"We
hope our donation will help families in need
of some financial help," said
the MacKenzies.
The members of GoodHearts believe
that the most economic and efficient way to
provide temporary housing is by renting furnished
apartments near the U of A Hospital. With help
from generous donors and support from the transplant
community the first apartment could be available
in 2010.
GoodHearts is already providing financial
aid to transplant patients and their caregivers.
In February we started giving out food cards
and gas vouchers. And we encourage organ recipients
to stay fit and healthy by subsidizing their
membership in the YMCA Health and Wellness
Program.
Two outstanding members of the Edmonton
transplant community Ñ Dr. Arvind Koshal, Director
of Development and External Affairs, Mazankowski
Alberta Heart Institute, and Dwight Kroening,
the only heart recipient to complete an Ironman
Ñ helped GoodHearts with the transplant housing
fund-raising drive.
We hope your generous contributions
can make the transplant housing a reality for
the hundreds of patients who must move to Edmonton
and wait for the gift of live.
Donations can be made on our websiste through Donate
Now, or by mail:
GoodHearts Mentoring Foundation
11423 55th Ave. NW
Edmonton, Alta. T6H 0X3
May 2009 Fundraising Dinner - View the Photo
Album
Next fund-raising dinner
May 29, 2010
Details coming soon
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