The Compass - Fort Worth The Compass, Spring 2020 | Page 7

PROGRAMS Celebrating Transplant Program Milestones oday, more than 125,000 people in the United States await life- saving organ transplants. Many Twice Blessed House Many patients come from as far away assistance requirements. The nightly charge covers only 20% of the cost as Lubbock and Amarillo for care at Baylor to rent and maintain these units, with candidates for transplant wait years until Scott & White - Fort Worth. Transplant the remaining requiring philanthropic an organ becomes available. Every 10 specialists regularly provide outreach support. Our goal is to make our patients’ minutes, another person is added to the clinics in Lubbock, Amarillo, and Odessa transplant experience as comfortable as waiting list. for outpatient care to individuals with possible, both in and out of the hospital. The Annette C. and Harold C. Simmons chronic disease management, until the To provide a home for transplant Transplant Institute at Baylor Scott & patient’s condition requires them to travel patients in need, Twice Blessed House White All Saints Medical Center - Fort to Baylor Scott & White – Fort Worth for depends in part on the generosity of Worth is an internationally renowned inpatient treatment or transplant surgery. others. Donations enable Twice Blessed destination for transplant care. We provide These patients often face the additional House to continue to be a blessing to future liver, kidney, living donor kidney, and challenge of where to stay while transplant patients by providing furniture, pancreas transplants, making it the only preparing for their procedure and during amenities, and other support as needed. transplant center in the West Texas region recovery in Fort Worth. Often, patients with this capability. and their families spend days, weeks, even In July 2002, physicians on the medical staff performed Tarrant County’s first months away from home. Through the generosity of Foundation FitSteps for Life ® Exercise is of paramount importance in the treatment of advanced liver disease liver transplant. Nine years later, they donors, philanthropy enables Baylor Scott and all types of cancer – including liver performed the 1,000th transplant, a & White – Fort Worth to provide patient cancer. Scientific studies consistently kidney transplant. Only three short support services to patients and families demonstrate unprecedented benefits of months ago, in December 2019, they during this time. Twice Blessed House exercise to this patient population with performed the 2,000th/2,001st transplant provides affordable housing for transplant chronic disease. – fittingly as part of a combined liver and patients and their caregivers during the Thanks to the generosity of the kidney transplant. evaluation process and post-transplant Mary Potishman Lard Trust and Cancer period, allowing them to focus on what’s Foundation for Life, the FitSteps for Life ® important – getting well. program will enroll patients with liver The one-year survival rate for liver transplant patients is currently 100%. According to Mike Sanborn, president of Our eight Twice Blessed House units disease and liver cancer into an organized Baylor Scott & White – Fort Worth, “This at the new Mistletoe Station apartment wellness program to be located within the [survival rate] is almost unheard of within complex just across the street from the Carter Rehabilitation and Fitness Center the medical community. Add to this the medical center, offer patients and their at Baylor Scott & White - Fort Worth. fact that Baylor Scott & White – Fort caregivers a warm, friendly, comfortable Worth is the only liver transplant facility place to stay. Guests pay $50 per night staff members to create individualized in town, we are the market leader in this and financial assistance is available programs tailored to the patient’s fitness emerging area.” for patients who meet the financial level, needs, and goals. Patients with This free program will provide trained cancer and liver disease who exercise not only have a significantly improved quality of life, they can potentially have a longer life. The goal of FitSteps for Life ® is to educate the patient on the benefits of exercise, help incorporate physical activity into their daily routine, and transition into a healthy and active lifestyle during and following treatment. There are no limits to how long a patient can participate in this program. For more information about transplant patient support services, such as Twice Blessed House or FitSteps for Life ® , please contact Geraldine Williams at 817.922.7711 or [email protected]. Transplant team members celebrate 2,000 transplants: Hoylan Fernandez, MD, Greg McKenna, MD, Austin Benton, PA-C, and Ezekielle Go, CST 7 THE COMPASS / BAYLOR SCOTT & WHITE FOUNDATION NEWS / SPRING 2020