Site work begun in Phoenix for new 'Village at Mayo Clinic'

Friday, July 18, 2008

PHOENIX, 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.

The formal groundbreaking for the Village at Mayo Clinic has taken place, given that site work has begun, trees have been moved and a sign officially marks the location on the Phoenix campus of Mayo Clinic.

Undergoing a transplant can be a profound and daunting journey, and the experience does not end with the surgery or the blood and marrow transplant. 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 Valley 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. But for patients traveling from Yuma, Ariz., Las Vegas, California and beyond, 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 in Scottsdale has served that purpose very well since 1999. And until the official move to the new Village at Mayo Clinic on the Phoenix campus, scheduled for August 2009, patients will continue to stay at Brusally, located at Cactus and 84th Streets.

The Village will carry 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 can no longer serve Mayo's growing numbers of transplant patients.

The development will truly be a "village." Southwestern style "casitas" will house patients and their caregivers and will surround a central community center called, appropriately, "Brusally House," which carries on the "ranch" tradition. Each casita will be approximately 4,900 square feet and will have six bedrooms and six bathrooms. When complete, nine casitas will be able to accommodate about 70 patients and their caregivers.

Amid all this, a unique new collaboration has come about. Mayo is teaming up with the American Cancer Society to also provide lodging for cancer patients who come from around the state and region for long-term therapy that can last more than six or seven weeks. The American Cancer Society will also have casitas at the Village, a first for the organization in the western states. The American Cancer Society currently has 24 "Hope Lodges" in 17 states and Puerto Rico. The Hope Lodge concept provides lodging for cancer patients in a nurturing, home-like environment.

The Village at Mayo Clinic, located east of 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. To date, the campaign has been successful enough that enough money is available to build two casitas (and a possible third) at the outset.

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Mayo Clinic is the first and largest integrated, not-for-profit group practice in the world. As a leading academic medical center in the Southwest, Mayo Clinic focuses on providing specialty and surgical care in more than 65 disciplines at its outpatient facility in north Scottsdale and at Mayo Clinic Hospital. The 208-bed hospital is located at 56th Street and Mayo Boulevard (north of Bell Road) in northeast Phoenix, and provides inpatient care to support the medical and surgical specialties of the Clinic, which is located at 134th Street and Shea Boulevard in Scottsdale.

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