WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A
MENTOR Simply stated, a mentor is someone who shares knowledge learned through experience with someone else needing that knowledge. Since 1996, the Georgia Transplant Foundation’s Mentor Project has had the privilege of mentoring over 2,000 people: transplant candidates, recipients, their parents and spouses, and living organ donors. Many people find the support of a mentor
HOUSING
ASSISTANCE
so beneficial they want to become mentors themselves. As one transplant recipient states, “My mentor helped me understand my feelings were normal. I could call her anytime and she always listened and understood. She didn’t tell me it would be OK, like everyone else was doing. She knew she couldn’t promise that. But, she had made it and that gave me hope. She became my lifeline to the possibility that things would get better for me too. I knew
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any recipients, candidates and family members require housing in their transplant center area related to their medical care. These recipients/ candidates often lack the resources to afford housing costs in addition to the routine expenses for their permanent homes. Additionally, there are housing needs that arise with follow-up care and unexpected complica-
tions, and many patients and families cannot afford this cost. There are no other programs or funds that provide this housing assistance. The goal of the Housing Assistance Program is to provide financial assistance to residents of Georgia who are UNOS listed for transplant, recipients or family members who require housing related to transplant care. The housing program is not meant to take the place of pre-transplant planning and requests for post transplant assistance will not be approved pre-transplant. Additionally, the program is not intended to address short-term/on-going follow up visits to the transplant center. For more information about GTF’s Housing Assistance Program, please contact your transplant center social worker or visit www.gatransplant.org.
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Imprint Magazine
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I wanted to do the same for someone else one day.” The Mentor Project began when a group of transplant recipients and spouses came together for a day of sessions. Since then there have been changes, but the overall goals remain the same: to establish guidelines of accountability for the mentoring relationship, to provide a clinical review in several key areas, and for each individual to discover how to most effectively share his or her transplant experience with others. For more information, please contact Martie Rudd at (678) 514-1187 or MRudd@GATransplant.org.
