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Toronto building manager steps up for northern patients

Being on a waiting list for organ transplant is not only stressful, it can be expensive. Tina Proulx — a Sudbury woman who received a double-lung transplant in December — knows this first-hand.
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When patients needing organ transplants relocate to Toronto, while they wait for surgery, they are often on their own to find and pay for accommodations. Supplied photo.
Being on a waiting list for organ transplant is not only stressful, it can be expensive.

Tina Proulx — a Sudbury woman who received a double-lung transplant in December — knows this first-hand. Her extended stay in Toronto, after being added to a lung transplant wait-list in October 2014, proved a rude awakening concerning the need for out-of-town patients to access affordable accommodations down south.

Proulx and her husband, Joel, both Sudbury natives, left behind their lives in Ottawa so they could be near Toronto's General Hospital, in case a pair of lungs became available for transplant.

Once lungs are removed from a donor's body, there is only a two-hour window to transplant them. After that, the organs aren't viable.

High-tech XVIVO systems, invented by Toronto doctors, can extend that time frame by a bit, but a quick turnaround remains essential.

Without jobs in Toronto, Proulx said she and her husband eventually had to bend the truth to find an apartment.

“We tried the honest approach and explained our situation,” she said. “Unfortunately, we weren't very successful with that.”

When they did find an apartment, they were on the hook for $1,475 per month in rent, without any steady income.

Through various fundraising efforts, and a strong family support network, they managed to get by, but the cost added another layer of stress when Proulx was fighting for her life.

When sick children travel from Northern Ontario to Toronto for medical care they can stay at the Ronald McDonald House, but there is not equivalent institution for sick adults.

Proulx received a double-lung transplant on Dec. 2, 2015, but will need to remain in Toronto until March 2 at the very earliest, before she is well enough to return home.

But the difficulties she faced finding accommodations could actually help future transplant recipients who need to travel to Toronto.

When her parents – Lorraine and André Giroux – visited her during the holiday season, they rented a a furnished apartment at a discounted rate through Toronto's Sky View Suites.

Lorraine Giroux shared her daughter's story with Sky View partner Matt Regush, and it struck a chord.

“I've been doing this for almost three years and I've never had a tenant cry and give me a hug before,” Regush said. “It was a pretty special feeling.”

Another partner with the company previously worked in palliative care, and Regush said they had debated creating at least one charitable suite that out-of-town patients could use for short periods.

Proulx's story convinced Regush making at least one furnished apartment available free of charge for transplant patients was the right move.

“It's surprising that nothing like that exists,” Regush said. “It's unfortunate to be honest.”

Sky View Suites partnered with Toronto General Hospital, which now refers patients to the College Street apartment, only blocks from the hospital, if it is available.

For now, he said they are starting with the single apartment, but would like to make more available down the line.

To help as many patients as possible, they are making the apartment available to patients who are in Toronto for short stays, while they are in the early, and stressful, diagnosis period.

“There are a number of buildings downtown that outright don't allow short-term stays,” Regush said.

For patients who expect to be in Toronto longer term, Sky View can offer discounted rates.

Giroux said she plans to meet with Nancy Griffin, the widow of well-known radio host and organ donor Rich Griffin, about expanding support for accommodations in Toronto.

Nancy Griffin launched the #1Saves8 campaign in November 2015 to encourage organ donations, and honour her husband.

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