CLEVELAND — Jennifer Pitsenbarger loves to say hello to her neighbors from a balcony apartment.

What You Need To Know

  • Transplant House provides low-cost housing to transplant patients and their care partners

  • The average length of stay for a tranplant patient is 35 nights

  • In addition to an apartment, the non-profit provides counseling services

But this apartment just outside Cleveland isn’t her home.

“The rooms themselves are really cozy. It almost feels like you’ve gone to grandma’s house,” she said.

Pitsenbarger lives in Virginia, but she’s been staying at the Transplant House while a friend of her’s recovers from a lung transplant.

“We were here in October and stayed in a hotel. I would catch the shuttle in the morning, spend all day at the hospital and come back in the evening. Nobody there knew what I had experienced all day,” she said.

"I describe it more as a bed & breakfast for transplant patients than a hotel because it’s a home,” said Elaine Turley, executive director and co-founder of Transplant House.

Turley founded the non-profit 10 years ago after her father had to travel out of state to receive care for a liver transplant.

“They (her parents) were able to stay in special housing," Turley said. "It saved them financially and emotionally and therefore it reduced the stress of those of us who were back home."

University Hospitals and Cleveland Clinic require transplant patients to live within an hour of the hospitals before a transplant, in case a donation comes up, and after for follow up care.

That entire process can take months.

The Transplant House offers low-cost housing to anyone getting an organ or bone-marrow transplant at the hospitals.

The non-profit opens its doors to people from all over the world including some as far as Israel, Greece and Japan.

It saves people an average of $140 a night over area hotels, or $16,000 over a four-month period, which is a common length of stay. But it’s more than just a place to sleep and make meals.

“We always say the hospital has the patient taken care of, but who is caring for the caregiver? A lot of that support happens here,” Turley said.

The caregiver, or care partner as it’s now known, is typically a spouse or adult child. Transplant House has a social worker on staff who can provide counseling to the patient or care partner.

“Sometimes we see friends—devoted friends—that are here providing that commitment and providing that care to their friend, which is a profound gift,” Turley said.

Such is the case with Pitsenbarger. She’s been staying at the Transplant House for three months away from her family to provide support for her friend.

“The comradery you have here is worth a million bucks,” Pitsenbarger said.