One Breath at a Time, Inc.
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One Breath at a Time, Inc. is a Florida not-for-profit corporation formed August 17, 2004 in Tampa, Florida for the purpose of facilitating the entire lung transplantation process for those scheduling such operations at Tampa General Hospital. The hospital has a teaching affiliation with the University of South Florida College of Medicine and serves a 12-county region of more than 4 million people in West Central Florida.
The organization currently sponsors support services to those contemplating a lung transplant procedure as well as patients and their families before, during and after transplant surgery. One Breath at a Time, Inc. holds group meetings at the hospital during which all aspects of lung transplantation are discussed, including: what transplant candidates can expect in terms of temporary impact on lifestyle; impact of the recovery period on families; and how the patient's day-to-day activities can be affected. The meetings are hosted by a registered nurse.
[edit] It's mission
The primary mission of the One Breath at a Time, Inc. organization at this time is to assist lung transplant recipients, their families and support systems throughout the process and to promote the importance of organ donation, according to One Breath at a Time, Inc.'s administrators. The charity, which is registered with and approved by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) corporation for Federal income tax purposes (contributions to it are tax deductible), has stated it will establish ongoing financial resources in order to ensure the achievement of this mission.
Its immediate goal is to establish a Tampa Bay Lung Transplant Home with multiple small apartments to assist in providing temporary living quarters for Tampa General Hospital's out-of-town and out-of-state patients and their families during initial evaluation, clinic visits, check ups, transplant episode and post operative care. This goal is explained in literature furnished to the public and media through its directors. A growing number of lung patients are expected to come to Tampa from all over the United States for various transplant-related procedures as more organs become available to the hospital's surgery center from medical sources. One Breath at a Time, Inc. will accommodate those people with much-needed quarters as close to the hospital as possible.
[edit] The organization's ultimate goal
In the near future, the group will initiate an ambitious effort to establish a Tampa Bay Lung Transplant Clinic and Research Institute that will provide patient care, participate in clinical research and facilitate basic science for the advancement of successful lung transplants, according to its official mission statement. Cooperating medical institutions will assist One Breath at a Time, Inc in staffing the facility and in providing financially for its day-to-day operation. A spokesman for the organization said there are a number of on-going fund raising efforts planned to augment financing of this project.
Statistics released by Tampa General Hospital indicate the number of lung transplantations performed at its surgical facility has markedly increased in recent years. Recognizing this and the need for supplemental services for patients, One Breath at a Time, Inc. was formed. Current directors are: Deborah Mylet, R.N., of Tampa, Florida; Ruth Brakora, of Winter Haven, Florida; Gerald Greenier of Tarpon Springs, Florida; and Angel Oliva, a lung transplant recipient, of Madeira Beach, Florida.
Dr. Mark W. Rolfe, M.D., FCCP, head of the lung transplant program at Tampa General Hospital and the organization's past president and a director through December, 2006, is now chief advisor to the board regarding current and projected needs of the hospital's lung transplant program as well as those of lung transplant recipients and their families.
