Vecchione, DeeDee

National Kidney Foundation of Arizona

Programs: Rent Early Intervention Program; Food Card Assistance; Nutritional Supplements and Transportation Assistance

Patient assistance programs support one-time rent assistance for kidney patients in an emergency situation. Food Card Assistance will provide food for an entire month for patients who are new to dialysis and struggling financially to access the food required for their new renal diet. Protein supplements not covered by health insurance will be available for patients. Financial assistance to remove barriers to accessing transportation for dialysis and transplant appointments will be provided, as well as fuel cards for qualifying patients who live in remote areas of Arizona, where a personal vehicle is the only option of transport to appointments.

Phoenix Children’s Hospital Foundation

Programs:

Nephrology Patient Assistance; Blood Pressure Cuffs, Urine Dipsticks and Kidney Camp

Patient assistance programs provide preventative, financial, psychosocial and ancillary support to pediatric patients receiving dialysis, kidney transplants and treatment for kidney related illness and disease. This includes infant and child blood pressure cuffs for at home monitoring to avoid medication; ambulatory blood pressure machines for 24 hour monitoring; urine protein dipsticks; and funds for emergent situations involving supplies, utilities, rent, car payments, gas and food.

St. Joseph’s Foundation

Programs: Kidney Transplant Patient Support Fund

The kidney transplant patient support fund ensures all patients receiving a transplant at the Kidney Transplant Program at St. Joseph’s Norton Thoracic Institute receive the best care possible. Kidney transplants are expensive and can reach nearly a half-million in total costs, not including the lifetime of immunosuppressant medications needed to ward off organ rejection. Funds will assist transplant patients most in need of financial support with out-of-pocket expenses for medication, transportation, lodging and food.

TGen Foundation

Programs: Creating Better Reference Genomes for Individuals with Native American Ancestry and Beyond

This project is a follow up to the very successful initial project funded by the Arizona Women’s Board, which developed Native American reference genomes by aggregating information from multiple individuals as well as by creating a prospective or de novo assembly of a single individual’s Native American ancestry genome. The current program will close gaps in the de novo genome assembly, compare it to the available de novo assembled genomes for its quality, and further explore its use in identifying clinically relevant variants in individual’s genomes. The project will explore problematic regions in the pangenome reference, refine them, and then use the improved pangenome reference to identify variants in sequence data

Transplant Community Alliance

Programs: Living Assistance Fund

The Living Assistance Fund provides relief from financial stress caused by a kidney transplant and allows low-income kidney transplant recipients on the as well as candidates on the donor waitlist to focus on their care and healing. Assistance is a one-time payment to bridge a gap between loss of income from a transplant and living expenses. Eligible expenses include rent payments, utility bills, transportation costs, co-pays for medications and insurance premiums. Payments are made directly to the provider on behalf of the kidney patient.

Valleywise Health Foundation

Programs: Arizona Women’s Board for Healthier Families Food Pharmacy

The food pharmacy uses food as medicine for diverse low-income patients and their families to reduce obesity, hypertension, pre-diabetes and diabetes, which left unchecked can lead to kidney disease. Staff at Valleywise health clinics provide healthy food, nutritional counseling, cooking workshops, opportunities for activity and movement, family support, prevention education, health information, and social support to improve patient health outcomes. Valleywise utilizes Farm Express, that operates mobile markets, to ensure medically vulnerable community members have consistent access to affordable, healthy foods at the food markets.

President: Susan Purtill

Vice President: April Ward

Recording Secretary: Melissa Kenly

Corresponding Secretary: Lori Roediger

Treasurer: Amanda Garmany

Authors Luncheon Chairman: Kimberly Jacobsen

Immediate Past President: Ingrid Haas

Administrative Consultant: Robyn Lee

Kimberly Afkhami, Laura Bill, Shaun Bracken, Jennifer Carmer, Laura Dannerbeck, Susan Doria, Jana Earnest, Amanda Garmany, Lisa Geyser, Lisa Ghelfi, Christine Gustafson, Ingrid Haas, Megan Hackbarth, Carrie Hall, Nadine Hart, Brenda Howard, Shelley Hubbard, Jackie Hutt, Kimberly Jacobsen, Dana Jirauch Boatright, Sandy Katzman, Melissa Kenly, Stephanie Kerkorian, Robyn Lee, Sheri Levin, Heidi Loftin, Amy Louis, Lynne Love, Jenifer Lunt, Michele McCabe, Lory Parson, Susan Purtill, Karen Quinif, Lori Roediger, Amy Slethaug, Marci Symington, Kristine Thompson, DeeDee Vecchione, April Ward, and Candyce Williams

Ann Albers, Sydney Anderson, Elise Bard, Leslie Berry, Jan Bohannon, Irene Bonadurer, Julie Bowe, Jan Cacheris, Susan Charlton, Jane Christensen, Mary Crozier, Robyn DeBell, Ann Denk, Margie Denton, Jacquie Dorrance, Gee Gee Entz, Nancy Hanley Eriksson, Virginia Feffer, Shän Francis, Harriet Friedland, Colleen Gaia, Nancy Gaintner, Erin Gogolak, Babs Gordon, Lenni Griego, Penny Gunning, Leah Hoffman, Nan Howlett, Mary Hudak, Carrie Hulburd, Carolyn Jackson, Catherine Jacobson, Rona Kasen, Sandy Kostis, Julie Kroot, Patti Lau, Jamie Lendrum, Suzanne Lewis, Judy Linhart, Julie Linhart, Janis Lyon, Sandy Magruder, Brenda Mason, Linda Mattes, Genny Matteucci, Kathleen McClain, Linda Nachman, Virginia Nosky, Susan Palmer-Hunter, Lois Savage, Alexa Schneider, Judy Schubert, Sallye Schumacher, Susan Segal, Judy Shannon, Beverly Shaver, Margo Shein, Susie Small, Betsy Stodola, Sue Stuckey, Sandi Thomas, JoAnn Tull, Polly Turpin, Melani Walton, Kari Yatkowski and Rachel Zemer

Erma Bombeck, Glenna Shapiro, and Adriana Trigiani

Erma Bombeck invited fellow authors to join her for the country’s first Authors Luncheon in 1980. Why? Erma thought it would be a unique way to raise funds for Arizona kidney patients. She was right. The Authors Luncheon was an immediate success and quickly became an annual event. The Arizona Women’s Board is dedicated to continuing Erma’s tradition of bringing best-selling authors together to help write a brighter future for Arizona kidney patients. The Friends of Erma Bombeck Authors Luncheon has raised more than $13 million for programs that directly benefit Arizona’s kidney patients and their families. The Women’s Board is honored to continue Erma’s legacy each Fall at its gathering of best-selling authors who present their latest releases.