November 2024
During this time of the year, we reflect on the privilege it is to provide comprehensive healthcare to our community. We are grateful for the patients and families who place their trust in us… and for the team members whose commitment and expertise enable us to do so.
Thank you for a meaningful year of partnership dedicated to helping others live healthier and happier lives. Through the support of a generous community, HonorHealth Foundation invests in HonorHealth to solve healthcare's toughest challenges.
Learn more about the impact of philanthropy at HonorHealthFoundation.org.
HonorHealth CEO shares his personal story
HonorHealth CEO Todd LaPorte is a vocal supporter of the Blue Zones Scottsdale Project. But his reasons for improving community well-being run deeper than you might think.
Imagine a community where the very environment we live in supports a healthier lifestyle and contributes to your well-being. Where programs and services are readily available to help everyone live a longer and higher quality life.
Blue Zones is a community-led health initiative designed to measurably improve community well-being, resilience and economic vitality. Backed by decades of research on rare longevity hotspots where people thrive into their 100s, Blue Zones helps communities transform by making lasting changes to the environment in which people live, work and play.
Through the Blue Zones project, we work with our communities to help make healthy choices easy and more accessible to all. Other participating communities have seen double-digit drops in obesity and smoking rates, economic investment in downtown corridors, grant funding awards to support policies and programs to improve health equity and measurable savings in healthcare costs.
“As the largest employer and healthcare provider in Scottsdale, we are committed to improving the health and well-being of everyone in Scottsdale and throughout the Valley,” says LaPorte. “That means expanding our efforts outside hospital walls. This Blue Zones Project will help us build a sustainable future."
HonorHealth has a unique opportunity before us — to create a community known for making a healthy lifestyle available to all. Your gift to this mission will help leave a legacy of better health for generations to come.
Watch this interview with Todd LaPorte and learn more about the health event that served as his wake-up call:
Small scope makes a big difference for complex GI patient
From top to bottom, your intestinal tract measures between 10 and 16 feet. This crucial expanse is responsible for digestion, absorbing nutrients and water and delivering them to the rest of your body so you can function at your best.
But a lot can go wrong across those 16 feet, too. Gastroenteritis, ulcers, obstructions, Crohn’s disease, irritable bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis, diverticulitis and colorectal cancer are just a few.
For May*, a spunky 87-year-old woman, ongoing abdominal and rectal pain was severely diminishing her quality of life. Her physician discovered a large rectal polyp that had become so heavy, it was protruding from her body and had to be removed. May was referred to Dr. Andrew Kassir, an HonorHealth colorectal surgeon.
At her age, open surgery carries increased risks and, Dr. Kassir believed May would benefit from endoscopic resection rather than a surgical resection which would also result in reliance upon a colostomy bag for the rest of her life. An endoscopic procedure is less invasive and associated with lower patient risk than open surgery.
Dr. Kassir referred May to Dr. Amar Thosani, a GI specialist at the HonorHealth Center for Interventional Endoscopy, who performed a rectal endoscopic ultrasound to rule out early cancer. Fortunately, May’s polyp was not cancerous, but it did need to be removed to provide her relief. Dr. Thosani chose his colleague, Dr. Cris Pitea, whose extensive experience performing endoscopic submucosal dissection made him the right choice for May’s procedure.
Just two months following the original diagnosis, Dr. Pitea performed May’s endoscopic resection. This was no simple procedure. Due to the location and sheer size of the polyp, it took 10 hours to remove it and repair the surrounding region.
“May has had a great outcome, with no immediate or long-term complications,” notes Dr. Pitea. “Certainly, her experience would have been very different if she pursued traditional surgery rather than the less invasive endoscopic procedure.”
An intervention of this complexity can only be performed in a few centers across the country and only by highly trained, skilled and experienced endoscopists.
But the greatest joy, for both physician and patient, is that May, now 91, has recovered well, avoided having to use a colostomy bag and has had no recurrence of her condition.
Learn more about the HonorHealth Center for Interventional Endoscopy.
* - Patient's name changed to protect confidentiality.
Marzia finds hope at Desert Mission
When she was a toddler, Marzia’s family was in a terrible accident in which her father was killed while trying to save her. A few years later at age seven, her mother married an American military officer and they all moved from Italy to start a new life in the United States.
The transition was not an easy one for Marzia. She moved out of the house at 16 and later married and had three children. Her daughter Jessica was born with Down Syndrome and continues to live with Marzia.
Her life was not only challenged, but was nearly taken when she received a dose of penicillin for a painful tooth infection and learned that she was deathly allergic to the drug. She spent ten days in a coma and a full month in intensive care to recover.
Throughout these challenges, Marzia remains cheerful and grateful. She has developed a close relationship with the staff at HonorHealth Desert Mission, where she receives nutritious food from the Food Bank, and support from the Living Well program that helps her build habits that improve self-sufficiency and resilience.
Jessica has diabetes, in addition to Down Syndrome, so maintaining a nutritious diet is vital to her health. Together they learned from Desert Mission that “food is medicine” – watch this video, shown at the 2024 Desert Mission Morning of Gold, and see how Marzia and Jessica are doing now!
Thanksgiving is just around the corner and at-risk families in our community need you
Make a donation to the 2024 HonorHealth Desert Mission Turkey Drive and help give thousands of Arizona families a nutritious Thanksgiving dinner. Your donation will be matched by a generous donor, so your impact will be DOUBLED!
- Your donation of $100 will be doubled to $200 to help feed eight families.
- Your donation of $50 will be doubled to $100 to help feed four families.
- Your donation of $25 will be doubled to $50 to help feed two families.
Donations to HonorHealth Desert Mission are eligible for the Arizona Charitable Tax Credit. Through this program, you may receive your donation back — dollar-for-dollar — as a credit on your Arizona state taxes. Thank you for helping the most vulnerable in our community!
Make your donation today and help feed a family in need!
Paddle Battle Night Before Party & Pickleball Clinic
Join us at our inaugural Paddle Battle Pickleball Clinic led by USA Pickleball Professionals, December 7, and Night Before Party, December 6, 2024.
Whether you love Pickleball or want to support the HonorHealth Sports Medicine and the new Sports Medicine Hub at the Bob Bové Wellness Pavilion – your purchase of a ticket makes an impact!
Participant or spectator tickets are available. For $200, choose from a VIP spectator or Pickleball Clinic ticket, and you’ll receive an exclusive invitation to the “DINK & DRINK” Pre-Party at Scottsdale Fashion Square on Friday, December 6, with free valet parking, a Swag bag, entry to the VIP Lounge with complimentary food and drinks, plus access to view the pickleball action, or participate in the pickleball clinic on December 7.
The clinic will focus on improving your skills and teaching essential techniques for injury prevention, all while having fun on the rooftop of the Scottsdale Fashion Square Purple Garage (4th Floor), with stunning views of Camelback Mountain.
Tickets are limited to just 240 attendees — don’t miss out! Purchase your tickets today!
Philanthropic gifts fuel our mission for finding cures,
saving lives and transforming healthcare.
Will you join us?
