BROWN: The Mason Guest House

Published 3:00 pm Tuesday, April 15, 2025

If you are a relative, friend or perhaps only follow me on Facebook then you know that I have been a frequent guest at the Mason Guest House in Decatur, Georgia, which is located on the Clairmont campus of Emory University.

Our family is grateful for the accommodation at this beautiful estate, and I want to share certain interesting information about this amazing facility.

The Mason Guest House is a home setting that is available for use by those who are in the transplant program. It is open for overnight or long-term rental by those who have received a transplant or those who are waiting to receive a transplant. The prices are amazingly affordable. They provide ample parking areas, and patients can use a convenient shuttle service for transportation to appointments.

The generously sized rooms have well-appointed decor, cable television and private bathrooms. Guests can often choose different floor plans, and the staff associates work with special requests when available. There are visiting areas, work areas with computer access, plus complimentary washers and dryers and an exercise room. The spacious formal living room has a fireplace, a grand piano and a guitar that you are encouraged to enjoy.

Continental breakfast items and fresh bakery products are provided but there are also full-size, furnished kitchens available to prepare your own meals. Extended stay guests are assigned areas to store groceries and designated refrigerator space; there are coffee makers, an ice machine, and dishwashers.

“The Mason House is a private retreat that offers low-cost housing for organ transplant candidates, recipients, living donors and families.” There are countless windows with views of the manicured front lawn or the wooded areas that surround the peaceful setting. The entire home is designed to be serene and restful; you feel at home no matter where you decide to spend your free time.

The Mason Guest House opened in 1995 when Emory donated the land, and Carlos and Marguerite Mason donated $1.6 million with an endowment of $600,000 bequest for maintenance costs.

There are staff members always present and on duty and if there is one idea that they all believe is to strive to make the Mason Guest House a “home away from home.” The staff is well trained, courteous and concerned about the patients and their comfort.

Among the busiest solid-organ transplant centers in the nation, Emory University Hospital, through the Center for Transplantation, performs approximately 1,000 evaluations and three hundred transplants annually. The transplant program began in 1947 with the Georgia’s first corneal transplant, and in 1966, performed the first kidney transplant. The first bone-marrow transplant was performed in 1979, followed by the first heart transplant in 1985. Then in 1987, Emory began the liver transplant program. The first simultaneous kidney-pancreas operation was performed in 1989.

There are two Ronald McDonald Houses on the campus plus the Mason Guest House, that are available to assist transplant patients and their families from the Emory University Hospital and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.