UF freshman creates medical project to help hospital patients

An incoming Gator has turned her high school project into a corporation for hospital patients.

Code Gray was established in April to provide hospital patients with the knowledge to advocate for themselves, said Bailey Rhodes, the project’s founder.

The 18-year-old UF biology freshman created notebooks with different sections where patients can file all of their medical information.

“You can keep track of any medications you’re on, lab results, physician visits, notes and questions you might want to remember to ask,” she said. “It’s all in one place so that it’s easy to keep up with.”

Rhodes has personal experience with medical information and hospital interactions. She spent nearly two-and-a-half years in the hospital after being diagnosed with bone cancer, and then leukemia.

Rhodes said she began to document her own medical information in 2012 when she was admitted to the hospital for dehydration and a nurse had to access her IV port.

Rhodes had previously been told only 1-inch needles worked for her port. The nurse had difficulty getting to the port, so Rhodes asked if she was using the right needle.

The next day, Rhodes said she was marked as an unruly patient, also known as a “Code Gray.”

As a result, Rhodes said she and her parents recorded any administration in journals.

“I felt like I was more in control if I knew exactly what was going on,” she said.

She developed Code Gray as a project for a nursing assistant class.

“It kind of just grew from there,” Rhodes said. “I would hear different stories from other people saying they wish they had it when they were in the hospital.”

Two months before starting the project, she found out she was accepted to UF.

“I think I cried a little bit just because I was so happy,” she said. “I’m kind of hoping I’ll meet people at UF that have different connections to make Code Gray as big as I hope for it to be.”

Her mother, Beth Rhodes, said although she’s worried for Bailey to go away to college, she believes she will do wonderful things.

“She’s overcome all of the challenges that she’s faced,” Beth Rhodes said. “I think this is a path she was supposed to take because she’s going to do something big with her life.”

Each notebook costs $4 to make, but Rhodes said she freely gives them to whomever asks.

She said nearly 50 notebooks have been given out so far.

“It was funny; we met up with an accountant last week for advice,” Beth Rhodes said. “He asked if she wanted to make any money from this, and she said no. She really just wants to help people from this.”