Ceremony Marks the Reopening of AIDS Hospice

The San Fernando Valley’s only AIDS hospice, Pioneer House, reopened Saturday after a six-month closure to get its financial and legal affairs in order.

“The treating of AIDS has strained our resources, both human and financial,” said John Maceri, executive director of Homestead Hospice & Shelter, a nonprofit institution that founded the five-bed Pioneer House in 1988. He spoke to a crowd of about 30 gathered in the back yard of the hospice for a rededication ceremony.

Five new patients are scheduled to arrive Monday to fill the three-bedroom house to capacity. To qualify, patients must be certified by a doctor as probably having less than six months to live.

“Today, we celebrate five beds,” Maceri continued. “Since we opened, those beds have been used by 120 men and women, many of whom would have not had any other options.

“Now, they are available, again.”

Pioneer reached a critical point in its finances late last year. About 30% of the $15,000 a month it takes to operate the hospice comes from county and state grants. Homestead collects fees from patients who have private resources or health insurance, but those payments cover only 20% of costs.

“More than half of our patients are indigent, which means they only have Social Security payments coming in,” Maceri said. “Some of them are undocumented aliens, so they don’t even have that or any Medi-Cal benefits to help pay medical costs.”

Therefore, Homestead has to seek private donations to cover about half its costs. But donations fell off drastically last year. “Everyone got hit hard by the recession,” Maceri said.

Also, the facility was faced with new state regulations that went into effect last month, requiring additional wheelchair ramps, more care by registered nurses and mandating that there be at least one certified nurse’s assistant on duty at all times at hospices.

To make the changes and get back on its feet financially, Homestead shut the hospice in January and began working with Scott Goulet, a local accountant and businessman who volunteered his time to put the hospice’s financial records in order and revamp its fund-raising efforts.

Also, the house was spruced up with paint and landscaping.

“We want to provide as nice an atmosphere as possible,” resident manager Vickey Thorpe said as she led a tour of the light-filled, airy hospice. “Except for the hospital beds, which were really necessary to take care of the patients, we try to make everything else homey.”

With the exception of the wheelchair ramps, Pioneer House resembles any other well-kept home on the residential street in Van Nuys. Only a small Homestead sign on the door identifies it as a hospice.

Unlike some other hospices, Pioneer has not encountered resistance in its neighborhood. “We’ve had absolutely no problems,” Maceri said as he stood on the neatly trimed front lawn, bordered by rose bushes and other flowers.

“Some neighbors told me they are glad we are back,” Thorpe said. “They know that we are needed.”

There is usually a waiting list of about 10 to 15 acquired immune deficiency syndrome patients who want to get into Pioneer, Maceri said. The typical patient waits one to two months to get into the hospice, and dies about 35 days after arrival.

At the re-dedication ceremony, Goulet was given a plaque to commemorate his donations of time and money to the hospice.