A Dedication in the Effort to Shelter AIDS Patients : Ventura Takes a ‘Large First Step’ With Groundbreaking Ceremonies for Christopher House for Homeless Victims

The bright red balloons tethered to the banister could not camouflage the ragged paint, cracked plaster and dirty walls of the Victorian home dedicated Sunday as Ventura County’s first shelter for homeless AIDS patients.

But its run-down look meant nothing to the 150 people who crammed into the tiny front yard for a symbolic groundbreaking ceremony to inaugurate Christopher House, a group home for people with acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

“I’m so proud to be a part of Ventura today,” said Ventura Mayor Gregory L. Carson, one of several speakers who praised the home as an example of a community caring for its own.

Christopher House will absorb $225,000 in renovations--including an earthquake-proof foundation, new plumbing and remodeling to ensure wheelchair accessibility--before opening in October for six residents.

Named for AIDS activist Christopher Dye, who succumbed to the disease in 1990 at the age of 37, the 100-year-old home on East Thompson Boulevard is funded by a $260,000 grant from the city of Ventura and a loan from American Commercial Bank.

“It’s not sufficient to meet the needs,” Edie Brown, executive director of AIDS Care, said. “But it’s the first step--and a very large first step.”

Of AIDS Care’s 130-plus patients in Ventura County, about a dozen are homeless or living in motel rooms paid for by the organization, Brown said. Offering those patients a comfortable home and a support network had long been one of Dye’s dreams, said his sister, Trisha Davis.

“He saw people having to die alone or in a hotel room and it made him sick,” Davis said. “He realized he had family and friends to support him, but others didn’t.”

One AIDS victim who attended the ceremony recalled how desolate he felt before moving into Heath House, the Santa Barbara group home for people with AIDS that served as a model for Christopher House.

“One of the phases you get into is denial with isolation, and boy, was I in it,” said Joe, 46, a former administrator who fell into a deep depression last year after losing his job and car.

But moving into Heath House helped pull him out of the slump.

“They expect you to be self-sufficient, to live a normal day-to-day life and relate to others,” he said, noting that he serves as a volunteer for several AIDS outreach organizations. “There’s a very strong support network and also an opportunity to have your own personality and your privacy. It makes for a quality of life that allows you to be productive,” Joe added, pointing to his T-shirt, emblazoned with his new motto, Action=Life.

Christopher House directors hope their facility will nurture the same kind of vitality, even among the sickest of patients.

“So many times, people with AIDS are absolutely alone--it’s a very lonely illness,” said Roberta Pak-Young, a registered nurse who serves on the board of directors. “This way, individuals can go through some of the phases with each other.”

With renovation scheduled to start in the next few weeks and a panel of health care workers drafting criteria for evaluating potential residents, Christopher House directors are eager to start caring for homeless people with AIDS, some of whom now live on river banks or in abandoned cars.

Fund-raising will be a constant challenge: The Heath House in Santa Barbara spends $95 a day on each of its seven residents, Director Alice Heath said. But that’s still a lot lower than the cost of hospital care, which can run up to $630 a day, she said.

Wearing red ribbons as symbols of AIDS awareness, guests at the dedication marveled at the city’s willingness to support Christopher House during an era of shrinking municipal budgets.

“It’s kind of a shock,” said Keith Ayrhart, 31, a longtime Ventura resident. “AIDS isn’t usually a topic you hear people talking about.”

Keith Phillipson, a real estate agent who helped find the high-ceilinged Victorian home, agreed.

“Ventura historically has not been a very open community, but now, I think people are becoming more educated and less afraid,” he said.

Several of his closest friends have died from AIDS, Phillipson added, and “every hour I spent on this project, I was thinking of them.”

Before the guests filed inside to examine the house’s stained-glass windows and mismatched green rugs, Harry Maynard, the recently retired president of American Commercial Bank, added one admonition.

“We don’t want to repossess the house, so keep it going,” Maynard said to a burst of applause. “The only way we want to see this house on the market is when AIDS is eliminated and we don’t need it anymore.”