Inspired by her own near-death experience, hospice head makes ‘Heavenly Home’ for others
Just a few years ago, the Heavenly Home — a place where people could spend their final months surrounded by peace and love, no matter their status — was but a dream in the mind of Michelle Wulfestieg.
The Newport Beach resident and executive director of the Costa Mesa nonprofit Southern California Hospice Foundation had spent the better part of her career arranging the care of individuals diagnosed with six or fewer months to live.
But while some had the fortune of being able to receive care in their own homes, many more had no other option than to go to convalescent hospitals or board and care facilities to live out their final days.
So, Wulfestieg rallied board members, friends and associates to help her raise funds to purchase and renovate a six-bedroom house on a quiet street in Mission Viejo that had been the former site of a senior care facility.
“The minute I pulled up to the cul-de-sac, I just knew with all my heart and soul this was our house,” she recalled in an interview. “I wanted it to be a place so beautiful, anyone would want to send their loved one there at their end of life. I wanted to make it a sanctuary of hope.”
When that pooled fundraising effort still fell short of the purchase price, a donor wishing to remain anonymous pitched in the rest, asking only that it be named after his belated wife.
Jerry’s Heavenly Home opened its doors in February, taking in a 51-year-old Newport Beach resident named Megan who’d sustained a traumatic brain injury at 18. Her one wish was to be baptized before she died, so Wulfesteig called in a chaplain, who performed the ceremony in the backyard.
“This woman didn’t have a bridal shower. She never had a baby shower — this was her moment, where her family could love on her,” she said, noting Megan died the following week.
The Heavenly Home Project has since served 10 patients, accommodating the peaceful transition of four. While such facilities may exist elsewhere in the state, the nonprofit Mission Viejo facility is the first of its kind in Orange County.
During a visit Tuesday, caregiver Denise Hyde stopped in to visit with 84-year-old June Malchow, a former Lake Forest resident admitted in April.
Malchow was living alone but could no longer fully take care of her needs, which are now amply provided for by the Heavenly Home staff. Working day shifts, Hyde not only oversees her patient’s routine care but provides comfort, companionship and free haircuts.
“We’re doing everything from changing diapers to cooking and cleaning the house. Each person has similar needs, and yet they all have unique needs,” Hyde said.
“We have so many sacred moments with people here,” she continued. “I feel this is a calling.”
Draped over Malchow’s bed is a handmade quilt provided by a volunteer network and rendered in purple and lavender, her favorite colors. In early June, staff celebrated her birthday, inviting all her friends. Other highlights include a visit from a mini pony and an Elvis impersonator.
Prognosis aside, it’s a comfortable situation for Malchow, whose bed faces sliding doors that lead out to a patio in the lush, green backyard and a eucalyptus that the thin, soft-spoken patient has claimed as her personal tree.
“There have been some really good times, but there have been some bad times,” Malchow said of her overall health journey. “[Here], each morning I wake up and usually they have breakfast ready. I watch cooking shows, but I have no interest in cooking.”
What makes the Heavenly Home unique is that it accepts low- and fixed-income individuals on a sliding pay scale. Ordinarily, hospice care includes staff and services but makes no provision for housing or 24-hour care, which can run from $5,000 to $40,000 per month.
Currently, three of the Heavenly Home’s six residents were admitted with waivers. Staff say they receive multiple calls daily from people interested in placing someone there.
To respond to that need, and having established a Living Legacy Endowment — made possible through the donations of foundation supporters and family members of patients wishing to honor loved ones — Wulfestieg is looking at purchasing a second home, possibly in North Orange County.
Her team is applying for a California Department of Health Services grant that may someday accommodate a hospice house for 100% waiver patients because, she says, “that’s really where the need is.”
For the 41-year-old Wulfestieg, caring for those at the end of life is a passion that comes from personal experience. Born with a cluster of tangled blood vessels and arteries in her brain, she had her first hemorrhagic stroke at age 11.
Growing up, she dived deeply into the stream of life, excelling at her studies and extracurricular activities. She traveled the world and saw firsthand people suffering from poor health and living conditions, then came home and volunteered for several causes.
During her senior year at California Lutheran University, Wulfestieg took a death and dying class that introduced her to hospice. She noticed people at the end of their lives were incredibly open to sharing with others, even complete strangers, at the bedside.
She eventually became a volunteer coordinator with a hospice in Garden Grove, where she helped grant patients’ final wishes. When, at age 25, a second more massive stroke put her into a nine-day coma, she had a life-changing experience.
“I was in this beautiful place,” Wulfestieg recalled. “It was warm and there was this light, it was like candlelight. I heard the prayers of loved ones asking for healing, then all prayers everywhere, in different languages. I did not want to leave.”
Something assured her she would be healed. A religious and spiritual person, she maintains that a divine force guided her back to life. She subsequently struggled to regain mobility, having lost most movement on her right side. Although doctors believed she would not walk, she proved them all wrong.
In 2014, she shared her journey in the self-published book “All We Have is Today: A Story of Discovering Purpose.” Today, Wulfestieg is on a personal mission to expand access to hospice care.
“Since I woke up, I don’t know how else to describe it, but it feels like God’s hand is on my back and guiding me forward to just where I need to be,” she said. “I really believe my job is to help make each moment count and to help people fulfill their life’s purpose.”
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