20 Years of Our House
Since 1988, Our House has provided housing and specialized services for people living with HIV/AIDS. The efforts of a small group of concerned Portlanders, who read a story in The Oregonian about a homeless man with AIDS who died alone on the streets, soon turned into a five-bed care facility called Our House. During the early 1990’s, Our House focused on providing palliative care and grief counseling, but today our services are greatly expanded. We now provide skilled Nursing Care, Social Services and Occupational Therapy, all designed to help residents meet their goal of what “living well” means to them.
“Our House gave me what I needed to regain my strength and get back on my feet,” says Lloyd, a former resident. “Now I am back living with my partner in our home in Astoria and I feel useful and productive again and I could not have done it without the services and staff at Our House.”
Lloyd is just one example of the many residents who have gone on to live independently. Many residents leave Our House and go on to participate in The Neighborhood Housing and Care Program (NHCP). Introduced in 2004, NHCP provides Nursing Care, Occupational Therapy, and Social Work services to those who want to live in their home, but still require a moderate level of support.
Swan House also became a program of Our House in 2004. Located in Milwaukie, Swan House residents live in a group setting and receive assistance with personal care, meals, mobility, transportation, medication management and more.
Most recently, Esther’s Pantry and Tod’s Corner became programs of Our House in 2007, rounding out our continuum of care by providing food and personal care items for people with HIV/AIDS.
Our House will continue to provide HIV/AIDS services for as long as they are needed. Our goal is to stay ahead of the curve and anticipate what the needs of people living with HIV/AIDS will be in the future and work to provide those services.
We want to thank everyone who has been a part of ensuring our mission of “inspiring people with HIV/AIDS to live well” for over 20 years. “Where we are today in the fight against AIDS has shown me we can truly make a difference in people’s lives when we set our mind to it,” says long-time board member Gary Maffei. “and we all will have a little pride in knowing that we helped.”
Community Shows Support For Tod's Corner
Some partners in the community have been quietly helping people with HIV/AIDS for years. They don’t do this for acknowledgment or for thanks; but we’d like to acknowledge and thank them anyway.
Tod’s Corner, the part of the Our House umbrella that gives clothing, household items and indirect financial help to people with HIV/AIDS living independently, has been assisted in making clients’ lives better and their ends more dignified by these community partners:
Veterinarians Provide the Love
Everyone who’s ever had a pet knows the positive impact animal companions make in the lives of their human friends. When you have HIV/AIDS, that difference is magnified. And yet, those with HIV/AIDS are often impoverished by the disease, and can’t afford to take their pet to a vet for care.
Tod’s Corner helps clients keep their companion pets by paying for basic veterinary care—annual exams, spay/neutering, vaccines, and euthanasia. Our House receives discounted veterinary services for our clients from the following veterinarians. We’d like to acknowledge:
Rose City Veterinary Hospital
NW Neighborhood Veterinary Hospital
Overlook Veterinary Hospital
Facing The End With Dignity
We believe that our clients deserve to be treated with respect and compassion, not only when alive, but also when they reach the end of their lives.
Omega Funeral and Cremation helps make that possible by providing cremation services to clients who pass away with no resources to pay for cremation. They charge Our House a greatly reduced rate for that service – a substantial donation to the dignity of our clients.
Thank you to these organizations for supporting Our House’s mission of providing services to people with HIV/AIDS.
From The Executive Director
Every Spring I love to watch the trees blossom and see new growth all around. Things seem clearer and brighter as the weather starts to change and the days become longer. Our House, too, is going through a transition. We have several new staff members and have a great opportunity to learn from each other and explore new ideas as we mature and grow. What does remain constant, however, is our “Philosophy of Care”.
Recently, we have had many discussions with staff and volunteers about our “Philosophy of Care”. This philosophy not only applies to all of our residents and clients that we serve, but also applies to every relationship we have. The whole basis of the philosophy is one of respect. We respect the views, beliefs and wishes of others and try not to impose our personal beliefs and wishes on anyone. We realize what is “right” for one person is not necessarily right for another. This lesson takes a lot of practice and effort. We are willing to do the hard work to be true to the philosophy and minimize any harm that would be caused if we did otherwise.
At Our House, we are constantly learning – from each other as well as through the amazing experiences we have with our residents and clients. We appreciate your support and generosity to help us with our important vision… “to inspire people with HIV/AIDS to live well”.
