Our Work
At Joseph’s House, we carry out our mission and values through three primary programs: End-of-Life Care, Medical Respite Care, and Supportive Services. Joseph’s House is best known for our End-of-Life Care Program that supports DC adults who have advanced HIV disease or terminal cancer, by providing them with nurturing care while they are in their final months and weeks.
Our staff and volunteers also work with residents in our Medical Respite Care Program that helps to engage them in the healthcare system, establish or reestablish an HIV treatment regimen, and to manage the treatment’s challenges and side effects. And our Supportive Services Program emphasizes the importance of community as the key to long-term stability and personal growth. Through this program, our social service staff provide a wide range of case management services to the people we serve.
Medical Respite Care
Our short-term residential program offers people experiencing homelessness a safe place to recover while accessing medical care. We work with individuals with HIV/AIDs and/or who were recently incarcerated. Residents receive 24-hour nursing and personal care services. We work to engage them in the healthcare system, establish or reestablish an HIV treatment regimen, and manage the treatment’s challenges and side effects. We offer patient advocacy during healthcare visits and support residents to advocate for themselves. We also provide a safe, stable home, nutritious meals, and a welcoming community.
Our nurse case managers also work with former residents to assist with coordination of care, receive medications, prepare monthly or weekly pill boxes, and encourage adherence.
End-of-life Care
We support adults with advanced HIV disease or terminal cancer by providing nurturing care while they are in their final months and weeks. As a resident approaches death, we provide the best medical care while recognizing and respecting the mystery of dying. At Joseph’s House, no one dies alone. Our staff and volunteers remain fully present at the bedside. We hold a memorial service for each resident, and burial or cremation arrangements are made, if needed. Additionally, when possible, if hospice patients find the will and support needed to live while in residence, we work with them to stabilize their health and return to independent living.
Supportive Services
Our supportive services aim to address the factors that brought each individual resident to our services so they may sustainably regain their independence. Alongside medical care and medical case management, each current and former resident of the Joseph’s House community receives a broad range of Supportive Services: comprehensive, wrap-around supports to aid their journey towards health and independence, as well as the opportunity for engagement in shared community life with family-style meals and the companionship of other residents, staff, and volunteers.
Get Connected
We welcome your referrals to Joseph’s House. You can refer your client, patient, loved one, or yourself. To stay at Joseph’s House you must:
- Be an unhoused or marginally housed individual in the Washington, D.C. area and have one of the criteria below:
- An HIV/AIDs diagnosis and be in need of respite care
- A recent or anticipated exit from incarceration and be in need of respite care
- A terminal diagnosis like cancer and be connected to a hospice provider
Ineligibility factors include:
- Requiring complex medical equipment or other lifesaving interventions like ventilation or intravenous antibiotics,
- Requiring intensive physical rehabilitation services,
- Having active substance use without desire to maintain sobriety.