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AIDS around the world: JOSEPH's HOUSE

Two decades ago on Dec. 1, the first World AIDS Day drew attention to the global epidemic. Within two years, D.C. family doctor David Hilfiker, who had been working and living with the homeless, opened Joseph's House in the Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington, D.C., after noticing that an increasing number of them had been diagnosed with HIV. 

  • Dusk settles around the room, enveloping the figure of Theresa Szkromiuk and Kimoi Rotich. She passes the evening matching her breath with his, her eyes fluttering open and closed while she keeps watch.
  • Lost in his private hallucinations, Percy Reid grabs at the empty air. But as if he senses her presence in the room, he reaches for volunteer Katy Jamison and takes her hands.
  • In his nightly ritual, resident Michael Tyree, 45, prays alone, giving thanks for the blessings in his life.
  • Blossom Williams, certified nursing assistant, left, and Patricia Wudel , executive director of Joseph's House, talk about Rob Wylie. Even as his own health declined, the two note, Wylie remained protective of the women of Joseph's House.
  • Around the dinner table at Joseph’s House, a graceful residential home for HIV positive terminally ill men and women, Ann Dodge, RN, left, and resident Donald Harrell, join hands in prayer before dinner. {quote}People are supposedly coming here to die, but I didn't come here to die and I'm sure quite a few of them here think the same thing. I've got plenty of life in me,{quote} says Harrell.
  • In a rare moment of letting go, resident Rob Wylie leans on Ann Dodge for support. Staff members at Joseph's House balance their relationships with each resident, making sure they are supportive but not intrusive.
  • Volunteers Will Cole, left, and Kevin Sullivan, support Percy Reid, urging him to put one foot in front of the other as they navigate the stairs.
  • Resident Kim Corbin soaks up her peaceful surroundings as she luxuriates in a bubble bath at Joseph's House. Corbin, 44, said she loved the man who gave her HIV.
  • Ann Dodge, RN, left, assists Kim Corbin with her weekly luxury of taking a bath. At Joseph's House, close bonds frequently develop between staff members and residents.
  • AmericCorps volunteer Will Cole sheds silent tears for Percy Reid the morning he died at Joseph's House
  • It’s a Joseph’s House tradition for volunteers and caregivers to watch their charges go. His body draped in a star-covered cloth, Percy Reid is wheeled away from the airy brick building that give him a home.
  • Staff and residents sing and comfort each other during a memorial service for Percy Reid at Joseph's House the day he died.
  • Michael Tyree, usually smiling, attends the bi-weekly community meeting at Joseph's House. Worn down by his illness, he gathers strength from the those around him -- Patricia Wudel, executive director at Joseph's House, and fellow resident Kim Corbin.
  • Cathy Fitch cares for Percy Reid. Joseph's House is small enough for friendships to blossom between staff and residents.
  • Moments after his death, staff members and volunteers encircle Rob Wylie and share their memories of the man they called a giant tree.
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