Moment #05: January 10-11, 1987 – Chicago House purchases its second building, which becomes a hospice facility

Stigma, fear, and misinformation around AIDS left countless individuals without homes, jobs, or the means to access the care they needed as their illness progressed. Together, these factors robbed too many individuals of the ability to die with dignity, removed from their communities and cut off from their support networks. In the fall of 1987, Chicago House purchased and renovated a building in Edgewater that became a hospice facility where individuals could live out their final days with compassionate care surrounded by other people living through the same experience.

In 1999, after serving as a safe and affirming final home for individuals dying of complications related to AIDS for over a decade, this 24-hour care facility closed. Individuals with HIV began to live longer, healthier lives thanks to advancements in HIV medication. Demand for hospice care shrunk as the need for wraparound services among individuals living with or impacted by HIV/AIDS, like employment support, rapidly grew.

[photos of the original hospice building, Chicago House case managers and residents.]