Old school gets new life as hospice housing

Friday, May. 01, 2015

SALT LAKE CITY — The Bible’s admonition to invite in the stranger and look after the sick is taking a new shape at the former Bishop Glass School on the west side of Salt Lake City. The building, which most recently housed the Guadalupe School, is being renovated as a hospice facility for the homeless.

“I think it’s a beautiful ministry,” said Deacon George Reade, chancellor of the Diocese of Salt Lake City, which is leasing the building to the nonprofit INN Between, an all-volunteer organization.

The idea for a hospice home for the homeless began five years ago, said Kim Correa, executive director of INN Between, but “it really hit a tipping point when we found this old Guadalupe School building. … When we found this building, we got very excited because it’s perfect.”

The location will allow easy transportation of the homes’ residents to the Fourth Street Clinic for treatment, but it’s also “far enough away so that the homeless population won’t migrate to this neighborhood and cause a nuisance,” she said, adding that the former classrooms are large enough to provide dormitory-style setting.

Initially, they expect to have 20 beds on the lower level, with an eye toward expanding to the second floor if needed, Correa said.

Once they signed the lease the first of April, “we just started immediately getting volunteers to paint and do the renovation,” she said.

The fire alarm system had to be upgraded and a new fire hydrant installed to meet current safety code requirements. The facility now includes a day room with a large television and a music room. Residents will have their own bed, a locker to store their items, and meals. 

Residents must be referred by the Fourth Street Clinic or other partners such as Volunteers of America’s Medical Outreach program, Correa said. Professional health care will be provided through Canyon Home Care and Hospice, and a partnership with Millcreek Senior Care will provide for end-of-life needs, she explained.

INN Between has received significant support already from Salt Lake Regional Medical Center employees, who helped renovate the facility and donated many items to the ministry. 

Debra Hampton, an interfaith chaplain at the hospital, received the Chairman’s Award, which is given annually to one employee at each IASIS Healthcare Corp. hospital. Hampton selected INN Between as the charity to receive the $1,000 attached to the award, and for the next year hospital employees will volunteer at the facility, said Tammy Clark, IASIS marketing director.

On April 16, hospital employees and other volunteers went to the school “to scrub the walls and paint and get it ready for their grand opening on May 11,” Clark said. 

Hampton chose INN Between because “it speaks to something that means something to me, to my heart, which are the homeless,” she said.

Between 50 and 60 homeless people die every year in Salt Lake City, so “I thought it was a meaningful project that was deeply needed by the community,” she added. “The homeless is this population that no one really likes to see, but someone needs to help them find a place to die with dignity.” 

The services offered by the facility are expected to reduce the number of emergency room visits to local hospitals, said Deborah Thorpe, board chair with INN Between and a retired palliative care nurse. “It’s one reason we have Salt Lake Regional as a major partner, because they really believe in this and realize that everybody will benefit if these people get good care at end of life.” 

One hope for INN Between is “to re-engage some of these people with family members from whom they’ve been estranged for many years. That’s one of the aspects of getting them to hospice care is because there’s a focus on trying to heal as much – not just the physical problems that they have from their illness but their psychological, social and spiritual issues,” Thorpe added. 

A ribbon cutting ceremony for the new The INN Between will be held May 11 at the facility, 344 South Goshen St., Salt Lake City.

Volunteers and donations for INN Between are being sought, for information visit www.theinnbetweenslc.org.