Joshua’s House to offer hospice for Sacramento’s terminally ill homeless

Joshua’s House, a hospice program for Sacramento’s homeless population, will provide free end-of-life care for up to 15 homeless residents at a time when it opens in July.

The facility, which will be operated by YoloCares, held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday.

Marlene von Friedrichs-Fitzwater, Joshua House’s founder, began working on Joshua’s House in 2015, a year after her grandson, Joshua Nielson, passed away in Nebraska while homeless.

When it is complete, Joshua’s House will offer terminally ill homeless clients housing. The facility will have five houses on a single lot. A sixth house will serve as an administrative center. Clients will have access to clothing, art supplies and music therapy.

“These homes are not luxurious, but they are clean. You’ll have a bed, you’ll have love and you’ll be able to die in dignity,” said von Friedrichs-Fitzwater’s husband Robert DeSaeger.

Since 2020, the Sacramento County Coroner has reported that 1,230 people have died while homeless. According to YoloCares, a homeless person dies on the street every other day in Sacramento County, and Joshua’s House estimates that 20% of those deaths are from terminal illnesses. Joshua’s House will be the first hospice center for terminally ill homeless people in California, according to its website.

Dignity Health, Sutter Health, UC Davis Health and Kaiser Permanent will refer clients to Joshua’s Health and provide health care professionals for medical services. To assist operations, YoloCares plans to have 10% of Joshua House’s work done by volunteers, according to YoloCares grief specialist and volunteer manager Elisa Stone. Volunteers will change bedding, handle donations, clean laundry and serve as death doulas.

Death doulas, Stone explained, “Talk about assessing real life and looking at things from a perspective of, ‘This is happening. How can we help you face it?’”

These volunteers will lend a supportive ear to clients and assist in outreach to loved ones. So far, Stone has trained 12 volunteers to be death doulas.

For Stone, hospice at Joshua’s House will focus on more than medicine.

“We really care about the soul and the heart,” she said.

A decade in the making

Originally slated to open in 2018, Joshua’s House faced numerous hurdles that delayed construction.

The main priority was raising funds to construct the facility. Joshua’s House forged private partnerships with health agencies and advocated for public dollars from the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, the county and the city. In the end, Joshua’s House received the $3.5 million needed to build its hospice center.

Joshua’s House was first going to be located in the River District, where von Friedrichs-Fitzwater purchased a warehouse. Architects had drawn up plans and construction was about to begin when an inspection found asbestos in the building, according to YoloCares CEO Craig Dresang.

“Asbestos abatement would have cost $1 million,” Dresang said. Unable to spend that much money, von Friedrichs-Fitzwater sold the property and turned to then-City Councilmember Jeff Harris for support.

“I knew immediately that she was a person of great substance,” Harris said. “It really hit a cord with me, and I said, ‘We’re going to find a place in my district.’”

Harris found an empty lot opposite Garden Valley Elementary School and approached Twin River Unified School District about using the space for Joshua’s House. While the superintendent and elementary school’s principal were on board, some community members were not.

Harris recalled one community member distributing leaflets to parents with messages including, “This will lead to drugs and kids at the school being imperiled.”

“She spread fear through the community,” Harris said.

To combat misinformation, Joshua’s House and Harris led community meetings about the facility’s operations and safety measures.

There will be staff on the premises 24 hours a day, seven days a week, according to Dresang, and safety of clients and the community is a top priority.

Dresang estimated that the first year of Joshua’s House will cost an additional $1 million. While YoloCares needs about $400,000 to reach that figure, Dresang is ready for Joshua’s House to open next month.

As he cut the red ribbon with a pair of jumbo scissors, he announced, “Joshua’s House, here we come.”