aprii 17.1998 »
•
,,, ,:x-: ■:
.
pound-adopted
canines: Duke, a black
cocker spaniel, and
Buffalo Marie, part
poodle and part
Maltese.
“Those were their
original names,” laughs
Hancock, adding that
while the moniker
Duke is cool, Buffalo
Marie has mercifully
been altered to simply
Buffy.
Last July, Hancock
and Reed held a com
mitment ceremony
attended by 100
friends, 95 of whom,
says Hancock, had
some association with
Our House.
“This has been my
family,” says Hancock,
savoring his new lease
on life. (H e’ll turn 43
on May 27.)
“I don’t know what
will happen down the
road, but I’m so grate
ful for the time I have
now,” he adds.
Such is the feeling
one hears from many
Our House associ
ates— from volunteers
Judith Rizzio (left) laughs with Bill Hancock (right) and volunteer cook Lisa Benson, who makes great pies
to staff to residents.
“The thing about Our House is that it does
His way included a heavy holistic health
They’ll advise you to experience the moment
regimen— from copious massages and acupunc
n’t matter where you come from or who you
you have right now and glean some clarity
are,” he tells Just Out. “They’ll take care of you,
ture appointments, to aroma and gemstone
about what truly counts.
and let you take care of yourself.”
therapies, to eating an organic-oriented diet, to
With heady concepts like Death, Life and
meditation.
Survival spinning around, it’s easy to get
ver time, a tradition has developed at
A t the time, he also began taking a drug
bogged down with clichés. But many Our
Our House in which residents who have
cocktail, which his body responded to quite
House folks will tell you, with death before
well.
your eyes, the importance of life’s more extra
Today Ruiz
neous trappings— automobiles, ostentatious
lives on his own,
jewelry, personal grudges— tends to shrivel up
coincidentally just
to make room for resolve.
a few blocks from
Our House, and is
lbert Ruiz used to be a high-end hairdress
attending the
er based in Salt Lake City, charging $175
East-West College
per consultation.
of the Healing
“There would be a three-to-six-month wait
Arts on Southeast
ing list,” says Ruiz, a zesty fellow of 35— though
Belmont Street.
he’ll tell you he looks 17 and feels 18.
His new pro
It definitely was a faster-paced, more extro
fessional goal? To
verted life than the one he’s currently living.
become a massage
Ruiz says the death of his partner, combined
therapist.
with his interest in alternative health care and
“A ID S has
his personal knowledge that he, too, would
helped me as a
likely be getting sicker, prompted him to move
person in terms of
to Portland, one of the country’s holistic health
my self-discovery,”
care hubs.
says
Ruiz. “I feel
Ruiz did indeed get sicker, and came to Our
like I chose this
House last October as a resident weighing a
disease to help me
mere 83 pounds.
become more
“I had wasting syndrome. People thought I
aware, more
was going to die,” he says.
enlightened.”
Ruiz, however, was thinking otherwise. "I
These days,
said I was going to be out of there in 12 weeks,”
one may find Ruiz
he says, stressing he meant out of there alive.
popping into Our
With Our House’s support, Ruiz cleared that
House to cut resi
self-imposed deadline— in January, he was out.
dents’ hair (for
“I’m a very determined person," he says. “I
free) or to simply
wanted to do things certain ways, and the peo
chat
Longtime O ur House resident Henry gets an acupuncture treatment from Lisa
ple at Our House let me.”
died during the year
are remembered by
the placement of a
white rose in a vase.
According to
Judith Rizzio, Our
House’s director of
public relations and
program develop
ment, in 1995 there
were 63 white roses.
This year there are 15
white roses and, for
the first time ever, red
roses to signify resi
dents who have m an
aged to get well
enough to leave.
There are five such
red roses.
Still, Our House’s
beds are consistently
full.
“Our House has
seen many changes
over the last 10
years,” says Allyson
Jenkins, the facility’s
executive director.
“Initially it provided a
place where people in
the final stages of
A ID S disease could
live the remainder of
their lives in a safe,
caring environment
and die with dignity."
She adds, “Although this still applies, what
we’re seeing is a change in the disease resulting
from new drug treatment that is producing
long-term survivors. A s a result, Our House is
evolving to meet not only the needs of the
O
Continued on page 23
A
Clark