水果派AV

The end-of-life care home, a quiet presence among the residences of Metcalf Drive in Auburn, celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.

In those 20 years, Matthew House and its two beds have provided dignity and comfort during the final days of 490 temporary residents. It should reach 500 sometime this spring.

The home, a nonprofit, will reach that benchmark solely through the support of the community. Its operational budget of about $200,000 a year is raised from foundations and other donors,聽Executive Director Angela Ryan told 水果派AV. She's one of just two full-time staff at Matthew House. The rest of the work there is performed by about 10 per diem staff and about 60 volunteers.聽

Some volunteers help care聽for the home's residents, some maintain the white ranch house and its landscaping, and some take care of "special" tasks, Ryan said, like running for groceries.

All help keep the lights on at Matthew House, she continued.

"We were set up by the community and we're maintained by the community," she said. "It's a pay-it-forward mentality, to give back what you can. That's what keeps us going forward."

One of the volunteers who helped set up Matthew House 20 years ago was Marge Tracy.聽

A midwife, she was inspired to get involved in the nonprofit because she had just lost her mother after caring for her at Tracy's home.聽

"Times of transition are important. Just like being born, the death process is a transition," she told 水果派AV. "It's important to be able to help that journey any way you can."

Tracy was recruited by Terry Kline and others from Hospice of the Finger Lakes, who felt Matthew House could fill a need in the community for an end-of-life environment as close to home as possible.

That's why it has just two beds, Ryan said, as any more would require more regulation by the state health department. Rules about meal times would prevent the home from indulging the resident who likes a hot toddy after dinner, for instance, or a piece of chocolate cake as a midnight snack. So to expand the home, Ryan explained, would be to sacrifice its essence.

"It's that individualized care plan that's truly needed to give people that quality and dignity," she said. "This is really like being at home. That's what makes us unique and important."

The nature of Matthew House is also why it's been able to continue allowing visitors during COVID-19. Ryan has required masks in the home and worked with the Cayuga County Health Department to vaccinate her staff, but she drew the line at shutting the doors completely. "My heart broke," she said, at the "total isolation" the state imposed upon hospitals and nursing homes.

The sanctity of a person's final moments, and the importance that they share it with loved ones, is something Tracy has come to appreciate more in recent years. Though she's been involved in Matthew House as a founding board member and more since its beginning, it wasn't until 2018, when she retired from midwifery, that she started volunteering to care for residents.

In those four years of caring for them, Tracy said, she's read Bible verses during their last moments, held their hands and more.聽

"I've seen that wonderful part of families gathering at the end to say goodbye, where families healed because it wasn't such an easy journey and managed to come to terms with all of it," she said.

Just as affirming for Tracy has been the sight of Auburn community members, from high school students baking cookies to seniors donating quilts, helping out at Matthew House for the last 20 years.

"The outpouring of this community to keep this place running is exceptional," she said. "I get as much out of it as I give to it."