We are thankful — for those who show us how it’s done
Recently, our field lost one of our best. Dr. Janelle Goetchus was the first to envision and execute — as she founded the nation’s oldest facility to treat people experiencing homelessness with nowhere to go to heal and transition.
“Dr. Janelle Goetchus was a lion in the field of people experiencing homelessness — those who are ill — with nowhere to rest and recuperate. She saw hope and healing in what can often be darkness.
As the founder of the nation’s oldest organization, Christ House—medical respite care—she was the beacon and showed the rest of the world how it was done.
I am honored to chair the Steering committee for the national respite care providers and the CEO of the Center for Respite Care in Cincinnati, Ohio. Both organizations are possible because of Dr. Goetchus’s vision, commitment, leadership, and sheer caring.
She exemplified a life of kindness — working through her own last days to care for the people we treat. We honor her life and contributions to our field with love and admiration,” Laurel Nelson, CEO of Cincinnati’s Center for Respite Care, said.
Who was Dr. Goetcheus?
Her recent obituary said it best. While this was written by The Washington Post, she was written about across the nation.
The next year, Dr. Goetcheus (pronounced “get-chiz”) and her husband moved their family to Washington, where in 1979, she helped start Columbia Road Health Services, a clinic sponsored by the ecumenical Church of the Saviour that served the poor and homeless in Adams Morgan and nearby neighborhoods. She later helped found Health Care for the Homeless, a citywide project that grew into Unity Health Care, which describes itself as the “largest network of community health centers in the District.”
Working with her husband and several members of the Church of the Saviour, Dr. Goetcheus turned an abandoned building near her original Columbia Road clinic into Christ House, a medical respite center for homeless people who are too ill to be placed in shelters but are deemed too well to be hospitalized. Since Christmas Eve 1985, when Christ House received its first patient, Dr. Goetcheus lived in the building just upstairs from the people she cared for, with no line between patient, doctor, and family.
Until the end, their home was her home. Dr. Goetcheus, 84, died at Christ House on Oct. 26.
The Center launched our Annual Appeal on November 22, and the campaign runs through March. We ask that you consider a gift (to us) that benefits the individuals for whom the doctor spent her life caring. Please visit our landing page to learn more about our “transitions” campaign.
Have a warm and peaceful holiday season; we are thankful for all of you.
