Donated Efforts Brighten Up Hospice

When the residents of Group One hospice return to their facility in Sherman Oaks on Sunday, it may seem as if Santa Claus came calling early.

Instead of coming home to drab walls and worn bedding, the nine AIDS patients and one terminal cancer patient will find freshly painted quarters and a new supply of linens, comforters, bath towels and accessories.

Organized by volunteers at Northridge Hospital Medical Center, the gift is intended to brighten the holiday season for patients at the 10-bed nonprofit hospice.

“The hospital likes to keep in touch with the community,” hospital spokeswoman Jennifer Fagen said. “This is just a part of reaching out during the Christmas season and trying to help.”

Merchandise was donated by Target and Sears, Roebuck & Co. department stores as well as Strouds Bed, Bath and Beyond stores. Dunn Edwards provided the paint.

The hospice, which has been operating since 1990, cares for AIDS patients in the last stages of the disease, as well as for terminally ill cancer patients.

Hospice Administrator Elizabeth Dean said the goal is to make life as comfortable as possible during the last few months of the patients’ lives.

“I just never even envisioned anything like this,” she said. “These things are so needed and there is no way we would have been able to get them without this help.”