WEST HILLS : Care Facility for HIV, AIDS Patients Opens

The first residential care facility in the west San Fernando Valley for people with HIV or AIDS opened Wednesday in West Hills, making it the sixth house that Homestead Hospice and Shelter, a nonprofit organization, has established in the Los Angeles area.

Situated in a residential neighborhood in West Hills, the Frank Cala House--named after a Valley acquired immune deficiency syndrome activist who died last year of the disease--will provide six beds for people diagnosed as being HIV-symptomatic or having AIDS.

“If they are 18 years old, HIV-positive and are free of T.B., they can stay here,” said Melinda Tremaglio, board president of Homestead. The cost of living at Cala House is based on a sliding-fee scale.

“You could be totally indigent,” she added.

Cala House residents will receive 24-hour attendant care by a nurse case manager, and have access to a pharmacist, social worker and clergy.

“We also give them comfort, compassion and a dignity when there’s nowhere else to go,” Tremaglio said.

Homestead also operates the Pioneer Home, an AIDS hospice in Van Nuys, which opened in 1988. A hospice differs from a residential care facility in that a hospice is for the terminally ill. A residential care facility provides care for people with a broader range of HIV-infection.

One of the founders of the Pioneer Home was Frank Cala, who also spent the last 10 days of his life there, said his sister, Mary Grande, who attended a dedication ceremony for the facility.

“My mother and I would go visit him there” at the Pioneer Home, Grande said. “These homes are really wonderful.”