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What We Do


Men and women come to Joseph's House directly from a hospital, hospice program, clinic, or shelter and are seriously ill with AIDS, cancer or another terminal illness. Typically, the new resident is also dealing with the considerable effects of poverty, mental illness, and living in an unstable and often unsafe environment.


Once at Joseph's House, the new resident receives the very best nursing care we can give, and is welcomed into a safe and nurturing home. Joseph's House provides 24-hour comprehensive nursing care, including medical case management and person care services.


We provide support for addiction recovery, as well as grief counseling, as appropriate. We emphasize spiritual nourishment with special attention to end-of-life care. And for those who regain their health, we provide links to transitional support services.
How We Do It

Joseph's House was founded on the concept of intentional community. This model espouses "community" as a source of profound human healing through the building of relationships. Joseph's House surrounds each resident with the presence of specially trained staff and volunteers, who are continually trained in the practice of unconditional love and forgiveness, mercy and justice. We seek to practice compassionate care so that the act of service itself becomes a source of healing, both for the served and the server.  The community is nourished by regular periods of contemplative prayer and meditation.

Our History

In the late 1980s, David Hilfiker, M.D., was practicing in a health clinic in inner city Washington, D.C. There, he witnessed the toll that the AIDS epidemic was taking on poor and homeless African-American men, many with addicitions and mental illness. David founded Joseph's House in 1990 as a home and community that would be a deep source of healing and transformation for these men suffering from end-stage AIDS, and for those who would care for them. In 2006, Joseph's House expanded its services to help meet the increased need seen by hospitals, clinics, and hospices for end-of-life care for poor and homeless men and women dying of cancer and other terminal illnesses.