By KELLEY R. DAUGHERTY
Staff Writer

Walking into Southwest Christian Hospice feels like you're walking into home. Warm lighting, cushy chairs and sofas, and a dining room where families gather often would welcome any stranger.

Soft instrumental hymns play throughout the facility, leading most people to reminisce of days when they stood singing the same songs in the church of their childhood.

Yet this is a hospice where people diagnosed with a terminal disease come to die. It isn't morbid, it could hardly be called sad. In fact, it's among the most cheerful, openly joyful places you would ever go.

"If there were one word to characterize this place, it would be Christ's love," said Pete Person, a volunteer at the hospice, who is also on the board of directors and one of the original supporters behind the ministry. "It's such a joy to work here. Everybody counts it a joy."

Person appears to adequately express the attitude of all the staff. An ambiance of peace surrounds the entire facility, and flows from the people who work there.

The Vision

In the mid-'70s, Senior Pastor Jim Dyer of Southwest Christian Church in East Point, Ga., expressed to his congregation a burden he had on his heart to take care of the terminally ill. Here's the catch he wanted to do it free of charge to the patients.

"Health care professionals told him he was crazy," said Mike Sorrow, executive director of Southwest Christian Hospice since 1992. "But he stepped out in faith, and we have never been lacking."

So in 1983, the church began supporting home care, and then in 1987 the current 12-bed, inpatient hospice was built. It was one of the first hospices in the Southeast and, said Sorrow, "on the very cutting edge of ministry."

The hospice operates seven days a week, year-round with the help of church, community and business support. The hospice, which also provides counseling services to the family members of patients up to a year after the patient has died, has served over 1,500 families or 10,000 individuals.

The criteria to stay at the inpatient facility? The life expectancy of the patient must be only two to three months. Patients usually have cancer.

The hospice provides home care to Fayette, Coweta, Clayton, Henry and South Fulton counties; there are no geographical boundaries to inpatient care.

All patients are allowed to have their family with them at all times, to bring as many personal items as they like, and to have their own doctors and ministers work alongside the hospice staff.

There is a complete staff of medical professionals, including 22 nurses and three doctors, to treat patients. Typically their medical services require the prevention and relief of pain, but the nurses here go beyond these duties to help.

"They had rather be a part of a mission than make more money," said Person. "It's really fulfilling."

Nurses even come in to visit patients while on personal vacation leave.

"Here we have something different," said Nancy Holyfield, who has worked at the hospice since it opened in 1987. "There is just a Christian spirit here that makes it a pleasure to work."

Pat Evans, who has also worked at the hospice since it opened, said, "The staff is very cohesive. When you're in a pinch, there's always somebody to help; it's a real sweet time."

The completion of the vision will be announced at the annual fund-raising banquet Aug. 27 with the addition of the eight-bed wing to be added to the hospice. The new "Hope House" will serve as a respite center for children who have life-threatening, medically fragile conditions, not necessarily terminal.

"We always felt there would be a component for children," said Sorrow. "It's a unique concept and there's a tremendous need."

The respite center will enable families with a child who requires 24-hour care to take a break from the stress and fatigue to rest or spend needed time with other children in the family. The center currently has one inpatient room dedicated to children and provides pediatric home care.

"Many of the families don't qualify for funding, but it's all free here," Sorrow said. "We pray God sends us the people He wants us to serve."

The Hope House will include eight bedrooms, a family lounge, two parents' efficiency rooms, a game and music room, library, multisensory room, hydrotherapy room, gardens, play area and a chapel.

Although the cost of the Hope House will be $1.25 million, people have already pledged over $500,000.

Spiritual Support

In the original plan for hospice was a plan to provide spiritual support to the dying patient, and Southwest Christian Hospice holds tightly to the that belief.

Ministry is their first priority and they loudly proclaim their purpose.

"To glorify God by affirming the sanctity and dignity of life that even in the time of death can be filled with a living hope, based on trust in Jesus Christ as Lord of life and death. To provide quality care for and bring hope to terminally ill persons and their families through physical, emotional, social and spiritual service."

The hospice, also known as the "Hospice as Hope," takes an evangelical approach with their patients.

"We are conveying Christ's love by doing exactly what He told us to do, take care of the sick," said Sorrow. "We don't browbeat people with the Bible, we serve many people who have never set foot in a church.

"You have to earn respect from people and earn the right to share the Gospel."

Over the past decade, hospices have been popping up all over the country because of Medicaid coverage. However, motives by some to make a profit have left spiritual issues to fall by the wayside.

"We don't want any part of that arena," Sorrow said. "Our sole thrust is to help people in the name of Christ."

The hospice also represents "a Christian voice against euthanasia and assisted suicide," according to Sorrow.

As society more readily accepts these issues, he believes the church is "getting a bad rap.

"We believe God is in control of that, and it's important for the Body of Christ to have a voice against that kind of philosophy."

The Facilities

It's not uncommon to see videotapes like "Beauty and the Beast" and "An American Tale" lying around the center.

The hospice has a very cozy environment to set hurting and grieving families at ease, even with the provision of tapes to entertain restless children.

The rooms are bright and cheerful with sunny windows and hand-woven Afghans covering the beds.

A sun room is set aside for families in which to talk and visit privately, and frequently to call relatives when the patient dies.

Outside the building, patients often wind along the sidewalk reading "The Scripture Promise Walkway."

Engraved marble blocks set in the sidewalk contain Scriptures every 20 feet. There are three paths to read: "God's promises of salvation," "God's promises for daily living," and "God's promises for the family."

According to Sorrow, The Scripture Promise Walkway was the idea of volunteers who wanted to do something with a muddy, overgrown hill on which the building sits and who also raised the money. The path, he said, has led many people to Christ simply by reading the Word of God.

Lining the walkway are engraved bricks dedicated in memory of many of the hospice's patients.

Behind the Scenes

"We could not do what we do here without the volunteers," said Sorrow.

One hundred volunteers work at the hospice each week "doing whatever they tell me to do," according to volunteer Dorothy Williams, who says she enjoys talking to the different people.

"You can come in feeling depressed, and they lift your spirit," she said.

Person says often people just want to give back to the ministry when they have a family member or spouse die at the hospice. "It's typical of volunteers to want to repay kindness, and we're blessed by them."

Other help comes from those who volunteer financial support. The ministry is nonprofit and requires at least $725,000 a year to meet the budget.

"The number-one need we have is for churches to help with funds and volunteers, because health-care costs are skyrocketing every year," said Sorrow. "The Lord has been faithful to continue to raise funds for us, but we need more to join hands with us."

He said 85 percent to 90 percent of all funds come from individuals, but "that type of continued support is how the Body of Christ operates. It's a humbling thing to see."

The hospice has various fund-raisers throughout the year, including the Sixth Annual Benefit Dinner Aug. 27 at 7 p.m. at the Georgia International Convention Center, which is sponsored by Truitt Cathy, owner of Chick-fil-A. The dinner is $100 per person and will feature nationally known evangelist David Ring.

The hospice also will have a yard sale Sept. 12 at the Christian City ballfield, which may lead to the establishment of a thrift store called "Born Again Bargains" that may possibly be located in Fayetteville.

Other fund-raisers include the Celebrity Golf Classics, with professional baseball players and a sports memorabilia auction, and the Tree of Light program each Christmas.

"We are constantly looking for opportunities for people to serve financially," Sorrow said. "We are very much needing local churches to join hands with us and consider our ministry part of their mission outreach."

Southwest Christian Hospice is located in South Fulton County at 7225 Lester Rd. in Union City. For more information or to make a donation, call 770-969-8354.