By Marie Mulvenna

It’s been over two years now since the small band of Sisters and their guest-patients moved into the new facility for Our Lady of Perpetual Help Home in downtown Atlanta. The old and much loved structure which had housed them since 1939 and had been steeped in Atlanta’s history has been razed and its place today are lovely trees, flower beds, rolling lawns and a shrine to the Blessed Mother.

The new building is quite a different picture from the older one, a modern sprawling structure that sits on a parcel of land on Washington Street within view of the state’s capitol and the stadium. Yet, its meaning and purpose remains steady and unchanging. It is now, and ever will be, a place of peace and a final home for those afflicted with incurable cancer. Over 10,000 persons have lived in the home and have been ministered to by the women who have been dedicated their entire lives to the care of the cancerous needy.

The old rambling building had served the southeast as a Jewish orphanage for 50 years; it had been headquarters for a raft of social programs; and it had seen days when it lay dormant and deserted. But for 34 years it had been setting for a genuine “Labor of Love.” It had been a unique part of Atlanta, a city that had taken the home into its heart consistently without question or fear.

The new structure was built directly behind the older one and came into being when a decision was reached that repair or renovation of the old building was impossible. There was no formal plan. The new home planned by the sisters soon brought tremendous volunteer response and support from a city and all its people. It is ever so in Atlanta the sisters will say; when a need is there it is quickly filled. They speak of their multitude of benefactors with a special glow, telling one openly, that “without them we could never survive.”

The new home is sparkling and contemporary and was built specifically to meet the needs and provide the comforts the sisters wished to give to their guest-patients. Such needs are the backbone of the 11 sisters who staff the very special home. They are totally dedicated to serving their patients, providing nursing care to those who have incurable cancer and who cannot afford private nursing help.

Those are the two prerequisites for entry to the home: a diagnosis of incurable cancer and a financial need for nursing help. Sister Eucharia, superior of the home, speaks softly and cheerfully as she describes the purpose of the home. She noted that so often today it is the middle class person who is most in need. She explains that the very poor are often helped by the state while the rich can well afford the care needed. “This is the person, perhaps most often, who pays the biggest tax but receives the fewest benefits. They are two young for Medicare or Medicaid and have the added burden or young families who also have needs to be met.”

Sister explained that by the time a patient comes to the home, he or she is probably past the resentment stage experienced by those with diagnosed incurable cancer. “They have probably accepted their fate,” sister noted, stating that they welcome the help the home can bring them and for the relief it provides their families who no longer face tremendous financial hardships or nursing tasks. A fee is never charged a family, nor are donations accepted for them.

Sister Eucharia added that many of the patients are not necessarily terminal cases that they may live for months, even years. She said many of the patients go home on weekends or on holidays, birthdays, special occasions to spend time with their families. Often the person can no longer function in the regular world or keep up a normal pace. They are in need of professional care.

“There’s a family and fraternal feeling among the patients at the home, and also between the sisters and the patients,” Sister says. “People with us here realize that they are a share of our life. We eat everything together as one family. They are our friends.”

The 11 sisters who care for their 52 patients are members of the Dominican Congregation of St. Rose of Lima. They are known legally as the Hawthorne Dominicans, Servants of Relief for Incurable Cancer, Inc. Their order was founded by the daughter of novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne, Rose Hawthorne Lathrop and Alice Huber. The sisters of the very special congregation celebrated the 75th anniversary of their order just last month.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help Home in Atlanta is but one of seven homes operated by the sisters throughout the nation, each serving the incurable cancer patient regardless of creed, color, age or financial need. At the Atlanta home, patients range in age from eight to 94. They represent all denominations, races and backgrounds. But at the spacious and cheerful home on Washington Street they all become one family, sharing with the nursing sisters the love and smiles that are a trademark of their daily life. There are no despondent patients at the home, only “guests” who share their last days with joy and cheerfulness. If there is a one-word description of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Home it is certainly “joy” and it is ever present in abundant ways. Rose Hawthorne, who became Mother M. Alphonsa, perhaps best described the aim of the order when she said... “to carry into the disorders of sickness the cheerful love we have gathered from the heavenly kingdom for distribution.” The sisters all embody the aim of their foundress, seeing their lives as one of continual service to the sick. The home is described aptly as an atmosphere of love, service and worship.

Sister Eucharia says the entire existence of the home of a “never ending reciprocal thing. There’s a triangle operating here,” she says, explaining that God, the Sisters and their many benefactors work hand in hand in a “giving” process that makes the home continue to live on in the community.

Volunteer help to the home is a phenomenal story in itself. It has come from the hearts of Georgians, for many years and has made the home a part of Atlanta’s history of charity and benevolence. The home has always been a catalyst drawing support from the local community--organizations, clubs, scout groups, sororities, garden clubs, individuals, civic groups, corporate figures and business leaders--people of all religious persuasions and from all economic levels of society. Sister Eucharia describes the help received by the home as “fantastic” and adds that “it would be a Herculean task to name them all; they are so very diverse.” She added that she never ceases to wonder at the people who come to the home, unannounced, to do “anything at all to help.” She said she had seen corporate executives washing dishes, carving roasts, talking to patients and stewardesses who head for the home the moment their flight lands in Atlanta. It is a saga of never ending assistance to the sisters who themselves are assisting the needy and ill.

Several years ago, Sister once told a reporter that the sisters live on the hourly mercy of God. They quickly add that that bargain has never been broken and they are continually aided by unexpected yet timely donations from their legions of helpers.

One of the strongest forces for helping the home is the auxiliary, an extremely active group of 350 members who continually devote time and effort to providing for the needs of the patients and the sisters. The auxiliary is headed this year by Mrs. Dixie Barton, a dynamo of energy, who directs the group in its many faceted endeavors at the home. One enjoyable project, at present, is that making a wooded area of the site into an official bird sanctuary.

Mrs. Barton is currently aiming for an increase in membership and spoke briefly of the group’s only fund-raiser, its annual champagne luncheon to help the home. Sister Eucharia happily volunteered the information that the event last year raised more than $26,000, enough to pay for the home’s medicines for a full year. It is a social date that draws people from all levels of society, bound in one united effort--that special home on Washington Street.

There is nothing fearsome about the home as one enters its bright and spacious foyer and reception area. The beautiful chapel welcomes visitor and patient alike. The cheerful rooms exude a warmness and comfort that is unmatched. And the smiling sisters bring a constant air of serenity to the home, a sense of contentment and peace. There are few tears and many joys, for at this special home there is no more superior Christian service that that provided by a handful of sisters to their brothers and sisters in the Lord.