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2007-08-21 issue:

MVSer joins journey from life to death

Tiffani Boerio received gifts from residents at the Joseph’s House community.

by Mark Wasser

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When Tiffani Boerio and Teresa Batch met, they knew the time they had to develop a friendship was limited. Batch had terminal cancer. Boerio was there to hold her hand in the final days.



Tiffani Boerio (left) talks with a resident of Joseph’s House. Photo by Mark Wasser.

The journey from life into death can be an uncertain and frightening time. At Joseph’s House in Washington, an AIDS and cancer hospice for formerly homeless people, death is viewed as a sacred journey. Boerio, a Mennonite Voluntary Service (MVS) participant whose term recently ended, provided companionship and physical care for the residents who are a part of this community.

Instead of dying alone in a street or hospital bed, each person’s final days are spent in a comfortable home surrounded by prayers, hymns and, most importantly, love.

“A lot of people think my work would be rather depressing,” Boerio says. “Sometimes it’s sad but not really depressing—it’s beautiful actually.”

“This morning, the first words that came out of my mouth [were], ‘Hi, sunshine. Praise the Lord for you,’ ” Batch said about Boerio in an interview with PBS just days before her death. (The documentary aired in 2006).

Boerio was a professional librarian for eight years before joining MVS because, she says, she needed to take a break. Her residents have awakened a part of her missing for some time.
In offering unhurried love, Boerio has received gifts in return from her friends from the house.

Boerio has moved to Texas while she studies to become a registered nurse. She plans to work in a hospice or HIV/AIDS setting, to concentrate on poverty medicine or to serve overseas.

Mark Wasser for Mennonite Mission Network

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