Building a sense of community at New Mexico's 'House Of Hope'

According to Casa Esperanza’s website, 40% of New Mexico’s population lives in rural areas of the state, meaning many don’t have close access to needed medical care and must travel long distances to and from Albuquerque to get it.

That is where Casa Esperanza steps in.

Known as “New Mexico’s House Of Hope,” for the past 31 years, Casa Esperanza has been offering access to affordable lodging and support services to patients and their families who travel to Albuquerque for medical treatment at any local University of New Mexico, Presbyterian, or Lovelace hospital.

“We’re a hospital hospitality house,” Chrisann Gray, the executive director at Casa Esperanza, explained. “We find that if (patients) have family support, you get better faster.”

Founded on April 9, 1987, Casa Esperanza began raising funds to build an independent, nonprofit facility to house families, regardless of their financial situation, who were referred to Albuquerque for cancer treatments. Its doors opened in 1992.

More than three decades later, the operation and its ambitions are bigger. It has expanded to include lodging services to patients undergoing a kidney transplant, high-risk pregnancy and other serious medical conditions.

In order to be eligible to stay at Casa Esperanza, patients must live at least 50 miles from Albuquerque. Their families are referred to Casa Esperanza by a hospital caseworker or social worker, Gray said. The worker calls Casa Esperanza and arranges for lodging needs, including treatment dates and length of stay.

Casa Esperanza also provides assistance for patients and their guests with food, lodging fees and transportation. Guests can also request resources like a social worker, paperwork help and support groups, all funded through a mix of grant writing and donations from the community.

“We’re giving hope and healing to the families that come and stay with us,” Gray said.

Housed in 18,000 square feet, Casa Esperanza has 28 family units for patients and their families. Each room has its own bathroom, phone, television, mini-refrigerator and beds.

Lodging costs at Casa Esperanza depend on the size of the room. A regular room can hold up to four people and costs $45 a night. A suite or larger room can house six and is $50 a night. If the patient and guests still need assistance to pay for lodging, they can ask for it when they check in.

There is a shared dining and kitchen area, complete with four mini kitchens available for guests to cook and share meals. Each room also has access to one of 10 shared refrigerators for food storage. Community partners like US Eagle Federal Credit Union and the Mennonite Church also provide food to guests a few times a month through Casa Esperanza’s community dinners program.

“We have over 175 different groups that ... do dinners for us,” Gray said.

While Casa Esperanza does not offer a full maid service to guests, there is a full service laundry room with washers and dryers. There is also a playground set and reading room available for children.

At its core, Casa Esperanza is a place for patients to heal, be with close family members and foster a connection with Casa employees and fellow guests.

“When people are here, it’s not the best of times,” Jah’lani Jones, family care team member at Casa Esperanza, said. “But you still form those connections, it’s like a sense of community.”

The importance of those connections was echoed by Operations Manager Isaac Trujillo.

“Even just the smallest thing of smiling at them when they walk through the door can make the biggest impact,” Trujillo said.

Gray is hopeful that when patients and guests leave, they feel “you’ve been a part of their life to help them,” she said.

“That is really important to what we do.”