They can be dangerous places for a stranger, or the otherwise uninitiated. But a VITAS nurse named Crystal had a patient at the Robert Taylor Homes, and she was determined to deliver her care. So she asked to bring along a guard from a security firm which had been hired by VITAS for just this kind of situation.

It wasn’t long before the local gang started threatening her.

They didn’t do it in words so much as gestures. They “bumped” Crystal and her guard - trying to determine if they had weapons. Were these strange people a danger to them and their territory? They had to find out. After all, who knew who this Crystal woman was, and the security guard looked like a cop.

It only happened once, but it terrified Crystal. Yet at the same time she knew she couldn’t give up. Perhaps, she thought, she would call less attention to herself if she left the guard at home and double-teamed with other hospice caregivers. But she was still worried. The projects, with their ill-lit hallways, dark staircases and unreliable elevators, were enough of a challenge without having her very safety threatened. So she spoke to the patient and her family.

She asked the patient if she would consider moving. The woman didn’t need to spend her last days in the Robert Taylor Homes, for heaven’s sake. What about a hospice house? But the patient flatly refused.

“I’ve lived here all my life, and I’m not leaving now,” she said. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of this.”

Crystal wasn’t sure if her patient could keep her word, but she did. She explained to the gang members that VITAS was coming to take care of her, that VITAS was making it possible for her and her family to deal with her terminal illness. Immediately the threats to Crystal stopped.

Every day in hospice care there’s another Crystal - a caregiver who literally risks everything to help a patient. It happens in Orlando, in Philadelphia, in Milwaukee - in all the VITAS locations where patients live in places like the Robert Taylor Homes. But with VITAS, everyone deserves care, and is provided care, no matter where or how they live.

VITAS truly makes a difference.