The place where homeless people come to die with dignity
LA TimesHanging on a wall at the Inn Between is a photo of John Cal Robb, the note he wrote before he died and the blue plastic butterfly that signaled to his friends that it was his time to go. A blue plastic butterfly affixed to the door of a room at the Inn signals that an Inn Between resident is “transitioning” and reflects the facility’s policy that “no one dies alone.” Resembling monarchs but blue and speckled with splashes of white, the butterflies signify that someone is “transitioning” and reflect the facility’s policy that “no one dies alone.” The official mission of the Inn Between, located on a quiet street in Salt Lake City, is to “end the tragic history of vulnerable people dying on the streets.” But there’s debate about the true meaning of its name: Is it in between the streets and the hospital? “It’s unacceptable to build something like this right across from a school,” Victor Alvarez, a father of two young daughters, said at a Twin Rivers Unified School District board meeting in July. “I’m like a midwife, but instead of helping bring people into the world, I help bring them out,” said 50-year-old Peterson, who has congestive heart failure. “It breaks my heart that people wouldn’t accept a place like this.” Larsen, whose cancer has spread beyond her lungs, spent more than 20 years living on the streets of Las Vegas.
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