Samaritan Announces Plan for Health Facilities in Sweet Home June 10, 2021 Leaders from Samaritan Health Services and Salem-based Mosaic Management, Inc. this week announced plans to enhance health care options in Sweet Home through facility construction and new and expanded programs. Samaritan President/Chief Executive Officer Doug Boysen said the health system plans to build a 15,000-square-foot facility on land it owns near Wiley Creek Community on the east side of Sweet Home. Wiley Creek provides assisted and independent living services. Pending city approval of a requested conditional use permit, Boysen said the new building will house an urgent care clinic and a larger home for Sweet Home Family Medicine. The current family medicine clinic building will provide enhanced physical rehabilitation services. In a related move, Doug Sproul, resident/chief executive officer of senior living provider Mosaic Management, Inc. announced plans to purchase the current Wiley Creek operation and adjacent property from Samaritan. Once the purchase is complete, Sproul said Mosaic will continue to operate Wiley Creek as well as construct a new memory care unit to complement the community’s existing senior living options. Mosaic operates 10 other senior living communities throughout Oregon, including Willamette Springs in Corvallis. Sproul said the memory care construction is also contingent on city approval of the requested permit. Sweet Home City Manager Ray Towry said the plans for enhanced local health services reflect several priorities identified in the city’s strategic goals. “Our residents prioritized the addition of memory care and urgent care as desired essential services,” Towry said, “so we are very pleased to see these plans moving forward.” Marty Cahill, CEO of Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital, will have administrative responsibility for the Sweet Home project in conjunction with senior leaders at Samaritan Medical Group. Cahill said Samaritan has developed a Request for Proposal for an architectural firm to help design a “21st Century medical clinic” in Sweet Home. “Although it’s currently housed in an older building, Sweet Home Family Medicine is an innovative example of how other important services can be co-located in a medical clinic,” Cahill said, citing the dental services currently housed at the Sweet Home clinic as well as other supportive services. “We want to continue that concept in the facility, as well as expand our capabilities for providing telehealth services.” Cahill said Samaritan is also pleased to be planning a walk-in care clinic in Sweet Home, addressing a long-expressed community need. “The nearest urgent care services are in Lebanon, and that can seem a long way when you need medical care now,” Cahill said. In explaining Mosaic’s interest in acquiring Wiley Creek Community, Sproul referenced the pastoral setting, nearby land on which to expand, well-maintained facilities and qualified staff. He said the facility’s current 24 employees will be invited to apply for the positions Mosaic plans to hire at Wiley Creek. Boysen said employees may also choose to apply for other jobs within Samaritan for which they qualify. In referencing Samaritan’s decision to work with Mosaic, Boysen said leaders considered several offers to purchase Wiley Creek before choosing Mosaic as the preferred buyer. “We appreciate that Mosaic is an Oregon company with a strong reputation and deep expertise with senior living communities,” Boysen said. “We also support their plan to add memory care services at Wiley Creek, which will further enhance the care options there.” The Wiley Creek purchase is expected to be completed in late August. Pending city permit approval, construction of the memory care unit will take approximately a year, Sproul said. Cahill outlined a similar construction timeframe for the new urgent care and family medicine clinics, once the conditional use permit is approved. Read about the August 2022 groundbreaking for the new Sweet Home Medical Center.
