Sarah Brown
Samaritan Health Services launched its capital campaign to raise funds for the construction of its Samaritan Treatment and Recovery Services (STARS) facility Thursday, Sept. 6, in Lebanon.
The two-story, 16-bed facility, to be located at the north end of Lebanon at the intersection of Santiam Highway and Tangent Street, is estimated to cost $4 million, but construction will begin after the first $2 million is raised.
Close to $800,000 has already been raised, including a $125,000 grant from the Linn County Board of Commissioners.
STARS will serve all of Oregon, but priority will be given to residents of Linn, Benton and Lincoln counties, which are Samaritan’s three service areas.
The residential treatment service will be an intensive, monitored, and evidence-based program for men and women over the age of 18, said Marty Cahill, CEO of Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital. The program will be measured carefully so Samaritan can ensure it is based on success rates that meet or beat the national average.
Addictions cost Oregon taxpayers nearly $6 billion a year, he noted. For context, the state spends about $4.7 billion on public safety, and about $4.4 billion on economic development. Oregon ranks sixth in the nation for addiction disorder, but, including the District of Columbia, 51st in the nation for access to treatment.
“Every dollar spent on treatment saves seven dollars on incarceration-related costs, and saves four dollars in health care-related costs,” Cahill said. “Treatment is a far less expensive, and far more effective way to go.”
Doug Boyson, president and CEO of Samaritan Health Services, said at the campaign rally that he’s often been asked whether the facility and program will really happen.
“That’s a valid question, because it’s been a long, winding road,” Boyson said. “There have been issues and questions about location, there have been issues and questions about funding, but I’m here to say today that we are committed to this project. We have the land, we have the facility design, we have great leaders, and we have talented physicians that are lined up to lead this facility and program.”
Various ideas have been considered, including the possibility of locating it in the Wiley Creek Community senior living facility. Samaritan officials actually announced that plan early in 2016, but a vigorous outcry by patients, their families, and Sweet Home residents and officials caused them to reconsider.
Samaritan purchased the present location, which formerly was the site of former Teen Challenge substance abuse facility at the corner of Tangent Street and Highway 20, in April 2016 with plans to either renovate it or build a new structure for the treatment facility. Eventually, it chose the latter.
The organization has decided to build a two-story 10,000-square foot residential facility with the possibility of adding a 2,000-square foot out-patient treatment center.Until the STARS facility opens, Samaritan Health Services will begin an outpatient clinic in Lebanon next month to treat individuals struggling with substance abuse, and Samaritan has received two large federal grants to further address substance addiction in east Linn County, according to a press release.
The U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration has allocated two grants to address outreach services, strengthen medically assisted treatment services and cut down on drug overdoses in the region. One is a three-year, $750,000 grant to pay for staff positions related to opioid addiction treatment. The second grant helps finance outreach staff positions for Sweet Home and Brownsville.
The outpatient clinic will be temporarily located in the Lebanon Business Plaza, 100 Mullins Dr., Suite C2, and will move to the new STARS facility when it opens.
For more information about outpatient services available through Samaritan Treatment and Recovery Services, visit samhealth.org/Recovery or call (541) 451-6388. To donate, visit samhealth.org/SupportRecovery or contact a Samaritan Foundations representative in Lebanon at (541) 451-7063.