Bill Thomas spoke at the inauguration of Lebanon Community Hospital in 1952.
Saturday, the Lebanon attorney emceed the hospital’s 50th anniversary celebration held on the facility’s lawn.
Thomas has remained faithful to the hospital’s mission and the community’s role in that mission, having served as secretary of the hospital’s board of directors all those years.
A Saturday Evening Post article in September 1952 noted that Lebanon “needed a hospital badly and the people came together” to make it happen.
“If our old friends could see us now,” Thomas said. “Some 2,500 people made this hospital possible.”
Thomas said the same community support is evident at the hospital today as volunteers touch nearly every facet of the facility.
Larry Houchin, president of the LCH board of directors, praised the hospital’s founders.
“We stand on the shoulders of those who come before us,” Houchin said. He added that many of the persons attending the festivities were born at the hospital or owe their lives to procedures undertaken at the facility over the years.
“We have the most caring staff I’ve every dealt with as far as hospital and medical facilities are concerned,” Houchin said. “We have a wonderful staff and volunteers. Our volunteers contribute hundreds of thousands of dollars of in-kind work each year.”
The availability of a quality health care facility such as LCH means local families don’t have to go outside the mid-valley for special care.
Houchin said that same community spirit is evidenced by the development of Wiley Creek assisted living in Sweet Home and the recent donation of 15 acres of prime land to Lebanon Community Schools.
“We want people to leave here strong spiritually, emotionally and physically,” Houchin said. “We want them to be as well as they can be.”
Hospital administrator Steve Jasperson noted that the facility has done an excellent job keeping up with technology, many times in cooperation with community fund drives.
He said that in the last five years LCH has added another dialysis station, bringing the total to eight; added a cardiovascular rehab service; expanded the chemo therapy service, added a CT scanner, improved radiographics, added an ultrasound and expanded cardio graphics.
“We’ve also recruited 18 physicians to East Linn county,” Jasperson said. “We remodeled our emergency department and completed the remodel of our in patient services.”
Throughout all of that, the hospital continues to budget 10% of its net profit for social accountability projects in communities served by the facility.
LCH employs 440 persons and has a payroll of $16 million per year.
Jasperson is one of only four administrators in the history of the facility. The first administrator was Bishop Allen Erb. He was succeeded in 1959 by Gene Kanagy, Allan Yordy from 1990-1997 and Jasperson from 1997 to the present.
Saturday’s celebration included a group photo of persons born at the hospital. Gary Nylund Tuma, the first Lebanon baby born (in August) at the facility, was present. His is named after John Nylund, president of the first hospital board. Mr. Nylund presented the baby’s mother, Mrs. Fred Tuma, with a $500 trust fund for her son.
The initial fund raising for the new facility was some $550,000. Final cost of the 50-bed hospital was $750,000. Anyone who contributed $100 became a voting member of the hospital corporation and that tradition continues today.
The community funds were joined with a Hill-Burton grant. The federal program was established to help rural areas improve medical care and facilities. The program would provide up to one-third of the cost of new community hospitals.
Among those significant in the initial campain were Max Tucker, president of Cascades Plywood; Laurence Morley, Lebanon lawyer; the family of James J. Hill, who built the Great Northern Railroad; and John Nylund, president of Nylund Lumber Company.
Tours of the hospital and the new laundry facility were given, pharmacist Bob Adams had a display of antique pharmacological memorabilia, there was an historical display of articles about the hospital and free massages were given near the Wiley Creek information area.
Children and adults were treated to cotton candy, pop corn and sodas.
Musical entertainment was provided throughout the afternoon.
Managed for decades by the Mennonite Health Services, Lebanon Community Hospital is now affiliated with Samaritan Health Services of Corvallis, an operation that includes hospitals in Lebanon, Albany, Corvallis, Newport and Lincoln City.