Scott Swanson
Samaritan Health is in a “holding pattern” on the planned shutdown of Wiley Creek Community’s assisted living care center after getting a full dose of outrage from Sweet Home residents, Marty Cahill, chief executive officer of Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital, said Thursday evening, Jan. 14.
Speaking to an overflow crowd of more than 100 people in the facility’s community room, with another 100-some staging a candlelight vigil outside, Cahill faced anger and outrage from elderly residents, and their relatives and friends, in what was originally intended to be a meeting to address residents’ options.
They were upset by an announcement, in meetings on Tuesday, Jan. 12, and in a letter to residents, in which Cahill said Samaritan planned to convert the facility into a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center.
That prompted a change.org petition drive that, as of Thursday, had 1,470 supporters, and a massive outpouring of Facebook comments and phone calls to Samaritan.
“We have heard the outcry,” Cahill assured the crowd before announcing that the plans announced on Tuesday were on hold while Samaritan officials reviewed “opportunities” that, he said, had come to the nonprofit corporation’s attention regarding potential alternative sites for the rehab center.
“We believe those opportunities have merit. They are being reviewed as we speak right now.”
He promised to have “a statement” “by tomorrow (Friday) or by 9 a.m. Saturday,” when a second follow-up meeting will be held at Wiley Creek.
“Hopefully, we will have something different to tell you than what we said in that letter on Tuesday,” Cahill said. “We’re not asking anyone to do anything. We’re asking for some time to review the merits of the options that are in front of us right now, to potentially create a different path than the one we thought we had.
“We’re not asking anyone to move. We’re not talking about giving out information as to what your options are.”
He said Samaritan officials are working to “make the best possible decision we can that has the least impact as possible.”
Cahill and Samaritan CEO Doug Boysen then fielded questions and comments, which opened floodgates of frustration and anger as audience members spent the next hour calling Samaritan’s and Cahill’s integrity into question, describing the process with which Tuesday’s announcement was delivered in such terms as “unconscionable,” “totally unacceptable,” “back-door,” “back-handed,” “just inhuman.”
“You have no ethics at all,” one angry woman shouted.
Tracy McIntyre, whose father-in-law Clair McIntyre, 93, resides in the independent living housing next door to the assisted living facility at Wiley Creek, said she wanted to “shed a little light on the people that live here versus the people you want to replace them with.”
Clair, she said, is a World War II veteran, “lives on his own,” “is handsome” (prompting applause), raised his family in Sweet Home and sent two sons into the military, and ran a furniture store in Sweet Home for 30-plus years. His great-grandkids go to the very high school that his kids went to.”
Regarding the Wiley Creek residents, she said,” They pay their rent. They sold their homes to come here.”
She said her father-in-law decided to move into Wiley Creek because he could transfer to the assisted living facility if independent living “got to too much.”
“They’re not sucking money from taxpayers,” she said. “They worked their entire life. They gave up homes. They live on Social Security. They pay their rent. That’s my point.
“So instead of you guys trying to evict them, you should bow down and kiss the ground that guy walks on,” she added, to loud cheers and clapping.
Another flash point was Sweet Home’s selection for the location of the drug and alcohol rehabilitation center – particularly if it means losing the care facility.
Glenda Melcher said she is “all for drug rehab” but “not at the sacrifice of these wonderful people.”
Melcher noted that she has lived in Sweet Home her whole life. “This is the generation that made this little town of Sweet Home and I am heartbroken to think what you guys might do to them.”
She asked why Samaritan allowed people to move into Wiley Creek “if you’ve been planning this for a year.”
Some of my friends have only been here for two months. They gave up their homes, they got rid of their items that they needed to live with, because they relied on this. And then, after this short period of time now, they have to go through this trauma – and that’s what it is, it’s a trauma. There’s all different levels of health here and it’s heartbreaking to think that your committee would have the heart to do this to these people.
Cahill responded that the decision announced Tuesday was made much more recently, “in the past few weeks.”
Audience members also complained that about the shortage of viable alternative housing options anywhere near Sweet Home.
One said if she puts her father in a home in Albany, she would face “four hours of driving” on Sundays just to transport him to his church.
“Our elderly are in trouble right now. There’s no beds. What are you doing for them?” asked another.
More than one speaker called on Cahill and Samaritan to apologize for the manner in which the announcement was made on Tuesday.
Another common theme was lack of trust.
“Seeing how this was handled this way, how can we trust you to do it right the next time?” one woman asked, to loud applause.
Cahill said that was the point of Thursday’s meeting and a second meeting, at 9 a.m. Saturday, in which he promised to announced Samaritan’s decision.
“We want to get it right. Getting it right is extremely important.”
As the meeting wore on, it was clear that audience members wanted to make sure Cahill and Samaritan knew how angry they were over the lack of communication with family members and the treatment of the elderly Wiley Creek residents.
One told Cahill, to applause, “I think the best thing to do right now is to say, ‘We made a mistake. We’re gonna’ make it right. You guys can stay here and we’ll move on. This is a bedrock facility for the community. I’m sorry.”
Cahill responded: “We’ve heard all that. We understand that. That is the position we are holding in.”
He reiterated that “I hope within the next 24 hours we’ll have news for you folks. And I’ll be here Saturday morning.”
Lori King, a Sweet Home resident, said “communication is critical.”
She asked, and Cahill agreed, to put in writing what he had just told the crowd “in print, so that it is clear and legible, minimum size 14 font, Times-Roman – I’m not joking. No more spreadsheets that aren’t visible to ordinary people. Get it over here in the morning and have them copy it out to every resident and to every family that you guys have contact information for. It’s critical. That way each family member can help their loved ones understand what you came to help us and tell us tonight.”
Bob Dalton, whose mother-in-law recently moved into Wiley Creek, expressed appreciation for “Samaritan coming here, saying ‘We’re in a holding pattern.’ I have to give them credit for that.”
He acknowledged the need for rehab, noting that his own father was an alcoholic, “so I understand the need for treatment facilities.”
But Dalton cited statistics that the aging population in the state is expected to double by 2030.
“My plea is to Samaritan is to take those kind of numbers and understand why this type of facility is so important to Sweet Home.”
He suggested that the former U.S. Forest Service building in the 3200 block of Highway 20 might provide a suitable facility for a rehab center.
He challenged “Samaritan to go back and look at their vision and mission statements and their values of what they say they will do, and one of the keys I picked up there is that it says they will work with community leaders. And I think it kind of upsets me a little bit because maybe some of us didn’t have the opportunity to sit down and be a part of the solution. I do support what you’re trying to do. But I think there were some missed opportunities there for that that.”
He suggested that, following the “holding pattern,” Samaritan “come back and maybe involve some of us in that process.”