Sarah Brown
Every morning, rain or shine, Donna Ego, Joy Alton and Maxine Martin set out on their walk around Samaritan Wiley Creek Community’s neighborhood, watching the sun rise over their community within the community.
The assisted and independent living facility opened in 1998, placing 44 apartments and 20 cottages spread out on 42 acres. It will celebrate its 20th anniversary with an open house Thursday, May 10.
Ego, Wiley Creek’s longest resident, got her foot in the door before there even was a door.
“When I bought in, there were some studs up, there was a spot I was gonna be in, but it was far from being built,” she said. “One of the things that I really, really liked was that it was one of the first major investments the hospital made in Sweet Home; that was a big plus for me, that they recognized we were here.”
Ego invested much of her life into Sweet Home before retiring to the independent living section of Wiley Creek. She owned Santiam Feed and Garden with her husband for 30 years, and was manager at the Chamber of Commerce for three years.
The octogenarian moved in at Wiley Creek on Easter weekend of 1998 and has remained in the same cottage for the past 20 years.
“When I came in, there had been no landscaping. There were mounds of dirt here and there, and it had that unfinished look to it.”
In two decades, Ego has watched all the cottages at Wiley Creek fill in the vacant lots, and the spacious grounds turn green with manicured lawns and plants.
When Patty Rhoads saw the construction begin 20 years ago, she applied for a job at Wiley Creek, and can now say she is the longest remaining employee there.
Though Sarah Redfern hasn’t been there as long as Rhoads, she can also say she’s one of Wiley’s longest-term employees, logging in 13 years.
“It’s kind of a community feeling around here,” Redfern said. “You get to know these people really, really well and they kind of become like family.”
Ego agrees Wiley Creek has a community feel to it, and estimates about three-quarters of the residents are originally from Sweet Home.
“The fact that people are from here, they’re comfortable when they come into the assisted,” she said. “They know people already. It isn’t like having to break into a new community.”
When she first moved in, Ego figured it wouldn’t be too many years before she’d have to move into the assisted living lodge next door, but then she changed doctors and medications, and joined TOPS (Taking Off Pounds Sensibly). She still lives independently, but knows that when it’s time to move into assisted, the staff will know her well and it will be an easy transition.
“People do get better when they come here,” she said. “You have somebody who’s been living alone and not much social, and eating whenever, and no structure in their lives, and that’s what they get here.”
When Samaritan announced plans to turn Wiley Creek into a drug and alcohol treatment facility two years ago, the community of Sweet Home rallied behind the residents and their families.
“People that have lived here their whole lives don’t want to leave,” said Marsha Blankenship, who’s managed Wiley Creek for three years.
“This is their community, and they want to stay where they’ve always been. They want to go down to the coffee shop and see their friends. It’s important to keep people in the community as they age, and they don’t have to leave.”
Ego agrees.
“People want to live in their homes as long as they possibly can, and when that can’t be, they have (Wiley Creek), where they still have their church and their community, their network of people they’ve known,” Ego said.