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News from Lower Umpqua Hospital
Assisted Living Facility Project Questions and
Answers
The Board of Directors and staff at Lower Umpqua
Hospital has been working a long time to bring assisted living to our community.
We are excited that all the pieces are in place so the project can go forward.
And not only will the community benefit from having an assisted living facility
for our seniors, but the community as a whole will benefit from a new housing
development that will enable people working here to live here, supporting local
businesses, schools, the City and the Hospital through spending and the tax
base.
Any new project generates questions. We hope this short fact sheet will answer
most of yours. If not, please contact Sandra Reese, Lower Umpqua Hospital
administrator at 271-2171, ext. 254.
Why do we need an assisted living facility in Reedsport, we already have a
good nursing home?
Assisted living facilities are gaining in popularity
throughout the nation as an option for people who cannot live alone but do not
need the level of care in a nursing home. Currently people who live in Reedsport
and need assisted living have to leave the area, their friends, family, doctors,
church, and familiar surroundings for this type of care. Too often, people stay
in their homes long after they should because they don’t want to leave the area
and support system.
Why is 20th Street the entrance to the assisted living facility?
Surveyors, architects, and builders have all looked at the
area and determined that 20th Street is the most cost-effective entrance.
Twenty-second Street was once proposed as a possible entrance, however
significant issues relating to wetlands and terrain make the development of such
an entrance cost prohibitive. The 20th Street entrance would follow an existing
road, making development less expensive.
Since this area has terrain difficulties, has the hospital considered
other sites?
Yes, many other sites were identified, explored, discussed,
and discarded. Lower Umpqua Hospital considered the Cedar Palace in Gardiner,
but purchase and renovation put the total costs greater than building new. Bolin
Island was not financially feasible because there were too many zoning issues to
overcome. Remodeling and/or adding on to the hospital were not practical because
there wasn’t enough room and the “feel” wasn’t right - assisted living is
residential, not institutional. Undeveloped property around the hospital was
determined to be too small or too steep to hold the two buildings as well as the
necessary parking.
Why is Lower Umpqua Hospital getting involved in real estate development?
Lower Umpqua Hospital’s primary interest is in getting an
assisted living facility up and running as soon as possible. Lower Umpqua
Hospital has been working for many years to meet often-voiced need for an
assisted living facility, something that has been identified by the City,
Economic Development Forum, and through community surveys. A new housing
development is an additional benefit bringing in tax dollars and giving people
who work here a better chance of finding homes here. It does very little good to
create jobs locally if the employees cannot live here and if the money created
from those jobs bleeds out to other communities. The hospital is working with
the property developer to get the infrastructure in place in exchange for the
donation of land on which to build the assisted living facility.
What sort of risk does this project put the hospital in?
The Lower Umpqua Hospital administration and board have
studied this project and are convinced that there is very little risk involved
for the hospital. Douglas County has offered Lower Umpqua Hospital a loan for
the infrastructure to be paid by the developer as individual lots are sold. The
hospital’s share of the infrastructure for the two lots that the landowner is
giving to the hospital has been budgeted for. The hospital is responsible for
one-half of the preliminary engineering fees (one-half of $51,500 or $25,750).
If, for some reason, there is a default on the project, the county will take
over ownership of the land as it is the collateral for the County loan. The
hospital has very little risk.
How long will this project take?
The roads and infrastructure for the facility could go in
this summer (2005) with the actual building of the facility going forward
spring/summer 2006.
If assisted living was needed here, why hasn’t someone done it already?
Lower Umpqua Hospital has tried to interest private assisted
living companies to put in a facility for several years. But private companies
operate for profit, and they need generally at least 100 occupants to make a
facility viable. Lower Umpqua Hospital hired an outside firm to do a feasibility
study to determine the need for assisted living, and it determined that the
Reedsport area could sustain forty beds…too few for a for-profit company.
So why is Lower Umpqua Hospital interested in assisted living if it can’t
make money?
Lower Umpqua Hospital is in the business of providing needed
care for people in our community—that’s our mission. Individuals and their
families tell us they would really benefit from having such a place here. While
Lower Umpqua Hospital is a not-for-profit facility, it cannot afford to LOSE
money on this or any project. The hospital believes that we could run the
facility on a break-even basis, if construction costs were subsidized, such as
building on this donated land and keeping building costs controlled.
Is the facility going to be ‘institutional?’
No, Lower Umpqua Hospital is planning two smaller 16-bed
units which will look homelike and fit nicely in a residential setting. The
first unit will be built and filled and a waiting list established for the
second unit. Construction on the second unit will not begin until the need for a
second is clear. It will also allow us to test the first unit and make any
changes deemed necessary on the second. It is planned that some units will be
single, others to hold a couple, and some will even have fireplaces.
Hasn’t this project been around for a long time?
The hospital has been trying to figure out a way to provide
assisted living for several years, never coming up with a cost-effective plan
until this one. A Master Heights housing development, with a much greater number
of housing lots than the current plan (but without the assisted living piece)
was approved by the Planning Committee many years ago. However, for other
reasons, the project didn’t move forward.
So, what’s the hurry? Why can’t we study this more and see if some other
options aren’t possible?
Time IS of the essence. Most people don’t realize how much
study and work has already gone in to this project so far. This is not a first
draft. Numerous possibilities have been studied and numbers run. THIS is the
plan that we think has the best chance of going forward. Like any project, it
can be studied to death. We believe that this plan is the best overall fit for
our community. We’re very proud of it. And we are equally saddened by the number
of local elderly people who have to leave our community when they are no longer
able to live independently. No plan will ever be absolutely perfect and suit
absolutely everyone involved. We think this one gives us the most positives with
the fewest negatives.
What can I do to support this?
Lower Umpqua Hospital encourages those who are interested in
supporting the assisted living project to let the Planning Commission know that
they are in favor of it. They can do that by sending a letter to them in care of
the City, or by attending the Planning meeting to be held on June 28, 2005 at 7
p.m. in City Council Chambers.
What happens if the project is delayed?
If the project is delayed now, it means we will miss the
window of opportunity for summer construction. Waiting another year would most
certainly mean increased construction prices and that even more of our local
senior residents will have to leave the community when they cannot live alone
any longer.
