By Ethan Hoagland
Of The New Era/Lebanon Local
Seven years ago, it looked like the Sweet Home community would have to say goodbye to Wiley Creek Senior Living. On Sunday, October 15, Mosaic Management cut the ribbon on a new memory care facility on the Wiley Creek Campus.
“It’s a long time coming,” Cristian Maciel, the executive director of Wiley Creek Memory Care said during an open house held Sunday afternoon. “There’s always going to be a need.”
Built from the ground up between the assisted living facility and the independent living homes, the new memory care building boasts 48 beds split among 44 apartments. Those apartments consist of private rooms, shared rooms, and rooms that share a bathroom. Residents will also be provided two different activity rooms, two courtyards and a central dining room and kitchen. Having a kitchen right there in the facility is a major selling point, according to Maciel.
“Food temperature is a big complaint,” he said. At Wiley Creek Memory Care, kitchen staff will be able to walk right out into the dining room with hot meals.
The kitchen isn’t the only major draw for Sweet Home’s brand new memory care center. Samaritan Health Service’s new brick and mortar urgent care clinic is just a parking lot away.
Wiley Creek Memory Care is not an isolated step forward in bringing healthcare access to Sweet Home. In early 2016, the community rallied to keep then-owner of the assisted living facility, Samaritan Health Services, from converting it into a drug and alcohol treatment center. It was out of that effort that the city’s Community Health Committee was founded, a committee so successful that it’s now going on pause (see City Council).
Memory care was a top priority for Sweet Home’s health committee. In the summer of 2021, Mosaic Management announced their takeover of Wiley Creek Senior Living, alongside plans for the memory care facility. In late July 2022, they broke ground.
Even though the ribbon is cut, the facility has yet to officially open. That will happen sometime in late November or early December, Maciel said. But the facility is filling up fast. Maciel said 29 beds are already reserved. At the open house, families were able to pay deposits for their rooms.
Mosaic Management CEO and President Doug Sproul cut the ribbon for Wiley Creek Memory Care. “Here we have this beautiful, state of the art facility,” he said.
The excitement was palpable among community members and organizers alike, as Sproul, Maciel and others held a champagne toast to the facility in the dining area. A full charcuterie spread offered open house guests an assortment of cheeses, cold cuts and Mediterranean finger-food like stuffed grape leaves.
“I think it’s a lovely facility,” Margie Ponzoha, whose father-in-law lived in the assisted living center, said. Dozens of families strolled through the doors and took tours of the facility throughout the day.
As residents get ready to move in, Maciel and his team are eager to provide care. Mosaic Management is also already looking to expand the assisted living facility with more than 20 new apartments, a new kitchen, dining room, wine bar and movie theater, according to Maciel. That development could take shape over the next couple years, he said.
“I’m just excited to serve the city of Sweet Home and the surrounding areas,” he said. “We’re thankful to support that population.”