Lebanon to get new veterans’ home

Anticipating an increase in the number of Oregon veterans returning from action overseas in the coming years, the Oregon Department of Veterans’ Affairs announced Thursday that it will build in Lebanon the state’s second home for veterans.

“The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has told us that Oregon needs 800 skilled-nursing beds for veterans in this state,” state Veterans’ Affairs Director Jim Willis said in a prepared statement. The Lebanon facility will have 100 to 150 beds.

Lebanon, a Linn County community of about 15,600, beat out four other Oregon communities to secure the proposal — in Douglas, Jackson and Klamath counties, and the city of Coquille. However, the department announced it will build a third home in Roseburg sometime in the future, pending approval by the state Legislature.

“For a small community, it’s a real coup to get this,” Lebanon Mayor Ken Toombs said.

The state opened its first veterans’ home in The Dalles in 1997. It has 151 beds.

Lebanon will receive funding to build the new home, which is expected to bring about 250 family-wage jobs to the community, Toombs said.

The city will have to come up with a $15 million match though, likely through a local bond issue, Toombs said.

The home will be built on North Santiam Highway on the north side of town, across the street from the city’s only hospital, Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital, and next to another project under construction now, the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific Northwest. Both are run by Samaritan Health Services, which will donate 10 acres to Veterans’ Affairs to build the veterans’ home on, Toombs said.

“So we’re very blessed to have this,” he said.

The project was originally planned at 250 beds, but a site evaluation committee consisting of Veterans’ Affairs employees and outside experts recommended that the second veterans’ home be 100 to 150 beds.

“This is a remarkable opportunity for Lebanon to serve veterans from across Oregon,” U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., said in a prepared statement.

“The need for veterans’ services continues to rise, and I applaud the state for making veterans a priority. I am so pleased that the veterans in Oregon will now have an additional location where they can receive the care they deserve.”

The new veterans’ home here should be completed by 2012 or 2013, Toombs said.