The Oregon Caregiver Fall/Winter 2016

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Across the state, long-term care providers give their best every
day to take care of aging and disabled Oregonians. These
providers are valuable resources to the communities they serve
and while the work they do is incredibly rewarding, providers
often have to overcome unique and sometimes difficult
challenges in order to give the best care to their residents
and patients. The specific needs and challenges of Oregon’s
communities vary widely and are affected greatly by their
location, size, demographics, and facility type. For example, an
assisted living facility on the coast likely has different concerns
than a memory care facility in Eugene. Even with these
differences, there are two common threads that challenge
operations in communities across the state: workforce and
budget. Four long term care organizations are working hard to
overcome these obstacles.
Responding to
Community Needs and
Operational Challenges
Kilchis House/
Nehalem Bay House
Community Action Resource Enterprises, Inc. (CARE)
is a non-profit social service agency in Tillamook
County that has been working to reduce the impact of
poverty in their community since 1991. CARE operates
two assisted living communities in Tillamook county,
Kilchis House in Tillamook and Nehalem Bay House in
Nehalem. With 30 units and 34 units respectively, these
smaller sized communities are a good fit for the less
populated coastal county.
“Even though it’s a small county, it’s a very poor county.
We have a lot of folks who live in poverty and we have
a lot of people in the county who leave once they need
more care,” said Erin Skaar, executive director of CARE.
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