Santiam Hospital & Clinics will use a state grant of nearly $5 million to construct a new ambulance facility for the hospital in Sublimity.
State Sen. Fred Girod (Republican, Stayton), shepherded the $4,759,310 grant through the Legislature to the hospital’s Foundation.
Eric Pritchard, executive director of the foundation, told Our Town that the grant will pay for the entire project, with no matching funds or other resources required.
“We are grateful to Sen. Girod and the Oregon Legislature for recognizing this vital infrastructure to the Santiam Canyon for the safety, the sustainability and the preparation for any event that might occur in the future,” said Pritchard in a statement issued by the foundation. “The hospital is committed to maintaining ambulance readiness for our Santiam Canyon community. We know that when you need us, we need to be there.”
The facility, which will be built on hospital property on Church Street that also houses the Sublimity Medical Clinic, will improve response times and provide quicker access to points along Highway 22, foundation officials said.
The ambulance facility will serve as the home base for the Santiam Hospital & Clinics Ambulance Department. The new building will include areas for staff quarters, training areas and covered storage for their fleet of ambulances.
Pritchard said that the new facility will replace “makeshift quarters in a house Santiam Hospital & Clinics owns on our campus. Our ambulances currently remain outside in all the elements of the weather.”
The new facility also will give the ambulance department an opportunity to grow should the service need arise, Pritchard said.
Danny Freitag, director of ambulance services at Santiam Hospital & Clinics, said the new facility will give his operation a huge boost.
“For years, we have operated in less-than-ideal conditions, making the most of limited space while continuing to deliver high-quality, compassionate care,” Freitag said in the press release. “This new facility is more than just a building. It’s a long-overdue recognition of the incredible people who make our department what it is. We are incredibly grateful for this opportunity and what it represents for the future of Santiam Hospital’s ambulance department and for the people who are at the heart of it every day.”
The ambulance department responds to more than 3,200 service calls annually, foundation officials said, providing initial 9-1-1 ambulance coverage for an area of 160 square miles in Marion and Linn counties. It serves Aumsville, Marion, Scio, Shaw, Stayton, and Sublimity while conducting emergency and non-emergency transfers to Santiam Hospital.
In addition to the primary coverage area, the department responds to emergencies along 15 miles of the Highway 22 corridor as well as transfer requests. Pritchard said that plans “already have been prepared” for the new facility.
“We will need to go through the normal permitting process and take the project out to bid,” he said. “We expect to have the new facility open in 2026.”
