Cascade Health celebrates 20 years!

On October 1, 2023, we will celebrate our 20th anniversary as a non-profit healthcare organization. It has been an amazing time with many changes and opportunities for our small but mighty company.

Here are a few highlights:

October 1, 2003 – McKenzie Willamette Hospital sold to Triad Health Systems creating two new companies. First, McKenzie Willamette Medical Center (MWMC) (the hospital on Mohawk in Springfield) and second, Willamette Community Health Solutions (us). We created a “doing business as” Cascade Health to help increase name recognition and further separate ourselves from MWMC. The programs that came over with us are: Home Health, Hospice, Occupational Medicine clinic, MedExpress (now Mobile Health), Center for Healthy Living (now Diabetes Nutrition and Education), Workers Action Program (now Physical and Occupational Therapy), Directions (now Counseling and EAP) and the Foundation.

2004 – Moved into our main building on Suzanne Way. It sure has held up well as we have averaged over 40,000 visits to our building each year for the past 19 years.

2006 – Our board of directors approved the idea and concept of a hospice house. It only took 10 years and three pieces of property to get it built (it was worth the wait!).

2008 – Settled the anti-trust lawsuit that McKenzie-Willamette Hospital initiated in 2002 that alleged that PeaceHealth engaged in an unfair market practice that precluded physician practices from referring to or using the hospital. Cheryl Boyum and Mel Pine settled the suit after years of acrimony between the two hospitals.

2009 – Named to the 100 Best Nonprofits in Oregon for the first time. We have since been inducted into the 100 Best Nonprofit Hall of Fame for our more than 10 years of being recognized. We, again, have been named in 2023.

2010 – Opened the primary care clinic in the Occ Med area to serve uninsured workers/employees. With the passage of the Affordable Care Act this population of patients dwindled to the point that we closed the primary clinic in 2015.

2012 – Awarded contract to serve the 4j School district employees and dependents at the 4j Wellness Clinic.

2014 – Moved our Counseling/EAP program over to the Suzanne Way location, expanding our services further into the first floor. This move also allowed our IT department to have a dedicated space for them.

2015 – Busy year as we purchased the property on County Farm Road and broke ground late in the year. We also expanded our services to City of Springfield with the Springfield Wellness Center.

2016 – Completed the hospice house and agreed upon the name of Pete Moore Hospice House in honor of a long-time board member and strong community advocate who is the father of current board member, Andy Moore.

2017 – Rolled out Strengths to all employees. This initiative remains core to our values to support employees to use their Strengths to be at their best.

2020 – COVID-19 and the pandemic that has changed our lives forever. We were able to continue serving patients both in-person and through a quick transition to Zoom meetings in large part due to Counseling/EAP’s early adoption.

2021 – Welcomed the Physical and Hand Therapy department to Cascade Health with a great cadre of staff.  We have been able to expand this team with new and existing staff working out of this location.

2022 – Refinanced our two loans (Suzanne Way building and the PMHH) into a single loan at a favorable interest rate that will benefit Cascade over the next 10 years.