All across its service area, from the mid-valley to the coast, Samaritan Health Services is working with community neighbors willing to roll up their sleeves and be part of their local health care solution. These neighbors realize that the health of any one person in the community is dependent upon the health of the community as a whole.

SHS is supporting and working with dozens of these partners to provide disease prevention programs, comfort services and educational opportunities. And, in the process, it’s extending the reach and effectiveness of health care for you and your loved ones.

Newport resident Mabel Mosley, who was treated for breast cancer earlier this year, was gracious in expressing her appreciation for some of these services. She began her treatment in Newport and then traveled to Corvallis for 33 treatments—six and a half weeks—of radiation therapy.

“First I have to say how wonderful it was to be able to stay at the Pastega House,” Mosley said. “The staff there is so kind, and a room only cost $20 a day. Think how expensive it would be if I had to be in a motel all that time.”

The Mario Pastega House, located on the Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center campus in Corvallis, welcomes out-of-area patients and families traveling to Corvallis for specialized medical care. It’s a heart-warming example of what can happen when a giving individual—in this case Mario Pastega, a local businessman and hospital foundation trustee who provided the original seed money for the guest house—partners with the hospital foundation, which raised the rest of the funds, and other local businesses and citizens to construct a comfortable “home away from home.” No one is ever turned away from the house for inability to pay.

Mosley experienced the kindness of other community partners as well. Through ArtsCare—a program designed to help foster a healing environment—she was serenaded occasionally by local viola and guitar performers, and she worked with a ceramist to create her own tile project. Through the local Look Good, Feel Better program, she received makeup and a flattering wig.

“I loved hearing the music at the cancer center and at the Pastega House, and I was surprised by the tile project,” Mosley said. “I didn’t think I was particularly talented in art, but I made a really pretty flower design on my tile. The music and art kept my mind off other things. As for the makeup, I probably got $200 to $300 worth of cosmetics to make my face look brighter … not so sick. And the wig is much more youthful than what I had before. It makes me feel better.”

The ArtsCare program is supported by SHS, The Arts Center in Corvallis, Oregon Coast Council for the Arts, grants and donations to a special fund created by local residents Bob and Kitty Bunn in 2004.