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Village at Valley View will provide secure care for dementia patients Construction is underway on a 48-bed memory care facility near the Lithia Springs Resort in Ashland. Mail Tribune / Jamie Lusch Friday Oct 28, 2016 at 3:48 PM Oct 28, 2016 at 3:48 PM Damian Mann Mail Tribune @reporterdm A 48-bed residential memory-care complex that could cost up to $7 million is under construction at the corner of Highway 99 and Valley View Road in Ashland. "We're trying to make a home-like setting for people," said John Chmelir, a partner with West Jackson Properties LLC and Ashland Care Associates LLC. "We're trying to make it look like a village." The Village at Valley View was designed to fit in with the nearby Lithia Springs Resort and will offer a secure place for people who have dementia, Chmelir said.  The project involves a 12,000-square-foot administrative and services building, plus another 14,000-square-foot building separated into two wings with a central living room, dining room and kitchen. The buildings are being framed, and Chmelir expects the project should be completed by late spring or early summer. Construction will cost $5.1 million, but the entire cost of the project will be from $6.5 million to $7 million, Chmelir said. He said he expect the administrative building with 16 beds to be completed first. Located on 1.6 acres, the Village might be expanded in the future on an adjacent piece of land, Chmelir said. A Medford engineer and contractor, Chmelir said the layout will feel like three different buildings connected by breezeways. The buildings will have 44 beds, but four rooms will be designed for couples, so an additional four beds can be added. The facility will be staffed 24 hours a day. Rooms will surround the central living and activity areas rather than coming off hospital-like corridors. Residents will have a nail and hair salon as well as a medical exam room. Other partners in the project include Barry Thalden, Lloyd Mathew Haines, Larry McLennan, David Landry, Kathryn Thalden, Kathryn Chmelir, and Dean and Chris DeBaun. The center will be operated by Kathryn and John Chmelir, whose company, Cameo Care Management LLC,  operates two memory-care facilities in Grants Pass. John Chmelir said the cost to stay at the Village will range from $4,000 to $6,000 a month, depending on whether the residents stay in a shared or private room. He said the facility will take Medicaid patients as well, with the typical Medicaid reimbursement of $4,300 a month. In an analysis prepared for the Oregon Department of Human Services, the need for memory-care facilities south of Medford to the border was estimated at 220 beds, Chmelir said.  Security is an important feature of the Village, especially in light of news reports elsewhere in which dementia patients have walked away from memory-care facilities and died, Chmelir said. The doors will be locked from the inside in the new building but will automatically open in case of emergencies such as fire, the loss of power or the fire sprinklers go off, he said. During the day, residents can stroll outdoors in secure garden areas and also help grow flowers and vegetables. Family events can be held outdoors, as well, and residents will have a back porch area next to their residence with rocking chairs and views of the nearby hills. In order to stay at the Village, Chmelir said a patient must have a clinical diagnosis that documents a need for dementia care. Chmelir, whose partners are involved in similar facilities in Grants Pass, said the residents are well treated by caring staff members who become close to their patients. "There's a lot of teary eyes among the staff when someone has died," he said. "It's a very nurturing profession." — Reach reporter Damian Mann at 541-776-4476 or [email protected]. Follow him on www.twitter.com/reporterdm.