New Home Being Built In Valley For Mentally Handicapped

Residents of a north Spokane home for people with mental illnesses will move next year to a new residential care facility in the Spokane Valley.

The 30 residents of Linwood Residential Rehabilitation Center will move in February from an old building at Summit Boulevard and A Street to a new facility now under construction at 11th Avenue and Raymond Street in the Valley.

The Dikes family, owners of Sunshine Health Facilities Inc. in the Valley, is building the new facility and will work in conjunction with Spokane Mental Health to provide service to current Linwood residents.

Construction of the new building started at the beginning of July. The new facility will be called Sunshine Terrace. It will accompany Sunshine House and Sunshine Gardens on the the same plot just east of University High School.

“We’re so excited,” said Kathleen Fuller of Spokane Mental Health. “The building we’re in was never meant to be used the way it is now. Right now we’ve got four to six people assigned to a bathroom. It’s inadequate space.”

Linwood residents currently live in an old three-story building that has no elevator and is not handicap accessible.

The building was a nursing home before Spokane Mental Health began operating it 12 years ago, Fuller said.

Nathan Dikes, vice president of the Sunshine facilities, said the company recognized the need for Linwood residents to have a new home.

“This clearly works out well for everyone involved,” Dikes said. “They (Spokane Mental Health) get a replacement for an outdated building.”

The new two-story Sunshine Terrace will encompass 30,000 square feet, and house a total of 56 residents. Another 26 people from the company’s waiting list will be moved into the building, Dikes said.

Linwood is a residential rehabilitation center for adults and is licensed by the state to provide service for those suffering from mental illnesses.

“Our goal is to try to provide them with living skills in hope of returning them to the community within two years,” Fuller said.

In addition to caring for the elderly, the Sunshine facilities also provide service to people with mental disorders, Dikes said.

Linwood patients typically suffer from mental disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The co-ed facility has patients ranging in age from 18 to 68, Fuller said.

She said most of the current residents were previously hospitalized at Eastern State Hospital and Sacred Heart Medical Center.

Spokane Mental Health officials sent out queries to the health care community asking for assistance for Linwood residents who needed improved living conditions, Fuller said.

Sunshine’s excellent reputation had a lot of appeal, Fuller said.

Two years ago, Sunshine Gardens was ranked in the top 5 percent nationally for customer satisfaction after a survey by Parkside Associates, an Illinois-based company that researches the medical industry. Residents and their families were asked to rate the homes on their comfort and cleanliness, care and service, nursing staff and food service.

Fuller said Linwood residents and their families have been notified of the forthcoming change.

“We’ve involved them all from the start,” Fuller said. “Change is very hard for people. This is going to be a huge change, but hopefully it will be a change for the better.

“It takes very careful management to keep a center like this running,” Fuller said. “This partnership is really the key to keeping things going.”

, DataTimes