Wednesday, April 26, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
New adult foster care home opens
HOMES: Partnership
joins school and
nonprofit efforts
By Erin Borla
Correspondent
Sisters’ new adult foster
care home, Mac’s Country
Haven, is open on Rope Street
and taking new residents.
Sarah Spurlock, a third
generation caregiver and her
husband, James, along with
their six children, moved
to Redmond from Harney
County last year with the
hope to someday own their
own care home.
Spurlock took a job in
Sisters and quickly found the
home they are now running.
In January, the family moved
from Redmond to Sisters.
She lives at the care
home, and the family also
has another home outside of
Sisters where Spurlock and
her husband live with the
children. The children come
and go throughout the day
so residents get a chance to
interact with her family on a
regular basis.
“I grew up in this type
of setting,” Spurlock says.
“When I was younger I
didn’t appreciate the fact that
we had this type of home
— I look back and realize I
always had one of my parents
with me and we did every-
thing together, and the peo-
ple in the home became our
extended family.”
Mac’s Country Haven,
named after Spurlock’s
grandfather, Mac, who was
a logger many years ago, is
a Level 3 Care Home regu-
lated and certified by the
State of Oregon. They accept
Medicaid and offer a vet-
eran discount. The home is
equipped with five bedrooms,
each with its own half-bath.
There is a shared bathroom
with a handicapped-acces-
sible shower and bathtub, as
well as a full kitchen.
“We want our residents to
feel like this is their home,”
Spurloc says of the common
spaces. “This is as much their
home as it is mine. I run my
home and do my business just
like my parents — like my
residents are my family.”
Mac’s Country Haven
assesses all potential residents
Great hair
doesn’t happen
by chance.
It happens
by appointment.
Continued from page 3
PHOTO BY ERIN BORLA
Sarah Spurlock and her husband, James; their six children; and Liz, the
first resident at Mac’s Country Haven, Sisters’ new adult foster care home.
to make sure they will fit well
with current residents.
“For folks that are inter-
ested in our services I try to
get as much information as
possible over the phone and
then spend a day with them,”
Spurlock says. “I travel to
where they are and speak with
them and also allow them the
opportunity to spend a day
out here with us and see how
everything works together.”
The interview process is
not intense, but allows for
Spurlock to get a better sense
of the individual. She asks
questions about hobbies and
interests as well as likes and
dislikes to make sure the resi-
dent and the care home will
fit well together.
“I want to make people
feel good about themselves,”
she says. “Sometimes larger
homes can be depressing,
we want to help people live.
Just because folks are elderly
doesn’t mean that they should
just give up.”
Mac’s Country Haven cur-
rently has one full-time resi-
dent who sings the praises of
Spurlock and the home. Just
in the last week together
they visited the High Desert
Museum, made chicken par-
mesan, worked on the gar-
den beds around the property
and are planning a craft area
where the resident can work
on creating wreaths to sell at
local craft fairs.
“I want to take the ‘facil-
ity’ feeling away,” says
Spurlock. “This is their home,
too — they’re not just living
in someone else’s home.”
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taking Cosby’s woodwork-
ing classes for most of his
high school career. He has
made an Adirondack chair
and is currently working on
a guitar. What he has found
most rewarding, however,
is building walls for a house
for a future Sisters Habitat
homeowner.
While Parsons and his fel-
low builders were working, he
shared how meaningful it is to
know that the house walls will
impact someone in the com-
munity. “Building a guitar
is just for me,” he said, “but
working on the walls helps
others.”
Sisters High School junior
Garrett Young said he took
the construction class when
he was a freshman. He didn’t
really know what the class
was all about when he signed
up. He said he learned more
than he imagined, and build-
ing the walls for a community
member had lasting impact,
and gave him reason to take
the class again.
“This is a great program,”
Cosby told the crowd who
gathered to watch the walls
go up. “It may be the only one
like it in Central Oregon.”
Sisters Habitat has part-
nered with Cosby and his stu-
dents for nearly five years.
Mac’s Country Haven Assisted Living
(Expires 4-30-2017)
Tim & Ronnica Westcott
Jenny Duey
day raising walls with future
homeowner Benson. The stu-
dents built the house walls in
the fall. Because of the winter
weather, the pouring of the
foundation was delayed and
the walls had to wait to be
raised. Most of the students
who were enrolled in the fall
class were able to attend the
all-day event.
“Hallelujah!” Benson
shouted when she was asked
to share a few words. “I feel
like queen for a day.”
Benson, who has lived in
Central Oregon since 1990,
told the crowd that nine years
ago she left a relationship and
wasn’t sure she could stay in
Sisters. But because of Habitat
for Humanity she will now
have a home and not have to
move due to rising rent costs
or rentals being sold.
“My heart is right here. My
roots are right here.”
She thanked the students,
Habitat volunteers and the
crowd.
Sisters High School senior
Hayden Parsons has been
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