Adjust Font Size
About Us

A Short History of the Sunshine Terrace Foundation

L. Boyd Hatch was born and raised in Logan. But he made his fortune working in New York City in insurance, real estate and investments. In 1948, he returned to Logan and visited his grandmother’s old rock home. It had been converted into a private nursing home—and not a good one. The home was dilapidated, and not appropriate for the elderly Cache Valley citizens who lived there. Mr. Hatch said the place was worse than slums in New York City.

Mr. Hatch organized a group of well-known Cache Valley residents who started a foundation for the purpose of finding a better location for Logan’s “aged and indigent men and women.” On October 20, 1948, an affidavit was filed creating the Sunshine Terrace Foundation.

From the start, quality care became a hallmark of the service residents could expect at Sunshine Terrace. That tradition of care continues to this day.

The first home of the Sunshine Terrace was at 290 West Center in a home built in 1905 by Charles W. Nibley for his second wife. In 1948, Cache County was using it for another nursing home. The county agreed to let Sunshine Terrace operate the nursing home and agreed to lease it for $1.00 a year. The Sunshine Terrace would operate out of the Nibley house from 1948 until 1953.

Even during its first years, it was apparent to the board and Superinten- dent Elva Morgan that the Nibley house was too small to house the growing number of residents. The Sunshine Terrace Board, with O. Guy Cardon as president, started raising funds for a new, larger facility.

During their search, the board learned that a nurses’ home owned by the LDS Church might be available. The LDS Church was agreeable to renting the building and the county agreed to pay for remodeling and for some equipment. The new home was at 337 East, 220 North in Logan. Later, an additional wing was added to handle 15 more residents.

Even the former home for nurses with the additional wing proved to be too small to handle the Sunshine Terrace’s growth. As early as 1963, President N. D. Salisbury was looking for a new home.

After several years, a new facility was built on a 2.18 acre plot of land on Second West between Second North and Third North. The Sunshine Terrace is in the same building today, although several additions to the building through the years have made it much larger.

Sunshine Terrace has always been pioneering. We started an Adult Day Center in 1984 where families could bring elderly members while the family was working. This program provided a rich environ- ment of activities and socializing to keep seniors active and involved in life. But more importantly, the attention of health care professionals would improve the physical and mental health of many who visited during the day. The Adult Day program’s first director, Bonnie Smith, created a music therapy program that would get attention from other health care organizations across the nation. That program continues through our centers today.

In 1997 the Adult Day program got a building of its own — the Kathryn Caine Wanlass Adult Day Center — across the street north of the Sunshine Terrace. This new building would also house the In Home Care services and Wellness programs. While the day care program closed in 2008, the In Home Care service continued to help many who attended the ADC.

The Sunshine Terrace also opened the MaRee Clawson and Vernon Maughan Buehler Assisted Liv- ing Center. Residents who could no longer live at home alone, but were still well enough to handle many of life’s challenges, could move into this apartment-like environment where they had most of the free- doms of living at home, but where a team could provide meals, laundry service, recreation opportunities, room cleaning and help with other chores.

In 2008, the Wellness Center programs grew to better help seniors with exercise and educational programs. The programs are designed to teach seniors how to exercise, and give them the skills to help delay or avoid serious health problems. A revolving series of classes on topics such as arthritis, diabetes, yoga, balance coordination and other important issues for seniors over 55 are offered. The Center focuses on physical exercise and offers equipment designed to protect the bodies of seniors. Exercise therapists with professional, university- level degrees are always on site and available to provide assistance.

Programs at Sunshine Terrace have always been designed to help those who already have serious health problems. The Wellness Center takes a new direction; its programs are designed to teach seniors how to exercise, and give them the skills to help delay or avoid serious health problems.

In addition, Skilled In Home Care as well as Respite In Home Care are available. With Skilled Care, residents can receive care in their homes with medical procedures that require a registered nurse.

For many years physical, occupational and speech therapy have been provided to residents and patients living at Sunshine Terrace Foundation facili- ties. In 2008, the services were expanded and now these therapies are offered to all members of the community. Outpatient therapy is available on the top floor of the Wellness Center.

The Wellness Center concept is another example of the Sunshine Terrace Foundation’s innovative approach to holistic care. The Foundation has also designed a Snoezelen Room in the Rehabilitation Center’s Memory Wing. Our Snoezelen Room offers an environment of changing lights, colors, sounds, smells, that studies show can help patients with dementia to again attempt to deal with their environment. The room also can be used with children who are autistic.

In its sixty-one years, the Sunshine Terrace Foundation has grown from a small nursing home housing twelve women, to a campus of health services comprising short-term and long-term rehabilita- tion, assisted living, senior exercise, health education, occupational and physical therapy and soon, aqua therapy. The Foundation employs a staff of nearly 350 and is one of the largest employers in Cache Valley.

The Sunshine Terrace has a reputation not only in the state of Utah, but nationally, as an innovative organization with a strong commitment to quality care for the elderly. The residents of Cache Valley continue to support Sunshine Terrace much as they did sixty-one years ago. Residents still give of their money and their time through volunteering at the Foundation. Residents still recognize the need for a not-for-profit health organization in the valley.

From board members, through administrators, nurses, CNAs, cooks, maintenance personnel, and others, the Sunshine Terrace has been blessed with bright, caring, capable people who have made the organization the success it is today.