Most residents out of disabilities center Huber Heights facility among two in state scheduled to close.
Eighteen months after the state announced it would permanently close the Montgomery Developmental Center, nearly two-thirds of its residents with developmental disabilities have moved into other settings.
Some residents have transitioned smoothly into new community-type environments, based on feedback from satisfaction surveys and follow-up interviews, according to state officials and some relatives.
Eliminating the center in Huber Heights will save the state about $6 million annually, and it helps work toward the state’s goal of transitioning more people with disabilities into smaller and community-based settings, state officials said.
However, other family members say the residential care options in this area are woefully limited and their loved ones must move into other state-run centers that are more than 60 miles away.
People with complex developmental, medical and behavioral challenges often react poorly to big changes in their lives, and being uprooted from a familiar environment may be traumatic for residents and hard on their families, said Jeff Fox, who is the
president of the Montgomery Developmental Center Support Group and whose son, Matthew, resides at the facility.
“This pretty much has turned his life and everybody’s lives upside-down,” Fox said.
In early 2015, the Montgomery Developmental Center had about 94 residents. Today it serves just 32 people with developmental disabilities.
Statewide, the number of individuals in developmental centers fell to 900 in 2015 from 1,600 in 2007.
In February of last year, the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities announced it would close two of its 10 developmental centers by July 1, 2017. Youngstown is the other center being axed.
The center opened in 1981 and has 137 staff, whose jobs are at risk.
Developmental centers are intermediate care facilities where people with developmental disabilities live and receive active treatment designed to help improve their quality of life and level of functioning and independence. The centers are supposed to be temporary placements.
Some people, however, do not do well in less intensive environments because of the severity of their disabilities, mental illnesses, medical conditions, behavioral problems or some combination thereof, according to family members.
Some of the center’s residents transferred to other state-run developmental centers, the closest of which are in Batavia and Columbus. More residents are expected to transfer soon.
Fox said his 34-year-old son, Matthew, could wind up at the Batavia location later this year. Matthew, who has autism, has lived at the Montgomery Developmental Center for 14 years.
Matthew may mellow out as he ages, but his current behavioral issues make him a poor candidate for a group home setting, said Fox, who lives in Centerville.
And locally, there are not a lot of other alternatives where Matthew can receive the service he needs, because private intermediate care facilities also are downsizing as people with disabilities increasingly receive service at home, Fox said.
Fox is worried he will see his son less often because Batavia is a longer drive.
He also fears the move will be stressful and upsetting for his son, who depends on routine.
“This is a matter of grave concern to me and to a lot of us,” he said.
The state has taken steps to ensure that residents discharged from the developmental centers are doing well in new community settings, said Zach Haughawout, deputy director of legislative affairs and communications with the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities.
The state routinely meets face-to-face with former developmental center residents to check on their well-being and their feelings about their new placements, Haughawout said.
Surveys have found that 97 percent of former residents who were relocated to a community-type setting are happy with their new homes, Haughawout said.
About 94 percent reported feeling safe in their new community placements, he said.
“Our satisfaction data for the folks who are in community-type settings is very good,” he said.
The state, however, checks in with the guardians of residents who have moved into other developmental centers just once 30 days after they move.
The cost savings from closing the two centers will be re-invested into the state’s waiver program, which will help serve more people with disabilities who require services, Haughawout said.
Michael Togliatti, of Beavercreek, said his 60-year-old brother Bill has successfully moved from the developmental center into a private intermediate care facility in West Carrollton. So far, so good, he said. “I have no criticism of the facility,” he said. “But there were limited openings and we fought to get him in there.”
Togliatti said his family acted quickly to relocate Bill after the closure was announced last year. He said some of the other options were inconveniently scattered across the state and some had questionable quality.
Togliatti said he still worries about the level of care in private facilities because they are driven by profits.
Lily Angell, 68, said her 47-year-old son, Shane, has lived at the developmental center for 27 years. She said he has autism and the mental ability of a 1-year-old.
Angell fears her son would not do well in a group home, and moving him to another developmental center will be inconvenient because of the long drive from her home in Huber Heights.
“It’s a very stressful situation,” she said. “He needs me. I am his mother. I can’t abandon him and send him away.”