Spring Dell Center touches community for 50 years
The Spring Dell Center has been the leader in supporting disabled residents of Charles County for the past five decades, a period spanning great change in perception of how to care for these individuals and how to utilize them within the community.
The center has gone from a relative unknown in the area to a household name, mostly due to the success and growth of its residents as well as its long-tenured, loyal staff. Spring Dell’s recent 50th anniversary celebration brought together local leaders and business partners to celebrate the institution.
The next half-century is sure to bring more of the same, as the center reaps the rewards of a well-built foundation and continues to provide work for Charles County’s special needs citizens.
“The direction that we’re headed and that we’ve come over the last 50 years, especially the last 10 years of that is truly the acceptance within the community,” said Executive Director Donna Retzlaff.
“People truly can work regardless of their disability, and people truly should have those same opportunities and experiences.”
The center is committed to helping residents achieve independence and find gainful employment. Staff provides a wide variety of services, from individual support that includes grocery shopping and respite care to community living assistance and transportation. The center also offers residential services that help members make housing arrangements and remain involved in the community.
The origins of the center go back more than 50 years, to a daycare program established through the Charles County Handicapped and Retarded Citizens Association in 1962. Five years later, this program would shift to become Spring Dell Center Inc., and quickly earned a reputation among similar institutions as serving the least-capable members of the population who required more intensive services. The center would move to its current Radio Station Road facility in 1975 and offer residential services five years after that.
An increase in Charles County population during the mid-2000s led to an uptick in residents at the center, eventually leading to the implementation of a waiting list. The facility itself grew during this time, with parking lot expansion, a storage shed and landscaping coming before the construction of a canopy and a four-bay storage area a few years later. In 2015, the Spring Dell Center was named Charles County Chamber of Commerce Nonprofit of the Year.
“It’s been invaluable,” said La Plata Mayor Jeannine James, of the center’s importance to the area. “The people that they’re been able to place in different jobs, and help out in the community, has had a huge impact.”
James has a niece and
nephew with special needs living in another state, and urged her sister-in-law to find a Spring Dell-equivalent in her community.
The growth of the center over the years coincided with a shift in approach, as more research was done and additional information gathered by staff about their residents.
“It initially started out as control
… you did not know how to really support them, because they had such significant needs or significant behaviors,” Retzlaff said. “And what we’ve truly learned over the years, it comes down to one thing, and that’s communication. They’re just trying to tell you something … Once you give them control, you start to figure it out.”
The success of Spring Dell, particularly regarding employment opportunities, says as much about its staff as it does its residents. Employers are eager to hire individuals who
represent every value desired in the model employee, evidenced by the excellent work being done at Walmart, Panera and of course Hooks & Hangers locations, where proceeds go to the center.
“There’s a job everywhere for somebody, it’s just finding what that looks like,” said Director of Residential Services Allison Hartley. “For a lot of people that we support, they’re beyond reliable, they’re usually very meticulous in their job skills, and very rarely do they not show up for work. And I can’t think of
an employer who doesn’t think that that’s three of the strongest assets that you need.”
Going forward, the center faces unique challenges when it comes to caring for these individuals as healthcare and medical options improve their conditions.
“Life expectancy, when we started, we didn’t have people in their 50s,” said staff member Sue Hardesty, who has been with the center for 35 years. “They didn’t live that long. Now the drawback of Down syndrome is Alzheimer’s.”
At the core of the operation, staff continues to strive to maximize independence for disabled individuals. Ironically, after years of expanding their facilities, the next step for Spring Dell is to remove residents from them.
“Our goal right now is to offer all of our services directly in the community,” said Retzlaff, a 30-year employee herself. “The idea is that folks are at this facility less and less. And whatever we do here, we can do in the community.”