The Enid News and Eagle, Enid, OK

Opinion

Discussion

January 31, 2012

Choose the best care

Enid News and Eagle

ENID — State legislators soon will face two proposals for housing and caring for Oklahoma’s most challenged developmentally disabled residents. One plan, developed by the state Department of Human Services, calls for drastically reducing the number of clients at the Southern Oklahoma Resource Center at Pauls Valley, moving residents into community facilities or to Northern Oklahoma Resource Center of Enid. A second plan, developed by the state employees union and a Pauls Valley parents group, calls for mostly state funding of a $20 million bond issue for improvements at the two campuses, mostly new construction at SORC.

The DHS plan makes the most sense.

The problem boils down to money and care. The state cannot afford to operate both the Enid and Pauls Valley institutions, both being campuses of old buildings unable to meet current standards. Both institutions at one time had more than 1,100 residents each, and current client counts are about one-tenth of that. Several buildings on the 800-acre campus in Pauls Valley have been condemned, and still more are not in use.

Keeping more than 15 clients at SORC past August 2013 will require constructing new buildings. If the state is inclined to invest money in new buildings — and that’s not a likely bet — the construction should be at NORCE. It doesn’t make financial sense for the state to operate two drastically downsized institutions, and the Enid community offers medically fragile clients better medical services, more options for dental care, and better off-campus services and day trip sites.

In the next 17 months, DHS intends to reduce the population at SORC from about 125 to 15 by placing clients at NORCE or in community group homes. That makes sense if:

(1) Residents can receive the same or better quality of care.

(2) The cost for taxpayers is the same or lower.

Operations at both state and private facilities require frequent outside reviews and inspections. Although state employees often are paid more and have more restrictive work rules than employees at private sector group homes, operating costs are similar. Building costs are the big difference.

The state of Oklahoma must never completely eliminate NORCE, which offers more medical services than community group homes and provides a safety net for these most needy residents – typically those diagnosed with cerebral palsy or both serious intellectual and physical disabilities.

The DHS plan to care for about 115 of these residents long-term at NORCE makes the best sense.

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