Board of DD facility may close sooner than planned

High rate of employees, clients have left since beginning of year.

If numbers of clients and staff at the adult day center operated by the Butler County Board of Developmental Disabilities continue to erode, it may close sooner than planned.

The exodus of staff from the adult day center — called Liberty Adult Center — has slowed, but it now has less than half the staff and half the clients it had at the beginning of the year, according to Superintendent Lisa Guliano.

Federal and state mandates are forcing boards of developmental disabilities to get out of the direct service business, and Butler County plans to close Liberty Adult Center, located at 5645 Liberty-Fairfield Road, by March 2017.

The change is expected to impact hundreds of local residents with developmental and intellectual disabilities, as well as their families, private providers and some county employees.

MORE: Families, clients face uncertain future with center closing

Since the end of March, staffing has gone from 40 to 15 people working at the center. The number of clients enrolled has gone from 118 to 58 and the center is now only open four days a week, according to Guliano.

“Our intent is if we can maintain the staffing levels we need to support the number of people we have, then we will continue on staying open,” she said. “But there are variables that could affect that including a lot more individuals leave and we don’t need to stay open. It’s something we constantly evaluate.”

When the Board of DD saw how many staffers were leaving they offered a $500 retention bonus that was good from April through July. The board recently approved a second $500 bonus that will be good from August through October.

George Matusak’s brother John attended the center up until a week ago when the family moved him to a nursing home.

“The reason that they’re losing the staff is because they are closing. I can’t blame anybody that wouldn’t be looking for a better job, than being there at the very end and the last one to go,” he said.

His brother, who is 69 years old and has Down Syndrome, was getting “wonderful care” at Liberty Adult Center, he said.

“I don’t think the quality of care went down at all,” Matusak said.

The DD board is operating under a $3.6 million deficit this year and closing Liberty Adult Center will save about $1.4 million. Efforts to find a private provider to run Liberty Adult Center did not work out.

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