TN Facility for Disabled to Close

By Walter F. Roche Jr

A state run facility for those with developmental and intellectual disabilities will close its doors next year under a plan to be submitted for federal court approval later this month.
The plan, which would move some 96 residents to other facilities, would permanently close the Greene Valley Developmental Center in Greeneville, one of the last such facilities in the state.
 Cara Kumari, spokeswoman for the state Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities said that the closure plans had been worked out in lengthy negotiations with the plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit dating back more than a decade.
She said that the current residents will have the option of moving to newer and smaller facilities or to receive care in their family homes. The proposed closure date is June 30, 2016.
She said that transition plans for individual residents will be reviewed by a quality monitoring panel and the residents will continue to be monitored after relocation.
She stressed that the plan will not become binding unless it is approved by a federal judge.
"The goal is always to ensure people are being transitioned in the safest manner possible," Kumari wrote in an email response to questions, adding that the monitoring program will "ensure that people's needs are being met within their new homes.
Some 600 employees at the facility will lose their jobs. Kumari said efforts will be made to find other employment for those being displaced.
The state is also moving to close the Clover Bottom Developmental Center in Nashville.
Kumari said that if the plan is approved the only remaining such facility will be the 12 bed Harold Jordan Center in Nashville.
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