Idaho officials ponder future of state institution
NAMPA, Idaho (AP) — Idaho Department of Health and Welfare officials are looking for ways to use a 620-acre campus that was once home to more than 1,000 people institutionalized at the Idaho State School and Hospital.
Now only about 50 people with developmental disabilities and medical or mental health problems live at the Nampa site, which was renamed the Southwest Idaho Treatment Center last year.
"We don't actually use all the buildings on the campus, so our role here and our presence here is becoming less and less," department spokesman Tom Shanahan told the Idaho Press-Tribune. The department is asking the legislature's budget committee to approve $250,000 to have a civil engineering firm come up with three new plans for the land.
The treatment center itself only uses about 20 percent of the campus. About half of the land is used by Nampa's Centennial and Ridgecrest golf courses. The rest of the property houses cell phone towers, the Job Corps, the Idaho Department of Juvenile Correction and work release facilities.
The leases for the cell phone towers and golf courses expire in the next two years. If the legislature approves the budget, the department will work with The Land Group of Boise to come up with the new plans, and the public will have a chance to comment on the options, Shanahan said.
The number of people who live at the center has dropped dramatically since the 1950s, when institutionalization of those with developmental disabilities was common. Administrator Susan Broetje said that now the center's mission is to help residents transition back into their own communities. The Department of Health and Welfare has focused its efforts in the last five years to keep people with disabilities close to family and in the community, and department officials hope to open smaller facilities in northern and southeastern Idaho so residents can stay closer to their homes.
"Most of the people with development disabilities who receive services receive them from private providers," Broetje said. "There's a very, very small percentage that are getting it from our facility."
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Information from: Idaho Press-Tribune
Now only about 50 people with developmental disabilities and medical or mental health problems live at the Nampa site, which was renamed the Southwest Idaho Treatment Center last year.
"We don't actually use all the buildings on the campus, so our role here and our presence here is becoming less and less," department spokesman Tom Shanahan told the Idaho Press-Tribune. The department is asking the legislature's budget committee to approve $250,000 to have a civil engineering firm come up with three new plans for the land.
The treatment center itself only uses about 20 percent of the campus. About half of the land is used by Nampa's Centennial and Ridgecrest golf courses. The rest of the property houses cell phone towers, the Job Corps, the Idaho Department of Juvenile Correction and work release facilities.
The leases for the cell phone towers and golf courses expire in the next two years. If the legislature approves the budget, the department will work with The Land Group of Boise to come up with the new plans, and the public will have a chance to comment on the options, Shanahan said.
The number of people who live at the center has dropped dramatically since the 1950s, when institutionalization of those with developmental disabilities was common. Administrator Susan Broetje said that now the center's mission is to help residents transition back into their own communities. The Department of Health and Welfare has focused its efforts in the last five years to keep people with disabilities close to family and in the community, and department officials hope to open smaller facilities in northern and southeastern Idaho so residents can stay closer to their homes.
"Most of the people with development disabilities who receive services receive them from private providers," Broetje said. "There's a very, very small percentage that are getting it from our facility."
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Information from: Idaho Press-Tribune
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