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YDC employees, families of residents to testify at Columbus hearing
MINERAL RIDGE
Employees and families of residents trying to save the Youngstown Developmental Center from closure gained support Tuesday from Youngstown State University College Democrats and state Rep. Michele Lepore-Hagan.
The university group, with the blessing of Lepore-Hagan, of Youngstown, D-58th, sent a letter to Gov. John Kasich urging him to reconsider the closing of YDC at 4891 E. County Line Road, which straddles Mineral Ridge and Austintown.
The center has a staff of 272 who serve about 85 individuals with developmental disabilities in seven homes on the campus.
YDC, which serves 14 counties including Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull, is slated for closure by the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities by July 2017.
YDC residents are diagnosed with severe and profound challenges and need extensive support in the areas of daily living, health care and social-skills development, officials said.
“I think it’s a disgrace that this decision was made by one person,” said Catherine David of Cortland. “They are taking the homes away from our family members, the only homes they have known for many, many years.”
David is the sister and legal guardian of Steven Bulvony, 51, who has been a YDC resident for 29 years.
She said her brother has the mentality of a 3-year-old, is nonverbal and autistic and has obsessive-compulsive disorder, developmental delays and behavior outbursts that are well-managed at YDC.
“I would not send Steven to Warrensville, the developmental center that is to accept YDC clients, after hearing stories from families who transferred from Warrensville to YDC,” she said. “My brother, knowing him, would never survive somewhere else.”
In the Kasich letter, YSU College Democrats questioned the logic behind closing a facility that provides essential services when there are more than 40,000 developmentally disabled people on waiting lists for services, including a place to live.
“It’s a travesty that even areas such as this are falling victim to privatization attempts. It’s our hope that Gov. Kasich will explore other options to stop the YDC’s residents from relocating and also save more than 220 [Mahoning] Valley jobs,” said Christopher Anderson, communications director of YSU College Democrats.
“We need to protect the most-vulnerable members of our community,” Lepore-Hagan said.
A bus load of YDC employees and families of residents plan to travel to Columbus on Tuesday to attend and testify at a public hearing on YDC’s closure.
YDC staff and parents and guardians will speak for citizens who cannot speak for themselves, said Margaret Bury, president of Ohio Civil Service Employees Association Chapter 5040, which represents YDC workers.
Bury said YDC employees and families will walk in the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade Sunday in Boardman asking people to sign petitions against the YDC closing.
They also are asking that action on Senate Bill 62 — the proposed law would create a committee of 13 to decide if YDC and Montgomery County Developmental Center should be closed instead of one person making the decision — be accelerated.
That bill is co-sponsored by state Sens. Joseph Schiavoni of Boardman, D-33rd, and Capri Cafaro of Liberty, D-32nd. Schiavoni is Senate minority leader.
“We would like to have a word with anyone in Columbus who would hear what we have to say and support the residents of YDC,” Bury said.