DES MOINES, Iowa — The state will close the Glenwood Resource Center (GRC) in 2024 and move some of the facility’s residents to the Woodward Resource Center (WRC), Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds announced Thursday.
The GRC currently houses 163 adults with a severe intellectual/developmental disability (IDD), and the WRC cares for 122 similarly vulnerable people, according to a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Civil Rights Division report published in December 2021.
“While necessary, the decision to close the Glenwood Resource Center is a difficult one that I take very seriously,” Reynolds said in a statement. “For many residents, it’s the only home they’ve ever known.”
The governor said the state will “expand services at Woodward Resource Center, making it a central point of care delivery and coordination for vulnerable Iowans.”
The GRC came under fire in April 2019, when several current and former staff members alleged residents were dying because of insufficient medical care. The DOJ investigation found the facility’s superintendent had allegedly ordered unethical experimentation on residents, including “sexual arousal studies.”
Among the federal investigation’s findings, it was determined the youngest Resource Center resident is 16 years old, and the oldest is 88. The average age of residents is 50, and most have lived in the Resource Center for decades. The average length of stay is approximately 28 years, and more than 40% of the residents have lived there for 30 or more years. All Resource Center residents have a legal guardian who is responsible for making decisions regarding their care, welfare and safety.
According to the DOJ report, “Iowa’s system of care for people with IDD is heavily biased toward institutions. The system drives people with IDD to institutions for multiple reasons, including inadequate community alternatives to institutions for behavioral, crisis and physical health supports.”
The report concluded that Iowa’s system of institutional “segregation is unnecessary and violates the ADA.”
The GRC currently employs 576 staff members, and the WRC employs 488 workers, according to data from the Iowa Department of Human Services.
Reynolds said that GRC staff members “will be offered retention incentives to continue working at GRC” during the transition and “will also assist staff in identifying new career opportunities in Iowa as their employment nears an end.”
Iowa’s system violates the ADA. THAT is what your Republican governor has brought you. Inadequate care for your loved ones and now, if you live in Keokuk or Sioux City or Decorah or Sibley, your loved one will be HOURS and HOURS away from you. Keep voting GOP, and see just how horrible you can make your lives.