Texas state supported living centers
Scott Schalchlin was named assistant commissioner for the State Supported Living Centers (SSLC) in December 2013.
Citizens of Abilene were eager to have the state select a nearby site, for the boost it would provide to the local economy.
The project consisted of an administration building,[2] a power plant, one hospital each for men and women, four cottages, and a residence for the superintendent.
The campus had expanded to sixty-three buildings by 1943, including officers' quarters, physicians' cottages, two hospitals, twenty-eight "wards", and a number of barns.
In 1957, the name of the facility was changed to Abilene State School, due to a shift in purpose to caring for people with developmental disabilities.
On October 31, 1963, President John F. Kennedy signed a bill providing federal aid for research, training, and rehabilitation for people with mental retardation throughout the country, which allowed increases in staff-to-patient ratios.
[3] The campus includes a canteen, infirmary, theater, nature trail, indoor pool, athletic field, an interfaith chapel with stained glass windows,[4] and a guest house for visiting family members.
This caused a shift in the population of residents in State Schools to those with more profound mental challenges and multiple disabilities.
In recent years, the Austin State Supported Living Center has come under scrutiny for a variety of serious health and safety violations.
The Austin SSLC has also had 6 immediate jeopardy findings from October 2010 to May 2013, including the death of a resident after staff failed to respond to health concerns.
The state school serves a southeast Texas area including Brazos, Burleson, Grimes, Leon, Liberty, Madison, Montgomery, Robertson, Walker, and Washington counties.
Brenham State school features a nature area, primarily for use of residents and family members but also available on a limited basis to outside organizations and citizens.
Specialized treatment units serve individuals with severe behavioral and/or emotional problems and more than 800 professionals and paraprofessionals are employed.
Most have severe to profound intellectual and developmental disabilities and over half navigate the campus with wheelchairs or power chairs.
The Denton Chamber of Commerce learned in the late 1950s that the state was planning to build a mental retardation facility in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex.
Opened in 1974, the El Paso State Supported Living Center answered the community need for a long-term care facility for people with mental challenges in West Texas.
Opened in 1962, the Lufkin State Supported Living Center is located in the heart of East Texas.
Lufkin State Supported Living Center is the fourth-largest employer in Angelina County, with a workforce of approximately 1,100.
The facility includes five residential units, a gym and aquatics center, a sheltered workshop, centralized dietary services, maintenance and transportation services, laundry, canteen, sewing room, all-faith chapel, guest house and camping facilities at nearby Lake Mexia.
The Mexia State Supported Living Center Sunshine Group released a record titled "Dedicated to the Glory of God and to the Work and Study of Mental Retardation" in the 1970s with the cooperation of music therapist Mrs. Tom Eubanks and Superintendent Malcolm Lauderdale.
A second album, "Sunshine in my Heart" was recorded and dedicated to earning money for the construction of a chapel which was eventually built.
San Angelo State School Regional Recreation Park is located across U.S. 87 from the main campus, and features wilderness cabins, a petting zoo, and a low-ropes course along the banks of the Concho River.
