Locations for services under Lawrence County Developmental Disabilities and Person Centered Services will soon be finding themselves a new home within Lawrence County.

Open Door School and Person Centered Services (PCS) are two programs that will be relocating within the coming years. Both programs are to stay in Lawrence County and plan to be in their new locations by the end of 2020.

PCS, an organization that provides day services for adults with developmental disabilities, is currently operating in the facility which formerly housed Tri-State Industries, another adult day services program that was under LCDD. LCDD owns the property, which is located in Coal Grove, but recently the two agencies came to an agreement to end the lease agreement effective January 1, 2019.

PCS will relocate to two facilities in Lawrence County - one in the eastern end of the county and one in the west - and will be able to offer more options and activities for people, a move that Julie Monroe, Superintendent at LCDD, says is much more in line with the vision that the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities would anticipate from service providers across the state.

“PCS has performed a tremendous task of providing adult day services to people with DD in our county,” says Monroe. “This move really helps them in expanding their services throughout the county to areas that are more centrally located to where people reside.”

After PCS vacates the property in Coal Grove, LCDD plans to begin restructuring the facility to relocate and house Open Door School, which currently operates at Lorain Street in Ironton less than 2 miles away. Open Door plans to operate the 2018-2019 school year at its current location and then move to Coal Grove at the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year. Monroe says that the facility in Coal Grove better suits the needs of the students at Open Door School, as the property is more modern and only consists of one floor as opposed to the Lorain Street property which is three floors.

LCDD also agreed to continue to lease a portion of the property in Coal Grove to PCS monthly in case the agency would need more time to locate and update any properties for DD services. This strategy would allow for services to be continuous with interruption.

“It’s extremely important for us to make sure that we do not have a cease of services of any kind,” says Monroe. “We are doing everything we can to ensure that the school and PCS do not have interruption due to this transition.”

Lawrence County DD said they plan to hold meetings in the coming months to update parties and answer any questions from the public.

“We’re excited for this! I know that any type of change raises questions and concerns, but these are certainly changes that are for the good of the people we serve” says Monroe. “LCDD has heard for years that Open Door needs a new facility and we’ve known that our adult services need to be more accessible for people. This is our big chance to make these changes and improve our programs to reach full potential.”