On Jan. 11, the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) and DHS secretary Ted Dallas announced that DHS plans to close the Hamburg State Center and the civil section of the Norristown State Hospital. These closures represent great opportunities for community integration for many people with disabilities in Pennsylvania.
What Are Hamburg and Norristown?
Hamburg State Center is one of five remaining state-run institutions that house people with intellectual disabilities in Pennsylvania. These institutions include: Ebensburg, Hamburg, Polk, Selinsgrove and White Haven. Over the last 20 years, the resident population of these institutions has seen an almost 70 percent decrease. Currently, 888 people with disabilities reside among the five Pennsylvania state centers. This is down from nearly 3,000 individuals in the same 20-year period. At one point, Pennsylvania operated 20 state centers for people with intellectual disabilities. Between the mid-1980s and 1999, nine of these centers (or intellectual disability units associated with state mental health facilities) were closed. Between 1999 and 2015, two additional state centers closed. Now, according to DHS, Hamburg will be the next to close, with the closure taking place within the next 18 to 24 months. This transition period will allow people with disabilities currently residing at Hamburg an adequate opportunity to transition into the community with necessary home and community-based services and supports. Hamburg currently has 80 residents who will be transitioning from the 154-acre institution to their home communities.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.
For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]
