The retiring Director of Murray Developmental Center Lori Demijan feels Murray and the other six similar facilities in the state now have a strong foundation following the effort by former Governor Pat Quinn to shut them down.
Demijan bases her feelings on the waiting list to get into the facilities and the realization community facilities cannot effectively serve all of the mentally handicapped.
Lori Demijan
“We have 24/7 nursing and medical care. Doctors who make rounds every day. We have dental services and pharmacy on staff and all kinds of disciplinary services like OTPTC, social workers, and psychologists. That’s the benefit of having a state facility is you get all your services in one place, versus the community, it’s difficult to get all those services. So our ultimate goal is to get them into Murray Center and to discharge them back to the community and try to make them as independent as possible.”
And Demijan says Murray Center is also helping by putting some of their residents to work.
“Our individuals are working in the community. We have a few that have obtained jobs and they are very proud of that. So we have a system in place where we have rehab workshop instructors to help them succeed in community employment. So that is a big accomplishment we are still working on and hoping to increase in the future.”
Demijan says work will also continue to bring outsourced services onto the Murray Center campus.
As the center has been challenged with staffing, Demijan is pleased the State of Illinois has now created 50 Mental Health Tech positions that are always available to apply for through the CMS website by going to jobs, Clinton County, and searching for mental health technicians.
While Demijan officially retired at the end of the year, she has a state contract to continue working part-time to help during the transition process. The state has not yet named a new Director for Murray Center.
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