Murray Center Director Lori Demijan has retired completing a 23 year career at the center starting as an occupational therapist and spending the last ten years in management and in the center’s top spot since 2019.
Demijan grew up in Centralia, but never thought of working at Murray. That changed when she did some of her clinicals at Murray Center when she fell in love with the work of the facility. Demijan says she has always worked there for the residents, noting once you work there they become part of your heart.
“It was definitely a bitter sweet decision because I love Murray Center and what it provides to individuals who live there. We have 253 individuals and everyone of them have a special personality. And getting out and working with and being around them, that’s the heart of the job. It was a very tough decision for me to leave the Center and those individuals and everything they stand for.”
Demijan has two special projects during her time as administrator she is especially proud of. The first is addressing the transportation needs.
“Two wheel chair vans and busses, because transportation is huge for us. If you know and are in the community, our individuals love to be in the community and do activities, take them to ballgames in St Louis. So vehicles are very important to us so that’s been one of my biggest accomplishments.”
Demijan says the other is renovation of the little house.
“That house is there and it’s so families when they come visit their individuals they can take them to the little house and have a home like environment to visit with them. It really was an eye sore on the edge of the property so we were able to get that sided, new roofs and that’s a huge accomplishment. That was some funding we were waiting to get and it finally came through so we were very proud to get that accomplished.”
Demijan says a major issue during her tenure was staffing, especially during COVID. She is proud of the staff and the large amount of overtime worked to continue to meet the needs of the residents.
Demijan says she is leaving behind a very good staff to carry on. While she has left as director, she will remain on for a few months as a part-time contract employee to help in the transition. No new director has yet been made.
Demijan says she has no specific plans for retirement, but plans to spend time with her three grandchildren and another on the way as well as being available for her family.
