BEATRICE – With client population dwindling, some local officials are concerned about what is the State of Nebraska’s plan for the Beatrice State Developmental Center, over the long-term.


The State of Nebraska has hired a consultant that deals with government-run health care services to help formulate an action plan regarding BSDC, and regional centers in Lincoln and Norfolk.  Nebraska State lawmaker Myron Dorn said the state took public comment recently during online stakeholder meetings, where parents of clients and community leaders gave input.


Once serving a large population of persons with developmental disabilities, the client number at BSDC has been declining.


"Part of what's happened over the years is the population has decreased...and I did not know this, but at one time it had a population of maybe over two thousand. But, I do know very vividly when there was six to seven hundred there. The population has slowly declined over time to where two years ago, it was at about one hundred nine....and now we are under hundred, at about ninety."


Dorn said the workforce has ranged in recent times between 275 and 325.


"They haven't had any new residents for a period of time now. Some of the questions they got from the participants in the stakeholder meetings was when was the last time there was a new admittance."


In recent years, BSDC transitioned to services for clients in a setting of several cottages on the state campus… with some of the institution’s buildings going unused.


In 2016, Nebraska’s Department of Health and Human Services was ordered by the legislature to prepare a comprehensive plan for BSDC and the Bridges Program in Hastings…..examining their roles, preferences of residents and their families, facility structural needs, census trends and integration of residents into the community. The plan was to look at long-term viability of the Beatrice and Hastings facilities.


A report on the consulting firm’s work this year with the State of Nebraska is anticipated sometime between October and December.