Selinsgrove Center

History of Selinsgrove Center

In 1917, 400 acres of land including a building was purchased for the site of the initial facility named The Eastern State Hospital for the Insane. Tenants farmed the land for 10 years. By 1929, new cottages had been built to accommodate the first 120 patients. The name of the facility was changed to the Selinsgrove State Colony for Epileptics. By 1930, subsequent land purchases the grounds to nearly 1,300 acres. More buildings were erected and in 1931, there were 446 epileptic male patients residing at the Colony. To accommodate self-sufficiency, only men who could work were admitted. The residents farmed the land, operated a bakery, dairy, laundry, and other enterprises. The population doubled by the early 1940s when women and children with intellectual disabilities were admitted. The name of the facility changed again in 1954 to Selinsgrove State School and Hospital. The population of the facility peaked in 1965 when it reached 2,100 residents. The name Selinsgrove Center was adopted in 1977. Currently, the Center encompasses 254 acres of land and has had a steady reduction in population from 700 in 1994 to just 222 today.

Selinsgrove Center is one of four residential, intermediate care facilities for people who have intellectual disabilities. It is operated by the Office of Developmental Programs and is licensed as an Intermediate Care Facility/Intellectual Disabilities (ICF/ID). Basic principles of ICF/ID facilities are: each individual has capacity for growth and development, each individual should have access to services that enhance his/her development, well-being, and quality of life, each individual should have access to the most normal and least restrictive social and physical environments consistent with his/her needs, and each individual's services should be delivered in accordance with a single, comprehensive individual rehabilitation plan that is developed, monitored, coordinated, and revised by members of a duly constituted interdisciplinary team. To the maximum extent possible, services and supports reflect person-centered planning, inclusion in community life, and control and choice by the person served. Values for the persons include choice, control, permanency, security, freedom, prosperity, individuality, relationships, recognition, privacy, and citizenship.

Additionally, Selinsgrove Center is involved with the community through participation in the Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services and the Office of Developmental Programs joint initiative known as the Positive Practice Resource Team. This group serves those individuals with intellectual disabilities who are demonstrating at-risk behavioral challenges and whom the team determines may need enhanced levels of support not readily known or available to them. The goals of this initiative are two-fold: to build capacity within the provider network in Pennsylvania to serve dually diagnosed individuals and to encourage State Hospital and State Center diversion through providing consultative services that assist the provider in continuing to serve the individual in their home environment.

Therapeutic Activities Services (TAS) at Selinsgrove Center facilitates recreational activities for residents such as picnics, swimming, camping, game-room activities, a ceramics studio, greenhouse, Café, Adult Center, movies, dances, live concerts, Special Olympics, restaurant visits, shopping, and local fairs. Larger initiatives are also coordinated, including trips to the Ice Capades, circuses, local amusement parks, sporting events, formal dinner dances, and the Bloomsburg Fair. In recent years, overnight vacations to Little Buffalo State Park, the Pocono's, outlet shopping, live theatrical shows, and various other tourist destinations throughout the state of Pennsylvania have been made. A minimum of one Center-wide activity is held monthly anchored by four major events annually that focus on increasing opportunities for our residents to enjoy activities with their family and friends, including National Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month Celebration, Springfest, Family Picnic, and Holiday Leadership Tea.

The vocational aspect of TAS focuses on the Client Worker program, which includes recycling, workshop, self-employment, and community employment. Individuals choose how to spend their earnings, with some purchase examples being; hobbies, electronic devices, personal collections, snacks, and restaurant visits.

TAS operates the Café seven days a week. The Café provides an on-campus retail experience for individuals to apply independent food choices and purchase decisions. The Café serves food, snacks and sells sundry items to residents, staff, and visitors in a comfortable, friendly setting.

Selinsgrove Center makes every effort to provide the people that live at the Center an environment that maximizes individual potential and ensures that personal needs are regularly and thoroughly assessed and that those needs are fulfilled.