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COVER STORY
INSIDE:
The Strand announces 2009-2010 season lineup
Xxxx50
July 29, 2009 Vol. XXI, Issue XLIV
NEWSWEEKLY
'50 YEARS OF
OPEN DOORS
AND
BETTER LIVES'
In the 1950s, three separate events launched a 50-year effort to help people with disabilities build better lives. What resulted was the genesis of Evergreen Presbyterian Ministries (EPM), organized in 1959 in North Louisiana as a mission of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. First, the Webster Parish School Board closed the Evergreen Community School. Second, the Presbyterian Synod of Louisiana was looking for ways to assist its flock. Finally, a group of parents of mentally handicapped children in Northwest Louisiana were looking for a way to let their special needs children enjoy summer camp. The confluence of those threads was the one-story, eight-room class building; five-room residence; a separate duplex; a gymnasium; and 76 acres in Evergreen. With a shared vision and plenty of prayer, Evergreen School opened on the site in October 1959 with four students enrolled. Fifty years later, the school is gone, but the work carries on. Now, EPM has facilities in 16 communities in six states treating almost 1,000 clients with a staff of 1,700 employees. The corporate headquarters is in Haughton on Highway 80. Patsy Hood, executive assistant/facility manager, has been with EPM for 33 years. Her office is in the corporate headquarters housed in a former church. ?We?re the ?head shed? as everybody calls it. This is where the president, vice president, the foundation, which is a separate fund-raising organization ? human resources is here, and the finance office is here,? Hood said. ?All payroll is done. All the bills are paid. This is the hub.? The hub?s spokes are in Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Kentucky. To be eligible to take advantage of its services, Hood said clients must meet some basic criteria. ?To get into the ICF/ MR, which is the intermediate care [facility] for the mentally retarded, you have to have a primary diagnosis of mental retardation. And then we branch out into all kinds of services,? Hood said. Services offered to clients in the three regions include community and group homes, elderly services, prevocational services, companion services and training centers, among others. The first step is the proper referral, Hood said. ?They have to contact the office of OCDD (Office for Citizens with Developmental Disabilities), and they?re put on a waiting list.
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