Center For Neurological Development expanding in Burkettsville

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By Linda Moody

[email protected]

BURKETTSVILLE — The Center For Neurological Development at 78 W. Main St. will be undergoing a major facelift soon.

Director Joan Kiser said its 2016 Capital Campaign is underway for the $1.1 million project, which includes a new addition on the west end as well as a demolition of the old school on the east end of the facility in the second phase.

“We’re at $800,000 now,” Kiser said. “We are a non-profit, tax-exempt organization supported by the private sector with no state or federal funding.”

She said they have been to corporations in a three-county area: Mercer, Darke and Auglaize seeking funds.

“We’ve fill out a lot of grant applications,” she also noted. “And, the general public has been very good to us.”

Mote Associates in Greenville is the engineer for the project, and Greg Doenges is the general manager.

“We want to start construction this summer,” Kiser said.

The new addition will add 6,000 square feet to the west end of the facility.

It will feature:

• a kitchen/cafeteria, a replacement of the area that will be lost in the demolition.

• speech department to include a two-way mirror for observation purposes, sufficient office space for wheelchair and multi-patient sessions and walk-in work area to store materials,/records/computers.

• additional office space.

• handicapped-accessible bathrooms, replacing men/women restrooms fully wheelchair accessible.

• laundry room with washer/dryer and cleaning supplies and storage area.

• a basement for a mechanical room and additional storage.

“We bought the land to the west [for the new addition] off the town for $1,” Kiser said.

The demolition on the original structure which was built in the 1930s is expected to take place after the new addition is complete. Until then, that area continues to “house” a kitchen/cafeteria, speech department, men/women bathrooms, furnace/blower room, laundry/utility room, closet and full second floor classrooms inaccessible for therapy use.

“We had put a parking lot in and an air conditioner in the building when we came here,” Kiser said. “We had to renovate it to make it work. Now, this old part needs a lot of work.”

That part of the building is showing its age with leaks and such.

The center caters to those children and adults who are neurologically impaired, which covers a broad spectrum. Some of the specific diagnoses that the center has experienced are brain damage, brain injury, mental retardation, Cerebral Palsy, stroke, Down’s Syndrome, Parkinson’s Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, learning disability, neurological dysfunction and spinal cord injury.

Because of damage to brain cells patients suffer from physical, perceptual and academic handicaps. The methodology behind their efforts at the center deal with neurologically organizing the hurt brain by bombarding it with stimulation, both passively and actively. Through the four stages of mobility development [arm and leg movement, crawling, creeping, standing and walking,] The therapists encourage the unhurt portions to become activated and take over bodily functions.

“We serve 70 patients from a five-county area: Mercer, Darke, Auglaize and Shelby counties in Ohio and Jay County in Indiana,” Kiser said.

To enroll in a program, a client must be evaluated by the center’s certified, sensorimotor developmentalist. An appointment can be scheduled by contacting the center at 1-419-375-4878.

Upon evaluation, a program of treatment will be recommended. Clients are re-evaluated approximately every four months, at which time programs are revised following progress achieved.

According to Kiser, the youngest patient is Abram, who is 9 months of age; and the oldest is Charles Dunwoody, who will be 100.

“Our patients’ ages fluctuate,” she said. “Those in their 20s and 30s are usually here from auto accidents and those in their 50s and older are here for Parkinson’s, Multiple Sclerosis or strokes.”

One-third of their patients, she said, live in Darke County.

“Steve Bey of Versailles has been here since 1999,” she said. “He suffered a head injury in 1997 in a motorcycle accident.”

Receiving therapy at the center on the day of the interview was 45-year-old Tracy Rolfes of Celina, being seen by Dave Muhlenkamp, the tactile therapist. She suffered a stroke four days before her 43rd birthday. And, a group of volunteers were seen patterning patient Pat Dahlinghaus of Minster in one of the therapy rooms.

“Everybody has their own story,” Kiser said.

The center has served 619 patients; 85 from Auglaize County, 97 from Darke, 323 from Mercer, 16 from Shelby County, and 56 from Indiana, plus 42 from other areas, including other cities in Ohio, and from Georgia, Texas, Washington, Arkansas, Texas, Alabama, Florida and Michigan, not to mention one won from Croatia, Yugoslavia.

The day-to-day use of the center to the clients is free of charge due to the volunteer staff. The center provides and trains volunteers to aid clients in carrying out their therapy.

Kiser, who has been with the center since 1984, said staff there includes Assistant Director Zelda Zizelman; Michelle Siefring and Lori Boeke, secretaries; Lisa Diemler, Kathy Homan and Carol Roche, speech therapists; Dave Muhlenkamp, tactile therapist; and Don Haas, physical therapist. Joan Werling is a full-time volunteer. Custodians at the center are local residents Ruth and Henry Kunkler.

“Six are full-time and three a part-time,” Kiser said.

Those wanting to donate should make checks payable to the “CFND-Bldg. Fund.”

This writer may be reached at 937-569-4315. Follow her on Facebook and join the conversation and get updates on Facebook by searching Darke County Sports or Advocate 360. For more features online go to dailyadvocate.com.

Courtesy photo Here is Mote Associates’ rendering of the proposed construction for Center For Neurological Development in Burkettsville.
https://www.dailyadvocate.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/web1_renderingneurologicalPRINT.jpgCourtesy photo Here is Mote Associates’ rendering of the proposed construction for Center For Neurological Development in Burkettsville.

By Linda Moody

[email protected]

This writer may be reached at 937-569-4315. Follow her on Facebook and join the conversation and get updates on Facebook by searching Darke County Sports or Advocate 360. For more features online go to dailyadvocate.com.

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