State officials plan to close the state-run facility in Glenwood that provides residential care to Iowans with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Governor Kim Reynolds and the top two Republicans in the legislature issued a joint written statement this afternoon, announcing the Glenwood Resource Center will close in 2024. Residents may be transferred to the Woodward Resource Center, but it’s likely the majority will be placed in community-based care. A U.S. Justice Department report released in December concluded that with the right services, nearly all of the residents at Glenwood could live in community-based settings — and the cost of their care would be less.
According to a news release from the governor’s office, employees at the Glenwood Resource Center will be offered bonuses to keep working at the facility during the two-year transition period or get assistance in finding new jobs. After the Glenwood facility closes, Reynolds pledges to work with local officials to find a new use for the campus.
This is the fourth state facility to close in the past decade. Governor Branstad cited difficulty in finding qualified staff as he ordered the state Mental Health Institutes in Clarinda and Mount Pleasant to close in 2015. Branstad ordered the closure of the Iowa Juvenile Home for delinquent girls in 2014 after complaints about how residents were being treated.
Governor Reynolds fired the superintendent of the Glenwood Resource Center in late 2019. The U.S. Justice Department concluded residents had been used as human guinea pigs in sexual arousal experiments.