THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 15, 1996 TAG: 9606150361
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS
CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 58 lines
A Methodist vision of serving the state's mentally retarded - the most underserved in the nation, according to one study - became reality Friday when church leaders voted to open group homes throughout the state.
The first residences could open as early as December. A rural area west of Richmond is the most likely site for the first home or homes, said the Rev. Arthur Wolz, director of the church's Commission on Ministry to Persons with Handicapping Conditions.
``We've got to chip away, but we're going to start,'' said an elated Wolz after a vote of the 3,000 Virginia United Methodists attending their 216th annual conference through Sunday at the Virginia Beach Pavilion.
The United Methodist Church in Virginia has the full support of state officials charged with providing for the handicapped, Wolz said, adding that while the state would not contribute funding, it would help with the ``red tape'' involved in getting the homes open.
The first residents likely will be 300 middle-aged and elderly retarded people now at Lynchburg's Central State Training Facility, Wolz said. Among them are 250 Methodists, though the homes will be open to people of all faiths.
Already, the church has received five offers of land and homes, said Robert Pitzer, director of the Southeast United Methodist Agency for Rehabilitation. The agency oversees 41 residences for 300 retarded people in the eight other states that, with Virginia, constitute the church's southeast jurisdiction.
In urging the conference to approve the formation of the non-profit agency, which will be called Heart Havens, Wolz read from a letter he recently received from a 101-year-old woman. The writer told Wolz that she was caring for her 67-year-old son, who has Down syndrome, then asked, ``Can my son have a place to live?'' The letter was signed, ``Please help me, I don't know if I will even be alive next year.''
After the vote, Pitzer said, ``The ministry is the opportunity for the church to reach out and extend the heart of God.''
Church officials gauged the need for residential facilities during 21 public hearings around the state last fall.
South Hampton Roads was one of the areas where pleas for services were loudest. Hearings in this area had the highest turnout, and about half the participants came from outside the church.
When he reported the commission's findings to the gathered Methodist clergy and lay leaders, Wolz said it had been the church's vision to try ``to serve the least - those who have often been left out.''
Virginia ranks last in the nation in providing small-setting residential services for mentally retarded citizens, according to a 1994 study by the consulting firm of Mangan, Blake, Prouty & Lakin.
The state serves 3.4 mentally retarded people for every 100,000 in population, according to the study. The national average is 53.6 per 100,000.
Methodist homes already operate in Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee.
The church opened the first of the residences in 1974. They serve no more than five adults each. Money comes from private donations and public sources, including Medicaid and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. by CNB