DCO improves clients’ lives

Each year, DCO assists hundreds of clients – young and old – through its programs, which offer myriad therapies for developmentally disabled children and teach adults independent life skills so they can become productive members of society.

“What would happen if those … people didn't receive the services they received?” asked John Gentry, DCO board president. “Someone's going to have to pay for them to sit at home or in an institution. The economic impact of an organization like this is to make them viable adults.”

Founded by four parents in 1954 as United Cerebral Palsy of Southwest Missouri, DCO now serves people with an array of special needs in 12 counties. The nonprofit has three centers in Springfield, Nixa and Branson.

DCO served more than 650 infants, children and adults in 2005. That number is already up to 750 this year.

DCO’s budget has steadily grown over the years to $3.3 million in 2005. Child care/early education programs and therapy services accounted for almost half of its annual budget.

The majority of last year’s revenues – about $2.5 million – came from DCO’s various programs, which are paid for with private insurance, Medicaid and Missouri First Steps. The nonprofit also supplemented its budget with $810,000 in donations and revenue from numerous fund-raising events, according to its 2005 annual report.

“It’s not that it’s free,” said Executive Director Allan McKelvy of the assistance provided by DCO. “It’s that it’s already paid for.”

Avoiding the cost of lifelong institutionalization is significant, though it’s difficult to assign a specific dollar amount to those savings. DCO clients who gain steady employment are a testament to the success of the community-based model adopted by the nonprofit, McKelvy said.

Through up to nine months of on-site job coaching, DCO has helped numerous individuals find work and bring home a regular paycheck.

Clients with severe physical or linguistic challenges are employed at area grocery stores, Laundromats and day care centers to name a few, said DCO Programming Director Sherry Hailey.

Gentry, president and CEO of Positronic Industries, said the Springfield-based manufacturer of electronic connectors began hiring deaf people in the early 1990s. Since then, the company has employed people with other developmental disabilities who received job coaching through DCO.

“These are people who can be good citizens,” Gentry said. “They show up everyday. We hire them as regular employees with full benefits, reviews, pay increases and so on.”

Now in his 20th year with DCO, McKelvy has watched the agency improve the lives of its clients – a legacy he expects to continue with a recent three-year re-accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities.

“The issue with developmental disabilities is that it's a lifelong issue,” he said. “It's not a curable thing. Individuals need to have skills to be independent and lead the best life possible. What we know is the earlier we intervene … the better result we get.”

Developmental Center of the Ozarks

Address: 1545 E. Pythian St., Springfield, MO 65802

Phone: (417) 831-1545

Web site: www.dcoonline.com

2005 budget: $3.3 million[[In-content Ad]]