— ENID — State leaders and members of Oklahoma Commission for Human Services took a tour this week of Northern Oklahoma Resource Center of Enid, two weeks before the fate of the center may be decided.

On the tour were incoming House Rep. T.W. Shannon, R-Lawton, and Senate President Pro Tem Brian Bingman, R-Sapulpa, as well as OCHS members Brad Yarborough, Mike Peck and Linda English Weeks.

State Sen. Patrick Anderson, R-Enid, said the tour was good and accomplished what it was supposed to.

“I think we had a very successful tour in showing many people who had never been to the facility what goes on,” he said. “I think we really gave the commissioners an idea of the fact there are literally hundreds of individuals who are served in Enid for their mental and physical disability issues.”

OCHS is expected to vote Sept. 25 on the future of NORCE and Southern Oklahoma Resource Center in Pauls Valley, the two state-run facilities for the developmentally disabled.

NORCE officials started their tour with the recycling center, which contracts to do recycling in Oklahoma and three neighboring states. NORCE recycling officials said one of their top businesses is recycling of secure documents. They recycle about 120,000 pounds of documents monthly. The recycling building contains balers, and they own two trucks to transport paper to a plant for further recycling.

In fiscal 2010-2011, the center recycled 38 million pounds of material, much of it from collections at drop sites and from a private collection company that collects material in neighboring towns and contracts with NORCE. Fifty-eight people, who live at NORCE, the Greer Center and in the community, work in the recycling center.

The 14 officials and staff members on the tour then went to the NORCE medical facilities, where they heard about the medical treatment of clients and also about being called to treat qualifying clients in other towns, including an autistic boy in Beaver. “That’s following the resource center concept,” said Sally Randall,  NORCE director.

One client was discovered to have lymphoma, but was treated in Enid and now is cancer free, said Dr. Nell Pitts.

As a community resource, licensed professionals working at NORCE also provide a variety of services to individuals with developmental disabilities who do not live on campus. Families and other community agencies bring individuals to the center for vocational services, dental services and therapeutic services such as speech, occupational and physical therapies.

“One of the main objectives of the tour was to provide information about who NORCE serves, what kind of services we provide and the type of people we provide services to,” Randall said. “They could also see our resources and see what we have internally and utilize in the Enid community to help meet clients needs.”

Marcellus Bell, whose brother is a NORCE resident, told the group it gives him a good feeling to know his brother is well cared for.

“As a family member, think what it would mean to you to know that your loved one is being cared for,” Bell said. “I know my brother here is being cared for and I sleep better at night. We come and take him out to dinner and bring him back, and they’re waiting for him. If he needs a doctor, he will get one. I feel safer knowing he won’t be harmed.”

State Rep. Mike Jackson, R-Enid, said he also thought the tour went well, and that it gave Bingman and Shannon a taste of what goes on at NORCE and the recycling center.

“During the upcoming legislative session and at future DHS board meetings,they will be asked their opinion and it’s good to be acclimated to it,” Jackson said.

Anderson said the tour emphasized Enid has medical, dental and therapy services available that other communities don’t have. He hopes the tour will convince OCHS commissioners of the feasibility of a consolidation plan to close SORC and bring all services to NORCE.

The consolidation plan was developed by Peck, an Enid resident and OCHS member. Peck, chairman of the commission’s property committee, gave a report at the June OCHS meeting in which he outlined the plan to close SORC and move most clients there to NORCE.

Peck said the most logical plan is to consolidate the two residential facilities into one. NORCE requires less updating and modification to add more residents than SORC, he said.

Anderson last week said Bingman and Shannon are scheduled to meet with Gov. Mary Fallin today, apparently to discuss NORCE. Anderson also said Fallin has called a meeting for Sept. 21 with himself; Jackson; Sen. Susan Paddack, D-Ada; and Rep. Lisa Billy, R-Purcell. The districts represented by Paddack and Billy include Pauls Valley, home to SORC.

Anderson said he expects “the governor is going to announce her decision on how she is going to direct (OCHS) to vote on the issue” at the Sept. 21 meeting.

How Fallin will direct OCHS is a mystery, Anderson said. He said he has “no official read” since he’s had “no communication one way or the other.”

Robert Barron writes for the Enid News and Eagle.