[NFBF-L] Conklen center closing

[PLipovsky]

This is very sad as this agency has been serving Floridians with multiple
disabilities for over 30 years 

 

 

Daytona News-Journal <https://daytonanewsjournal-fl.newsmemory.com/>  | Page
D01
<https://daytonanewsjournal-fl.newsmemory.com/?selDate=20200303&editionStart
=News+Journal&goTo=D01>  Tuesday, 3 March 2020 

 <https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&username=xa-4bfbf95e715dcaab> 

Conklin Center closing 

State finds contract violations, cuts off funding for Daytona facility that
helps the blind 

By Mark Harper 

mark.harper at news-jrnl.com <mailto:mark.harper at news-jrnl.com>  

DAYTONA BEACH - The Conklin Center for the Blind, a nonprofit serving
Floridians with multiple disabilities including blindness for more than 40
years, will close Friday after state officials found numerous violations of
a contract. 

More than 50 clients - who have relied on the agency to assist them with
paying bills on time, getting to and from doctor's visits and finding
housing - will be losing their services, said staff members who asked not to
be identified. Some residential clients have been moved to the Division of
Blind Services, a state agency with offices across White Street from the
Conklin Center, while others have been sent home. 

Conklin attracted clients from all over Florida and beyond because of its
rare mission of working with people who are blind and have at least one
other disability. The closing will cost about 40 people their jobs. 

"To say that closing this facility is a tragedy is an understatement," CEO
Kelly Harris said in a Conklin Center news release. "This news has been
traumatic for our students-in-residence, our graduates and, of course, our
very dedicated staff." 

See CENTER, D4 

>From Page D1 

Funding from the Division of Blind Services, $1.6 million, represents about
60% of the Conklin Center's budget, the Conklin release states. 

The Division of Blind Services spelled out those problems in a Feb. 18
letter to Harris and the agency's board. 

"The Conklin Center continues to operate in a state of material breach and
non-compliance with its contractual requirements, has altered client service
documentation and environmental conditions may cause undue harm or danger to
the vulnerable clients who are residents of the Conklin Center," the letter,
signed by Robert Doyle, director of blind services, states. 

Among the Division of Blind Services' findings: . Conklin Center staff
failed to notify the state's review team of the existence of a basement and
of its recent discontinued use. The review team later learned that basement
had flooded and its condition "presents health and safety concerns" related
to mold. 

. Division of Blind Services staff found discrepancies and conflicting
documentation in clients' medical records, raising "additional health and
safety concerns." 

. "As late as Feb. 3, 2020, the Conklin Center had been altering client
records in the DBS AWARE client database for services received in December
2019," the letter states. 

. The Conklin Center, under the contract, was obligated to provide services
to 14 qualified, residential clients and had only 9 at the time of Division
of Blind Services monitoring. 

. Additionally, the Conklin Center was operating without a required
credentialed professionals, including a certified vision rehabilitation
therapist. The center operated without an orientation and mobility
specialist from October to Dec. 26, 2019, "although the president/CEO
claimed there was an O&M consultant onsite during these months." 

Harris, in the prepared statement, called the state's suggestion on Feb. 5
that compliance could be achieved in two weeks "just not reasonable." 

"While many of the issues had already been resolved, some are too complex to
have been remedied within that short time frame - especially under penalty
of closure," Harris said. 



The Conklin Center for the Blind has since 1978 operated a Daytona Beach
facility whose mission has been to help people with multiple disabilities
including blindness become employable. [NEWS-JOURNAL/MARK HARPER] 

 

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