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Troubled facility for troubled
youth to close
Summit Quest to shut in Ephrata
February 20, 2009
By Larry Alexander
Summit Quest Academy, a behavioral
facility for problem youth near Ephrata, is closing its doors.
"We are looking to close our
Ephrata facility once we are able to find appropriate placement for
all the youths there," said Chris Wolf, Summit Quest's head of
operations and development.
About eight youths remain at the
sprawling, hilltop facility at 1170 S. State St., which began in the
1960s as the Foodergong Lodge. Because the residents are sent there
by the Lancaster County court system, the county and the court will
work with Summit Quest and the Pennsylvania Department of Public
Welfare to place the remaining youths in other facilities.
Wolf expects that will be done by
the end of this week.
Wolf said the closure "is
voluntary" because the facility's management needs to "step back,
look at what we want to provide at that location long term, for
health care."
"We've got to retool and think
about programming that will be more effective," Wolf said. "We think
it's time. Financially speaking, times are very tough and we have to
better scrutinize our programming and the services we provide."
Stacey Witalec, spokeswoman for the
Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, agreed that the closure
was voluntary. But Summit Quest has a troubled history.
The welfare department notified
Summit Quest earlier this year about "some very serious concerns" at
the facility, and in July it halted all new admissions.
Wolf said the state "found some
issues in regards to licensing and other things." However, Witalec
said the problems were much graver, including cases of child abuse,
excessive use of restraints and 18 cases of inappropriate sexual
relations between residents.
"We met with Summit Quest in
December and indicated to them that they had 90 days to come back
into compliance with department regulations or we were going to take
appropriate action against them," Witalec said.
Wolf said there are no plans to
sell the building, but he said he wants to see it continue to be
used "for health care services for adolescents."
"That's our focus, and we don't
want to see it sit there barren and not provide anything," he said.
"And we really don't want to see it turned into a hotel or something
like that."
E-mail:
lalexander@lnpnews.com
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