Ontario. Southwestern Regional Centre

• Southwestern Regional Centre

• Ontario Hospital School, Cedar Springs

Construction on the Ontario Hospital School, Cedar Springs, began in November 1958 on the shore of Lake Erie. Initially designed for youth up to 10 years old, its scope was expanded to accommodate the needs of older clients.

The Hospital officially opened in June 1961. Its first clients were from the Ontario Hospital School in Orillia. Cedar Springs had 390 clients in the first year. Some came to live there, while others stayed for short periods for special training and others for longer periods of social, educational, and vocational skills building.

After training, clients were released either to their own homes, approved homes, group homes or apartments in the community and continued their education or joined the work force.

At its peak, this institution housed about 1,200 clients. In 1968/69 a shift from a medical orientation to a family and residential focus occurred. This included the development of the unit system, smaller residences, increases in the Approved Home Program, and the implementation of case conferences. Also, except for the Hospital Unit, staff no longer wore uniforms.

In 1974, the Developmental Services Act resulted in the transfer of the Centre from the Ministry of Health to the Ministry of Community and Social Services, and the facility was renamed the Southwestern Regional Centre. Its focus expanded to concentrate increasingly on a developmental training model. Many new programs were added to accommodate the needs of the client population that shifted from predominantly children to adults and seniors.

Life skills training programs increased and the workshop training system added several new programs including a series in the prevocational area. Specialized intensive programs were developed to train and support clients with behavioural, physical, and sensory needs.

In 1977, the Centre began to scale back and reduce the number of beds.

By the 1990s, the Centre played an important role in the network of local and provincial services for people with developmental disabilities and provided treatment and training services. The Centre became affiliated with the University of Western Ontario to co-jointly deliver programs. The Centre provided a number of special services: Applied Technology Laboratory, Applied Behavioural Analysis; Cognitive and Physical Stimulation; Augmentative Communications; Music Therapy; Seniors Program; Vocational Habilitation; Social Skills training; Orientation and Mobility; Pastoral Care; and Leisure Activities. The clinical services included dental, seating and mobility, physiotherapy, kinesiology, and speech therapy.

In 2005, the Ministry began planning for residence closure of all Regional Centres. Families of its patients were asked to participate in the planning process. Regional staff consulted with community agencies to plan for the transition to the community.

The Southwestern Regional Centre closed in 2008.

Southwestern Regional Centre was a facility for the developmentally disabled in Blenheim, Ontario.

Developmental Services Act

RAD: Rules for Archival Description, 2nd edn (2008)

2026-11-16: migrated to AtoM

RG 29-57 collection file; "Southwestern Regional Centre" brochure, by Queen's Printer for Ontario, 1991, ISBN# 0-7729-8148-5

Archivist(s):
Solovitch/Hopp