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People First of Oregon
Fairview: The Closing Chapter
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Fairview Training Center closure plan on schedule; employees facing layoffs getting job-search help
Fairview Training Center in Salem is shrinking on schedule.The state's largest residential training center for persons with developmental disabilities from all over Oregon now has 138 residents, fewer than half the number who were there when a major downsizing started early in 1998. Fairview will close in 2000.
As residents move to small community-based group homes around the state, Fairview staffing also continues a steady decline, following a plan designed to maintain services and help departing employees find other work.
Since May 1998, 480 workers facing possible layoff have found other jobs or retired. Of those, 135 have found employment in group homes, and many are caring for the same people they worked with while at Fairview. Only nine employees have actually lost their jobs.
This week another 400 employees will receive six-month layoff notices. In June jobs will be phased out for another 186 who received similar notices in December 1998.
"We continue to work hard to avoid layoffs by helping employees find other opportunities or plan for retirement," says\"Fairview employees have done a fantastic job of continuing to provide high-quality care for residents during this difficult transition," Cooper says. "Some who have unique skills have even returned to do emergency work when needed."
An employee transition team has been working since 1997 to help employees with interviewing skills, resume writing, retirement counseling and to find resources or training for other jobs. Several state agencies agreed to give transitioning Fairview employees special consideration for job openings. A total of 203 employees have found jobs with various divisions of the state Department of Human Resources, including those who went to work in group homes.
Cooper says more than 900 employees remain at Fairview, a number that will drop to fewer than 150 by December. The transition team is asking employers with job openings to consider hiring Fairview employees. Employers with questions can call (503) 986-4881 for more information.The institution is on schedule to close early in 2000, following a national trend to move people with developmental disabilities from large institutions into community-based group homes that house five or fewer residents.
Department of Human Resources News Release: May 26, 1999
by John Cooper, Superintendent of Fairview