ADRS holds open house in renovate facility

Published 7:04 pm Wednesday, November 30, 2016

A year ago the Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services (ADRS) center in Selma moved to a new location on Alabama Avenue. On Tuesday, the center finally got to celebrate the move by hosting an open house to show off the new facilities.

The building, which houses the Children’s Rehabilitation Service and Vocational Rehabilitation Service, is 12,644 square feet and was once the headquarters for Talton Communications. It now helps provide rehabilitation services to children and adults.

Melvina Moss, the Children’s Rehabilitation Service office coordinator, said the building is almost unrecognizable from what it looked like when they chose to renovate it.

Email newsletter signup

“It was a big, tremendous change. When we first came to the building, we just knew that this building was for us,” Moss said. “We just felt like this is unreal. This is for us. It just came to fruition without any problems.”

Moss said they have been in the building for nearly a year, but they are happy to finally get the chance to show it off to people that have not seen it yet.

The newly renovated facility will allow the ADRS to serve more people in Dallas and the surrounding counties.

“We have more space here,” Moss said. “And with anything that is going to be viable, there has to be change and growth, and we have seen a growth in services for children with special healthcare needs. So the extra space that we have, we will be able to provide better caring services for our clients.”

Moss said it means a lot to the staff to have a new place to provide the services they offer, but it means even more to the center’s clients and their families.

“Just to see their faces light up when they come in, our clients, the parents, the families, when they come in and look at the building, it really does a lot to us,” Moss said. “It is a great feeling and a very happy feeling.”

Melinda Davis, assistant commissioner for Children’s Rehabilitation Service, said it means a lot to have a new facility, and she hopes more people are referred there to take advantage of the services the center offers.

“I can’t really begin to tell you how much it means to bring our families to the same kind of place that most of us would want to take our own children. That really, really means a lot,” she said. “We want you to refer families to us in Selma. When you see families that you think we might be able to serve, then let them know about us. We want to serve and help the families in Selma and the surrounding counties.”

Jane Elizabeth Burdeshawm commissioner of the Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services, said the facility will keep families from having to travel to other cities.

“We need to provide everything that we can provide to support these folks right here, and we can do it together. We can work in this rural community for services and medical supplies and medical needs to be met right here,” she said. “We don’t want these families having to go to another city to get what they need. They need it right here, and we can do that in a wonderful facility right here in Selma, Alabama.”

The CRS side of the building features a new audiology booth, a modern exam and interview room, a parent resource area and a covered rear entrance to keep clients out of the weather. The VRS side has a new conference room as well as new office spaces.

Laura Shoulders, who has a nine-year-old daughter with Cerebral Palsy, thanked the staff for everything they have done for her daughter.

“I want to say thank you to the CR staff that’s here. Nine years ago I was given a daughter with CP (cerebral palsy) and didn’t know what to do,” she said. “When I started I was petrified, terrified, everything, but the staff told me don’t worry. Since then, they have been taking care of me, and I really appreciate it.”