Deschutes County commissioners approve added staff to assist rising number of intellectual and developmentally disabled

(Update: Adding video, comments from commissioners meeting)

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Deschutes County commissioners approved more staffing Wednesday to help the county's intellectually and developmentally disabled residents.

Since 2019 the program has seen more than a 30% increase in residents needing help. With that rising demand, there's also been a need for more funding. Nowm the state of Oregon is stepping in to help.

"The number of intellectual and developmental disability clients that the county is serving, expand dramatically in the last five years," Commissioner Phil Chang said Wednesday.

Deschutes County Commissioners approved using state money to hire three more staff for the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Program.

"This is an extremely important and vulnerable population within our community," Chang said.

In 2019, the program assisted 600 residents, and the number grew this year to more than 800, a nearly 33% increase in four years. 

"I'm really glad that the state has recognized our expanding I/DD population in Deschutes County and is offering us additional funds to support those those folks," Chang added.

The Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Program is funded through the state Department of Human Services, which is coming forward with additional funds to support more casework capacity. 

County I/DD Program Manager Paul Partridge said, "We work with families and individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities to to assess what their needs are, how they want their needs to be met."

 The state has awarded more than $5 million to Deschutes County this year, an increase of more than $900,000 from the original funding. 

The department is adding another full-time service coordinator and two more administrative support staff. 

Partridge added, "It allows our program to be able to continue to do that kind of work and keep caseloads at a manageable level, so we can have the kind of the kind of relationship between the service coordinator for case manager and the individual."

The program doesn't just help those in Deschutes County, also working with residents in Crook and Jefferson counties.