July 1, 2016:

An excerpt from a conversation with North Bay Regional Center Director Bob Hamilton:

From the day they learned that Sonoma Developmental Center (SDC) was to be shuttered, the parents and loved ones of those who live there have been anguished over what will happen to their charges. They have made it abundantly clear that they do not expect SDC residents to receive the same level of care they have enjoyed at the 125-year-old institution situated on a thousand acres of lush Sonoma countryside outside of Glen Ellen.

“Some people think we are the devil,” Bob Hamilton said, smiling but semi-serious. Hamilton is executive director of the North Bay Regional Center, one of California’s 21 privately run regional centers responsible for administering care to the vast majority of developmentally disabled people in the state.

Hamilton, a Kenwood resident for many years, is past retirement age but continues to put in well over 40 hours a week doing his job, which he is passionate about.

“This is a joy, a labor of love. I would not do it otherwise.”

Read more at the link below.

Regional Centers will take over from SDC

Provided courtesy of The Kenwood Press, by Jay Gamel.