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Center for developmentally disabled adults is a ‘family’

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Dawn Trask, Program Coordinator at the Creative Learning Workshop, waits for news at the Leffel Lane facility in Springfield after a bus carrying eight clients and two staffers was struck by a tanker truck on I-70, leaving four reported dead by the Ohio Highway Patrol. The center, which provides vocational and rehabilitation services for adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities, sent two bus loads of clients home early because of the inclement weather.

Barbara J. Perenic Dawn Trask, Program Coordinator at the Creative Learning Workshop, waits for news at the Leffel Lane facility in Springfield after a bus carrying eight clients and two staffers was struck by a tanker truck on I-70, leaving four reported dead by the Ohio Highway Patrol. The center, which provides vocational and rehabilitation services for adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities, sent two bus loads of clients home early because of the inclement weather.

By Bridgette Outten, Staff Writer Updated 8:47 PM Thursday, January 7, 2010

SPRINGFIELD — Dawn Trask sat by the phone in the empty Creative Learning Workshop, Thursday, Jan. 7, fighting back tears as she willed the phone to ring.

The program coordinator at the workshop located at 205 East Leffel Lane, stayed behind as other staff members rushed to local hospitals after hearing the news that one of the workshop’s vans, carrying eight clients and two staff members, collided with a tanker truck on icy Interstate 70.

Four people — the bus driver and three clients — died in the crash and six others suffered injuries.

The center sent two bus loads of clients home early because of the inclement weather; Trask doesn’t know how many people were on the other van, but she believes it made it safely to its destination.

She waited for more news from center administrators. But as calls flooded in — from the media and concerned family members of workshop clients — there was no new information offered about the accident victims.

About 10 employees were at work at the workshop Thursday and some went to the scene of the accident while others went to Springfield Regional Medical Center High Street campus, where it was confirmed four victims were taken.

“I don’t know anything,” Trask said, tears streaming down her face. “All I know is that someone called and said they saw our van (at the crash site).”

The CLW has been opened since June 2008. It serves clients with developmental disabilities, providing social and life skills, according to a brochure.

Jennifer Rousculp, Clark County Board of Developmental Disabilities Superintendent, said the workshop’s clients were previously served by QUEST, the county’s adult service center.

“All the people they serve were individuals who have been served at QUEST,” Rousculp said. “We have a lot of staff people here who know (the victims).”

The staff and clients at the workshop are a family, Trask said.

“We’re real close,” she added, fresh tears brimming. “This is our family.”

The president of Creative Learning Workshop, Caren Painter, asked for respect for the organization’s privacy at this time.

“Creative Learning Workshop has suffered a tremendous tragedy involving loss of life and injuries to some of our Springfield family,” she wrote in an e-mail. “We are devastated by this terrible accident and our thoughts and prayers go out to all friends and family of those involved.”

Creative Learning is based in the city of Warren and operates eight facilities throughout the state, according to its Web site. The company offers day program services, focusing on habilitation and vocational services like social skills training, daily living activities and sensory stimulations, for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0374 or boutten@coxohio.com.

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