Kansas Hospitals For The Developmentally Disabled Won't Close

Topeka, Kan. – Kansas Governor Mark Parkinson won't shut down a state hospital for the developmentally disabled in Topeka - for now.

But Parkinson said the state will begin moving patients from the Kansas Neurological Institute in Topeka and the Parsons State Hospital and Training Center into community programs.

The governor says the lower populations could lead to the closing of either hospital in three or four years.

A governor's commission had recommended closing KNI and transferring some patients to Parsons and moving others into community programs.

State officials believe 49 of KNI's 158 patients and 62 of the 191 at the Parsons hospital could move into community programs.