United Cerebral Palsy Opens Doors in Fayetteville

United Cerebral Palsy of Arkansas opened its Northwest Regional Office in Fayetteville on July 25 in a 1,500 SF office at 1792 Joyce Blvd.

Supported by a budget of $8 million, United Cerebral Palsy serves 40 families throughout Northwest Arkansas and helps individuals with disabilities such as epilepsy, Down’s Syndrome and developmental delays.

Peggy McCall, community development specialist, said the Northwest office was opened at the request of UCP clients and having a local office makes it much easier to monitor clients.

Larry Stang, regional director for the Northwest office, said he expects UCP’s existing Northwest Arkansas client base to increase as the population increases, especially with its childcare services. But he is quick to point out that UCP doesn’t want to duplicate services already provided by other local organizations. He also doesn’t want to become too large, something he thinks has been a mistake with other programs. Rather, Stang wants to “conduct business like family,” he said.

McCall said UCP focuses on making their 44 clients as independent as possible.

The waiver program accomplishes this by providing a caregiver who helps teach and then assist the individual in completing certain tasks. Once a client masters a skill, the caregiver stops assisting them in the skill. McCall said this helps make the client more independent.