Commercial Truck Insurance in Warm Springs, GA

The state is closing a residential program in Warm Springs, Ga., that helps wayward boys and girls ages 12-18 get back on track.

The 33 full-time staff members and 10 hourly employees of the Warm Springs Outdoor Therapeutic Program were informed last week that the facility located off Highway 190 will close Aug. 31.

State officials say the 19 children in the program will be better served in settings closer to home. But critics of the decision say no such settings exist beyond this unique program, which has served 700 to 1,000 youth in its 30-year history. The program features an accredited school for grades 6-12, wilderness training for life skills and clinical sessions for counseling.

The Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities runs the program. It provides residential placement and services to youth with behavioral challenges who are in the custody of the Division of Family and Children Services and the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice. DFCS and DJJ pay DBHDD for the facility and services on a per diem basis.

Matt Carothers, the DBHDD's communications director, said in an email Monday that closing the program is consistent with the mission to "serve youth with behavioral challenges close to their own communities in settings that adequately serve their range of clinical needs."

Staff members in the program say they aren't allowed to speak to the media about this decision, but one agreed to speak to the Ledger-Enquirer to counter the state's decision.

Carothers listed the following additional factors that influenced the decision to close the program:

"For those children able to receive placement and other services from a non-secure, community based setting, it is important to provide those services in a facility as close to the child's home as possible," Carothers said. "In doing so, family involvement is promoted and school and social connections are better maintained."

The program staff member said the children who can't be placed in a private facility will end up back in a youth detention center if they are in the juvenile justice system or declared homeless as they live in a hotel paid for and supervised by DFCS.

The outdoor wilderness program isn't appropriate for youth who have a greater need for higher security and oversight, Carothers said.

The program staff member said there isn't any evidence of the program being dangerous.

The facility was at less than half of its capacity for most of fiscal year 2013. "This reduced population has resulted in significant operating losses," Carothers said.

The program staff member said the current enrollment of 19 is below half the capacity of 40 children because the state stopped making referrals June 25. A year ago, the enrollment was 33, and there was a waiting list as recently as this winter, the staff member said.

Carothers said he doesn't know the estimated amount of money closing the program would save the state. The staff member, however, said the program hasn't been a line item in the state budget for about seven years. The program's annual budget of about $2 million gets $300,000 from the DBHDD and the rest from the $164 per day for each child referred to by the DJJ and DFCS, the staff member said.

As recently as fiscal year 2011, the staff member said, the program was more than self-supporting and even returned $50,000 to the state, which then banned the program from accepting private-pay clients. This past fiscal year, the program ran a deficit of about $500,000 because of the reduced referrals, the staff member said.

The DBHDD "will work closely with local, regional and state-based agencies and private agencies to provide assistance to our employees' needs," Carothers said. "This support will include education preparation and testing, workforce training and more for all OTP employees who request help.

"DFCS and DJJ will ensure that the individual treatment needs of youth in the program are considered when determining their future services and treatment settings."

Tyler Jones, a former counselor and supervisor at the program, called the state shifting to community-based services "nonspeak for elimination of services."

"Residential facilities like OTP are being replaced with contract counseling centers to which parents bring their emotionally and behaviorally disturbed teens," said Jones, who worked for the program from 2009-12 and now is a journalist for an online newspaper in LaGrange. "What ends up happening is the vast majority don't show up for the appointments. Many parents don't have transportation, money or even control over their kids.

"Unlike community-based services, residential placements remove the youth from negative environments and peers."

This story was originally published August 5, 2013, 5:27 PM.

COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) – It has been nine months now that Warm Springs Road near Miller Road and Manchester Expressway has been closed off to through traffic. The road was shut down back in January after it was deemed a failed structure.

At that time, no temporary repairs could be made. The structure failed due to age and heavy rainfall.

The city began its process of investigating at the end of 2020. Since then they have been actively studying and surveying the area.

Businesses in the area say the time periods extended closure is bad for business. Owner, Willy Herold of Willy Herold Automotive says they get calls every day from customers who can’t get to them.

Herold says, “the economic impact for us is unmeasurable, the inconvenience for everyone having to come around and turn around and even everyone from the lake apartments it’s a big inconvenience.”

Willy Herold Automotive has 18 wheeler trucks that come through the area often. When these trucks are unable to pass through, they are forced to back down a two-lane road about half a mile.

Donna Newman is the Director of Engineering for the City of Columbus and she says, “This one was somewhat more complicated in that it was a studied mapped stream which meant that you had to work within the limits of the established flood plains.”

The city says adding a new structure around a body of water can have a large impact on surrounding properties. With the heavy rainfall that we have had this year, it has been difficult to get into the stream in order to do the proper investigations and surveys.

Residents and businesses in the area say they have not seen any progress in the last nine months and are wondering how long this will last.

Newman says, “Sometimes on a larger project, it can take as much as a year to get designed. Given the time of year and the weather extremes we had to deal with during this period, I think we’ve done fairly well on getting it designed to this point.”

This week preliminary designs were approved. Newman says the next step and a possible challenge they will face is getting the box covert. With the pandemic and the shortage of materials and workers, they expect the project to take an additional 8 to 12 months.

PHOENIX — Best Western Hotels & Resorts this week announced the opening of Aiden by Best Western @ Warm Springs Hotel and Event Center in the southern town of Warm Springs, Georgia. This is the brand’s third U.S. property to open since Best Western launched the boutique hotel concept in 2018.

“Aiden hotels offer travelers a unique stay experience in a modern and stylish environment,” said Brad LeBlanc, senior vice president and chief development officer for Best Western Hotels & Resorts. “Aiden is created to reflect the flair and vibrancy of the world around us, bringing together indulgent amenities and bold designs that deliver a reimagined travel experience, all at a great price. Warm Springs is steeped in southern tradition and nestled in Georgia’s rolling hills and freshwater springs, and this hotel perfectly embodies its remarkable surroundings.”

Each Aiden hotel has a multi-functional public area and abstract and sleek guestrooms with playful color palates and lush fabrics. The Aiden by Best Western @ Warm Springs Hotel and Event Center is a 50-acre mountain-top resort that marries the traditional rustic style of the town with modern décor and amenities. The custom-designed rooms have sliding barn doors and private patios overlooking views of the valley. The View, the hotel’s onsite signature bar, serves craft cocktails in the Grand Atrium. The property’s Grand Pavilion has 180-degree views of the valley and a fire pit.

“We are very excited to bring a bold boutique hotel to Warm Springs,” said Kathy Patel, owner of Aiden by Best Western @ Warm Springs Hotel and Event Center. “Joining the Aiden brand is truly an honor; Aiden is shaking up the hotel marketplace with its unique and guest-centric design. Our hotel brings a new lodging choice that is unlike anything else in the area, and we look forward to welcoming guests with our selection of modern amenities and exemplary service.”

Located in the pine mountain valley of Meriwether county, Aiden by Best Western @ Warm Springs Hotel and Event Center is one hour south of Atlanta. Nearby attractions include The Little White House, the personal retreat of Franklin D. Roosevelt; the F.D. Roosevelt State Park; the Wild Animal Safari and Full Circle Animal Sanctuary; the Great Wolf Lodge; Warm Springs Vineyard and Winery; Fitzgerald Fruit Farms; local restaurants; and hiking trails and waterfalls.

The Bulloch House has a well-earned reputation of delicious, down-home cooking that draws people to Warm Springs. The current owners, since 2009, are Peter and Sandy Lampert, and they’ve not only kept the business going strong, they’ve built upon it — or rather, the ashes of it.

The original Bulloch House was built in 1893 by Benjamin F. Bulloch, co-founder of the town of Bullochville. After the town changed its name to Warm Springs, the building held onto its original name and in 1990, it was renovated and turned into a restaurant.

Unfortunately, in June 2015, lightning stuck the original building, smoldered in the wiring and burnt the structure to the ground during the night.

“When it erupted, thankfully, no one was in the building,” Sandy said. “It was so old, that it was like fat lighter [kindling]. The fire department tried to enter but had to rush out because the fire was taking hold so quickly and completely. It took less than 10 minutes for the old part of the building to burn down completely. The sky was glowing, and the flames were higher than the trees.”

The Lamperts had planned to rebuild on the same spot but found that the cost was prohibitive. They thought about moving the restaurant to another town.

“After the fire, we considered a move to Hampton or Columbus,” Peter said. “But in the end, we felt that Bulloch House belongs to Warm Springs.”

They located a building on Broad Street that could be renovated, and after some negotiation, the owner agreed to lease it to the Lamperts while the insurance claim was being processed. Renovations got underway and the Bulloch House reopened on Dec. 1, 2015.

The spacious two-story restaurant has an elegant feel with high windows and white chandeliers. The walls are decorated with black-and-white photos of local history, and the menu, which changes weekly, features favorites like fried chicken, baked ham and catfish. There are also fried green tomatoes, collards, homemade biscuits and cornbread. Dessert includes six-layer chocolate cake, old fashioned pecan pie and banana pudding.

“A lot of people like this location better,” Peter said. “The parking can be a bit of a challenge, but it’s easier to find and it’s surrounded by shops.”

One of those shops is the Lampert’s own Fireflies Gift Boutique, just a few doors down. Shoppers delight in a wide selection of women’s jewelry and baby gifts as well as collegiate gear and must-have housewares.

The name of the shop has special meaning for Sandy and goes back to the fateful night of the fire. “We got the phone call in the middle of the night, and my husband rushed right over. He called me crying, ‘It’s gone…it’s all gone!’”

When she got there, Sandy watched the embers burning and floating up into the trees. “To me, they looked fireflies, what we call lightning bugs,” she said.

The original restaurant had a gift shop attached to it, and the shop also suffered from the fire. “When we reopened our gift shop in this new location, it just made sense to name it Fireflies,” Sandy said.

Recently, the Lamperts have added a bakery/cafe behind the gift boutique, offering coffee, fudge and cookies as well as specialty cakes and pies, all baked on premises. And they’ve named it Lightnin’ Bugs.

For more about the Bulloch House, 70 Broad Street in Warm Springs, visit bullochhouse.com.

–Kathy Dean

Editor’s Note: This story is part of Head for the Hills, our annual special section about Georgia vacation spots and properties.

The Roosevelt Warm Springs Foundation has awarded a $62,000 grant to Roosevelt Warm Springs Rehabilitation and Specialty Hospitals to refurbish a historic cottage and purchase special equipment for swallowing studies in patients. The grant comes on the heels of a visit from Dr. Matt Roosevelt, a RWS Foundation board member and the great-grandson of FDR, who founded the Warm Springs campus.

“As a hospitalist with Kaiser Permanente in San Diego, Dr. Roosevelt was very interested in the medical education opportunities we offer at Warm Springs through our affiliation with Augusta University,” said Roosevelt Warm Springs Hospitals CEO David Mork. “Of course he also wanted to see how the legacy of his great-grandfather was continuing through our work.”

The $62,108 grant – the largest donation given to RWSH since AU Health assumed operations about five years ago – will go toward upgrading the Physio Cottage in order to provide accommodations for 10 additional students. More than 85 students from the Augusta University College of Nursing, Medical College of Georgia and College of Allied Health Sciences participate in long-term acute care and rehabilitation training each year at Warm Springs.

The money will also be used to purchase a new Fiberoptic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing system to assess swallowing in patients, many of whom have difficulty in swallowing following a trauma, stroke, or other injuries.

“Because a FEES study can be done at the bedside in under 20 minutes without the use of radiation, it is revolutionizing dysphagia diagnostics in a way that positively impacts our patients and families at Warm Springs,” Mork said. “We are extremely thankful for the generosity of the Roosevelt Warm Springs Foundation, and we hope this is just the beginning of what we can do together.”

For more than eight decades, the highly skilled clinical teams at Roosevelt Warm Springs Rehabilitation and Specialty Hospitals have provided comprehensive, individualized care and medical rehabilitation for patients, enabling them to return to the most independent lifestyles possible in their homes and communities.

As many as 340 patients undergo rehabilitation in Warm Springs each year for conditions that include stroke, brain and spinal cord injuries and neuromuscular diseases. About 160 patients are admitted for long-term acute care – comparable to an ICU level of care – for needs such as being weaned from a ventilator, compound illnesses involving the respiratory and/or cardiovascular system, infectious diseases, or complex wounds.

Augusta University assumed management of the rehabilitation and acute-care services at Roosevelt Warm Springs in 2013, and in 2014, a new private hospital was created as part of the AU Health System.

Georgia Vocational Rehabilitation Agency shares space on the same campus where it operates the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation; but the agency is operated independently of the hospitals.

AU Health recently finished $25.8 million in capital improvements, completely transforming the long-term acute care and rehabilitation wings into a modern, patient-centric environment. The renovations included relocating the main entrance to the front of the hospital for more convenient access and greater visibility.

“We have been good stewards of the history at Roosevelt Warm Springs, restoring much of the facility’s original glory, while also dramatically improving infrastructure, technology, and amenities to ensure we give our patients advanced, quality care,” Mork said. “This grant will enable us to further our mission here.”

AU HealthAU Health AdvantageCollege of Allied Health SciencesCollege of NursingDavid MorkFranklin D. RooseveltGeorgia's Healthcare ProvidersGivinglong-term acute careMatt RooseveltMedical College of GeorgiaRehabilitation ServicesRoosevelt Warm Springs