Desert Regional Center ICF seeks more supervisors as families cite turnover, training and transparency problems

ADSD officials told the Joint Subcommittee on Human Services that Desert Regional Center’s (DRC) intermediate care facility (ICF) needs additional supervisory staff to improve oversight and training. The agency requested converting five part-time developmental support technician 4 (DST4) supervisor roles into full-time positions and adding five new DST4 roles to reduce current supervisory spans.

Why it matters: ADSD presented the staffing change as a quality- and safety-focused measure to move from a model where five supervisors covered 10 homes toward one supervisor per home. ADSD said the change will improve onsite supervision, staff training and direct support quality in a 24-hour facility setting.

Jessica Adams, ADSD deputy administrator, told the committee that the legislature’s prior pay increase for developmental support technicians reduced vacancies at the ICF; she said the facility currently has relatively low vacancy rates for DST staff but continues to rely on overtime to meet high-intensity staffing needs. Adams said overtime remains necessary because residents’ needs sometimes require more staff than the facility’s original design envisioned.

Dina Schmidt and other agency managers confirmed that the state ICF currently houses about 40 residents in 11 homes and that capital projects will restore capacity to 48 beds after pending renovations. ADSD told the committee it does not license or oversee private ICF providers; that role belongs to the state’s health-care licensure body. The agency reported there are three private ICF providers in Nevada.

During public comment, Denise Robinson — a guardian of a DRC resident — told the committee she visits weekly and described staff turnover, inconsistent training, weak incident documentation and instances of inadequate supervision. “I have to beg for things. Things like incident reports, documentation, data, asking questions about how my son is doing,” Robinson said. She urged the committee to require supervisors on every shift and called for independent audits of care and documentation.

ADSD said it will pursue the staffing changes and noted planned capital improvements tied to other projects (including a forensic hospital project) will reconfigure some campus buildings but are not part of the Campus for Hope project. The division told legislators it expects to maintain the ICF’s 48‑bed capacity even with the planned demolitions and rebuilds.

Ending note: Legislators asked ADSD to provide additional information about overtime trends, vacancy rates over time and comparisons between state-operated and private ICF costs. Family members urged further oversight and better documentation of incidents and training.