Article From The Logan Daily News

Posted: Friday, December 16, 2011 3:20 am

By ROCHELLE HAWK Logan Daily News Editor rhawk@logandaily.com

LOGAN — David Couch has the good fortune of being centrally located to his last two jobs — and the one he starts Jan. 1. And he’s pleased his new job will be that of Hocking County Developmental Disabilities Superintendent.

A resident of Morgan County, he first served as the superintendent there; and he most recently has filled that role for Perry County from 2007 to present, before agreeing to work for Hocking. At each of these positions, he’s lived 30 minutes from work without having to relocate. That’s something he appreciates because it means not having to relocate his school-age children.

Hocking’s last superintendent was Ben Hollinger who left a year ago for the same position in Scioto County. Since then, Sarah Winters has served as Hocking’s interim superintendent, and that’s something that’s worked out for Couch as well.

“I’ve been following her,” Couch said with a smile. “She was superintendent in Perry and she retired at the end of ‘06, and I followed her into that job. Now, I’m glad to have the opportunity to follow her again, this time to Hocking County.”

Couch’s experience as a DD superintendent in other counties gives him a basis for taking on his new role.

“The biggest thing I bring from my past experience is how to deal with the finances, especially the Medicaid funding side of it. When I first got into the DD field, it was first coming into the system. I’ve been around while it’s developed. So I bring a knowledge of how to make it reliable and sustainable, how you manage that; it’s pretty complex.

“It’s also knowing how to work in smaller, rural counties. I’m not from a big city. I really like rural Southeast Ohio. I’m comfortable here and feel like I can understand how people look at things.

“I can’t say that I’m an expert at it. The Hocking Board of DD is great and I worked with Ben [Hollinger] when he was here and worked with Sarah [Winters]. I’m not coming in with idea that we’ve got to do this and this. I’m not coming in with any preconceived ideas that we need to make changes. There already are good people working here. I would hope that we would be able to work from the perspective of ‘take what we do well, and do it better.’ “

While Couch isn’t coming into the job with ideas for implementing change, he does believe the role of DD itself continues to evolve.

“One of he big changes our system is going through is the needs of the people we serve are changing. When DD boards were first established people were looking for services to help them get through the day, basics. Now, families are looking for some more broader kinds of things. They want to get a job. Or it’s a parent asking: how can my son or daughter be more independent, and like any 18 year old, move out of the house? Over a generation, this changed.”

He also noted, “A huge challenge to our system is the interface with the legal system. A number [of clients] in Perry are getting into the legal system. The legal system says they want to incorporate some DD services; we’re having to learn some new things. Some DD clients are involved in the legal system because they are taken advantage of or they are not understanding consequences. How do we support these individuals and help them be productive, responsible citizens?”

Couch, 54, is a native of Indiana, but moved with his family to Ohio and finished high school in this state. His wife is a native of Morgan County, and so that’s where they settled to raise their family of five children. Two of his brood are in high school, one is in college and the eldest two are out in the world.

Hocking’s soon-to-be superintendent didn’t set out to make the area of developmental disabilities his career path. He began with an interest in Christian ministry; however, the church also was his first exposure to someone with a developmental disability.

“My father was a minister and he was serving a church in Western Indiana,” recalled Couch. “I was 8 or 9, and there was a young man in a wheelchair with a disability. My mother said to his mother, ‘Bring him to stay with David for a day.’ That was the first time anyone had offered to give them a break, the woman later said. The boy went to school with us, so I knew him. That was my introduction to DD with out realizing it.

“A few years later, my dad drove a bus for the DD program in Darke County [Ohio]. So I had some introduction [at an early age].

“I found out years later that my mother had a brother who had died who’d had Down [syndrome],” he added.

Couch graduated from Johnson Bible College in Knoxville, Tenn., in 1979 with bachelor of arts in bible studies, and earned a master of arts in church history from Cincinnati Christian Seminary in 1986.

Following graduation, he and his wife move to Ghana, teaching at Ghana Christian College and Seminary (now Ghana Christian University). David became the college’s first academic dean. The family returned to the United States in 1988.

Back stateside, Couch served as a minister for Bishopville Church of Christ in Glouster, Ohio. During the same time, he was a probation officer for Morgan County Juvenile Court.

“Living in Glouster, I had worked with the DD Board through the juvenile court. A woman with whom I worked called up and said, ‘This would be the right job for you,’ when she learned there was an opening for a habilitation manager. She convinced the superintendent that I was the right person for the job,” explained Couch.

So while working in the role of habilitation manager, Couch completed undergraduate classes for MRDD certification at Washington State Community College in Marietta. Later, he became program manager, and eventually, superintendent.

“The background and that opportunity came together to get me into that field. We also have a son with a disability. He’s 28 years old and is hearing impaired and has some slight physical disability. It doesn’t slow him down. He graduated from college, and he spent time in Ghana, returning to where he was born. Last summer, he worked on a dude ranch in Colorado. At the end of October, he and his sister climbed Mount Kilimanjaro.”

Couch says of starting in Hocking County, “I wanted to come in, get to know clients and families, and see what they need. Every county is different. I’ve learned that. There are a lot of similarities, but each county a has a different approach depending on resources and needs. Hopefully, we can arrive at some really good common goals.”

Anyone in the community, including those who are not associated with DD services, is invited to meet David Couch in January after he gets settled in to his new position. An open house for Couch takes place on Jan. 26 from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Hocking County DD offices, 1369 E. Front St., Logan.