MEXICO — The Hope Association has moved several of their clients into a new home on Highland Terrace in Mexico, replacing the old residence on Maple Street in Rumford, executive director Catherine Johnson said Monday.

The new home, located at 91 Highland Terrace, helps teach residents with intellectual disabilities how to live more independent and healthy lives.

Johnson said that the Hope Association “began the thought process” for a new home in 2007 and began fundraising the same year.

“Unfortunately, due to some bureaucracy, some changes in state funding and residential regulations, there was an impact on our ability to move forward as quickly as we had hoped,” Johnson said.

“Our idea was to give these residents a home where they can access all the things we can access in order to learn and do things for themselves,” Johnson said. “At the old Maple Street building, when our clients reached a certain age and needed a wheelchair or walker to move around, they would be moved into a new facility. This new residence at Highland Terrace allows individuals to age in their own home.”

In a previous interview, Johnson said that the old home on Maple Street had uneven floors, sections that were not wheelchair accessible and bedrooms that were upstairs, which made it difficult for people with mobility issues to climb up and down, and that the new home remedied those problems.

Johnson added that the new residence will give the residents the opportunity to cook their own food in a kitchen, do their own laundry and utilize a sitting room to socialize with friends and family.

“There was a time when there was no independent spaces for residents to take their company except for their own bedroom,” Johnson said. “Now, there’s a sitting room where residents can interact with their company that isn’t just their bedroom.”

Johnson said that there will be staff support at the home to help the clients with their daily living skills.

The architect for the building was William Hamilton. The contractor was Jerry Morin of Morin Enterprises in Lewiston.

Hope Association is a nonprofit organization that works closely with parents, guardians and the Dept. of Health and Human Services to provide quality services to a varied population with a variety of abilities. They provide services to individuals in the Oxford, Franklin and Androscoggin counties.

mdaigle@sunjournal.com

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