O'Berry Neuro-Medical Center

Director: Deborah Exum
400 Old Smithfield Road
Goldsboro, NC 27530
Phone: (919) 581-4000 Fax: (919) 581-4038

In 1943, Governor Joseph Broughton appointed a commission to study the "condition, care, treatment and training" of black mentally retarded citizens at Cherry Hospital (then referred to as "Goldsboro State Hospital"). "Goldsboro Training School" (O'Berry Center) opened in 1957 as the first institution for black mentally retarded citizens with 150 mentally retarded clients transferred from psychiatric services at Cherry Hospital. The treatment philosophy then was limited to academic/vocational training for mildly retarded. In 1966, O'Berry Center and other state mental retardation facilities desegregated in response to 1964 Civil Rights Act, reducing O'Berry's service region from 100 to 23 counties. Today, approximately 430 clients from the South Central Region are treated. The treatment philosophy is to assist clients with independence in self-help skills with vocational programs with an emphasis on real work skills instead of "make" work.