Welcome to Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center

The Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center is the first state-owned and operated comprehensive rehabilitation center in the country. Staff at WWRC provide training and therapy to people with disabilities to enable them to re-enter the work force and live more independently. The Center is named for President Woodrow Wilson, born in nearby Staunton, Virginia and who signed into law the first federal Vocational Rehabilitation Act in 1920, providing services for people with disabilities in industry.

Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center does not discriminate against employees, students, or applicants on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, disability, age, veteran status, national origin, religion, or political affiliation. Anyone having questions concerning discrimination or accessibility should contact the Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Office, Fishersville, Virginia 22939-1500, (800) 345-WWRC.

Welcome to the Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center Web Site!

It is my distinct honor and privilege to welcome you to Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center’s (WWRC) website. We hope you will find the information about the various programs and services we offer at WWRC to be helpful. The Center provides vocational training and medical interventions for people with disabilities to assist them in obtaining employment and to live more independently. In the more than two decades that I have been a part of the staff at the Center, I have been blessed to witness many extraordinary stories of our clients. In many instances, they overcome significant obstacles and go on to achieve astounding accomplishments in their personal and professional lives. WWRC exists to provide the skills and supports necessary to enable these people to accomplish greater independence and achieve competitive employment.

For sixty years, WWRC has been making a difference in people’s lives. We enjoy a strong heritage of service to people with disabilities in the Commonwealth of Virginia dating back to 1947 when our first clients were admitted. Since that time the Center has served more than 70,000 clients.

The Center is very closely connected to the Virginia Department of Rehabilitative Services and most notably it’s Field Rehabilitation Services (FRS) Division. The partnership between WWRC and FRS places the highest priority on helping consumers develop, pursue and complete a "Roadmap for Success." Ultimately, the Center and FRS view themselves as integral components of the Agency’s approach to teamwork with a focus on client’s successes. Along with our Agency partners and through involving people with disabilities, community agencies and related programs, the Center provides opportunities for a brighter, more productive, higher quality of life for consumers. The Center assists people with disabilities as they transition to higher levels of productivity and independence. We have four major focus or specialty areas in which we strive to excel. These include services for YOUTH IN TRANSITION, which involve a wide array of offerings for youth who are in transition from secondary school to higher education, employment and independent living; NEURO-REHABILITATION SERVICES for persons with neurotrauma, especially spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury, transition to higher levels of functioning in living, working and relationships; ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY SERVICES to provide assistive technology support services to aid persons with disabilities transition thru the application of state of the art advances in scientific development in areas such as mobility, sensory awareness and communication; and finally, COMPREHENSIVE EVALUATION AND ASSESSMENT SERVICES, which provide a roadmap for individual medical and vocational service needs in support of optimal independence and employment outcomes.

What makes WWRC a comprehensive rehabilitation center is the mix of the services and programs that it offers to people with disabilities. It is through the unique combination of vocational, medical, psychological, residential, and recreational programs and services and the interaction between the staff and the consumer that makes WWRC comprehensive. The total combination is greater than the sum of its parts and the mutual creativity, energy and accomplishments through working together are unsurpassed.

Is WWRC right for you or your family member with a disability? I invite you to find out by exploring this web site, talking with a Department of Rehabilitation Services Field Rehabilitation Counselor or calling our toll free number to arrange for a visit and a tour.

I look forward to hearing from you and seeing you soon at WWRC!

Sincerely,

Richard L. Sizemore
Director, WWRC

The Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center (WWRC), a division of the Virginia Department of Rehabilitative Services, provides a full compliment of medical, technological, and vocational rehabilitative services to persons with disabilities. It is one of the largest and most comprehensive centers of its kind in the United States.

This Center has a 50-year history of assisting persons with disabilities, and has been a constant resource for research and innovation in the field of rehabilitation. It was the first to offer computer programmer training in the nation; it was the site of the first residential Center for Independent Living in Virginia; it established the first head trauma program in Virginia; it was among the first four original Spinal Cord Injury Systems in the nation; and it offered the first computer-assisted drafting training anywhere in Virginia.

I am extremely proud of WWRC and remain committed to providing quality, state-of-the-art rehabilitative services to assist persons with disabilities toward becoming employed and independent. Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center is proud of its history and looks forward to meeting the challenging needs of persons with disabilities in the future.

With our new and emerging emphasis on Transition for our youth with disabilities and increased successes in finding solutions to students with significant disabilities problems through the application of Assistive Technology, WWRC is ready for the future. A painful but requisite renewal process and reorganization also positions us for assuming an even larger role as the Premier Rehabilitation Community Serving People with Disabilities.

I am confident your experience with the Center will be meaningful, productive and life changing and affirming.

Commissioner, James Rothrock

Vision, Mission Statement, & Shared Values (PDF - 1085KB)

A Community of Service Excellence in Medical and Vocational Rehabilitation for People with Disabilities.

Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center provides people with disabilities comprehensive, individualized services to realize optimal personal independence and employment.

Ethical

We are committed to professional standards, good stewardship of resources, full accountability and the well being and dignity of others.

Engaged

We are committed to an organizational environment that values individual contributions and involvement in informative communication, problem-solving, planning and leadership.

Effective

We are committed to providing services that result in meaningful and measurable outcomes through objective assessment of performance and on-going process improvement.