User:Bddpaux/Texas woman celebrates 40 years in state public service

August 26, 2012

August 16, 2012

Linda Hinshaw celebrates 40 years of service to the people of Texas this month. She is the director of the. In an era where employee longevity is often measured in months instead of years, this milestone is significant. She began her career in civil service as an RN Supervisor at a home located on the center's campus.

Four decades ago, such institutions were called state schools in Texas, and were often severely over-crowded. As Linda pointed out, "When I started the care provided was primarily custodial in nature. We were just beginning to provide what we now call “active treatment.” Of course, so many more people lived on campus it was hard to do much more than that. There were over 2,000 people living here at that time. The homes were very crowded and we did not have the number of staff that we have today."