Lisa Buchanan has always had a career linked to helping others.

Along with that, she has a love of children.

Initially, that’s what drove her to The Hughes Center for Exceptional Children in Danville.

Now, 18 years later, she’s the chief executive officer of the psychiatric residential treatment program for those ages 10 to 22.

Once an orphanage that was established with an endowment from John E. Hughes after his death in 1922, it has changed over the years, but stayed true to its youth-centered mission.

“One thing that sticks out to me is that these are not ‘bad’ children,” Buchanan told the Register & Bee during an interview in her office Sept. 19, which just so happened to be exactly 18 years since The Hughes Center — as it’s known today — was established.

“They are the children w

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