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The Morton J. Kent Habilitation Center is the only local facility to boast having a one-of-a-kind, innovative facility that serves a population with special needs. To locate another habilitation center, you must research the Internet or contact out-of-town sources, because it is the only one of its kind in Chattanooga.
For 15 years, the center, which calls Orange Grove Center home, provides a full spectrum of services for people with complex intellectual and developmental disabilities. It opened in 1993, at a cost of $1.63 million.
 The 25,000 square foot facility is named after long-time board member and center advocate, Morton J. Kent. Kent (pictured at left) is a local businessman and World War II Signal Corps veteran, who has been an influential figure in everything from helping to secure major funding requests, to assisting in bringing the development of the plans for the present day facility to fruition.
In turn, Kent selected Dr. Rick Rader (right), an internationally-renown specialist in internal medicine and medical anthropology, to direct the facility. Rader is Editor-in-Chief of Exceptional Parent Magazine, with accolades to include his numerous appointments, awards  and memberships in the field of medicine. His roster also includes ongoing stints as an author, professor, consultant, lecturer, and special liaison, among others. Rader has the distinction of being one of only 150 physicians to be inducted into the National Academy of Practice in Medicine, as Distinguished Practitioner.
 As director, he has instituted programs to foster better doctor-patient communication, and is responsible for the diagnosing, treating and planning for the health care needs of individuals aging with developmental disabilities. He is considered a medical futurist, predicting the future medical issues of aging individuals with neurodevelopmental disabilities, such as autism, cerebral palsy, mental retardation, and learning and language disorders.
Soon, the center will embark on and spearhead an autism initiative, in which Rader and administrators with other local agencies partner to research and review exemplary programs nationally, and to make diagnoses for appropriate education to vocational placement, social relationships and independent living of persons with developmental disabilities.
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