|
Dr. James R. Finch, Deputy Director of the Tennessee Division of Intellectual Disabilities Services (DIDS), and his staff stopped by Orange Grove Center, where they met with administrators, toured the facility, and interacted with board members, parents and individuals served by the center. They visited the center while on schedule to visit similar facilities throughout the state.
Following their visit, the officials made two requests that demonstrate the stature and respect that Orange Grove has in the field of providing community services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. They include:
- A request by Debbie Payne, Assistant Commissioner for Community Services, who asked that Dr. Rick Rader provide leadership and training of end of life counseling and programming for the state (DIDS). Dr. Rader is Director of the Morton J. Kent Habilitation Center at Orange Grove, and is an international, highly sought-after expert in the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities.
- A request by Dr. Finch to Orange Grove executive director, Kyle Hauth, that Dr. Rader is available for consulting in health care and related affairs to the Greene Valley Development Center in Greenville, TN, as well as mentoring medical educators in the field of developmental health care in a novel partnership between DIDS and the East Tennessee State University College of Medicine.
Dr. Finch was complimentary about some of the sophisticated and highly technological installation at Orange Grove (i.e. sensory enrichment rooms, computer-client interfaces). The novel dental clinic most impressed him, with the staff-client interactions that he not only predicted occurred thousands of times a day at the center, but at Orange Grove sites throughout the community.
Assistant Commissioner Payne was most impressed with sensory integration programs, which Orange Grove has distinguished itself and has been a regional training center over the years. These programs allow the brain to process and interpret information through the utilization of the senses - touch, movement, body awareness, sight and sound.
|
