Thanks to so many of you, we are really making progress on our capital campaign. We are now half way toward our goal of $4.7 million dollars and we have already begun utilizing these funds to improve our operation and services. We have obtained much needed equipment to our health and dental clinics and the new building at the recycling center is now almost complete. The new recycling building ensures that product coming into the facility is now kept dry and out of the elements until proper sorting can take place. The appearance of the yard is improving and additional indoor space is being made available for our workers. There will be even more obvious changes taking place in the next few months which will create notable benefits to the people we serve. We will be changing lives for the better and your gift has made all of this possible. Please continue to tell others why Orange Grove is such a good investment and point them in our direction. There are still opportunities to contribute to our campaign and every gift will be highly prized.

Please consider buying a $5.00 ticket to the Kiwanis Duck Race and chance winning $2,000.00 in cash (first place prize) or $1,000.00 in cash (second place prize) or $500.00 (third place prize). The proceeds from the Kiwanis Duck Race is earmarked for the Orange Grove Center as a method of supporting our capital campaign. Buying a ticket is as easy as making three clicks on your computer or just picking up the phone and calling Orange Grove. If you would like to obtain your ticket on line, just go to our website and following the links. You may click directly on the purchase page by going to www.orangegrovecenter.org/www/docs/158. If you prefer to call Orange Grove and have us obtain a ticket for you, we can do that and work out the payment arrangements. Keep in mind that anyone over 18 can purchase these tickets. They are not like our previous ticket sells where staff members were excluded. They are open to anyone associated with Orange Grove, so please spread the word that this fun and exciting method of supporting Orange Grove is now available.

Progress is underway for Dr. Cheetham to be practicing as our licensed Medical Director by July 1^st. He is waiting for his Tennessee license to be approved and for the various managed care organizations to approve him for billable services. In the meantime, he is taking full advantage of the next few weeks to get to know all of the people we serve and their families. He is visiting homes, classrooms, work locations and making every opportunity to become acquainted with the wonderful people who make up the Orange Grove family. If you missed his reception or if you just want to talk with him further, do not hesitate to contact his direct line and arrange a time to meet with him. His direct line is 493-2932.

Please mark your calendar for the July 22nd parent meeting (7:00 p.m.). We will meet in the Habilitation Center Training Room, where we usually meet. I will provide additional reminders of this meeting before July 22nd, but please mark your calendar now and plan to join us.

To: All OGC Families, Staff and Volunteers
From: Kyle Hauth, Executive Director
Subject: OGC Update
Date: May 15, 2008

The wait is finally over. Dr. Tom Cheetham is officially at Orange Grove. We will have a reception for him on Thursday, May 22, from 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. in the Training Room. This will be a great opportunity for you to meet Dr. Cheetham and for him to get to know you as well. Please plan on dropping by on the 22nd and join us in officially welcoming Dr. Cheetham to the Orange Grove family.  It has certainly been a long and arduous process in bringing this top physician in developmental medicine to Chattanooga to serve as our Medical Director, but it will undoubtedly prove well worth the effort.  We are so excited about Dr. Cheetham joining our team of medical professionals and becoming an integral element of the OGC Augustus McCravey Health Clinic. It has certainly been a long wait for all of us, but I can assure you that he is worth the wait. Dr. Cheetham is undeniably an internationally renowned physician, advocate, researcher, and teacher who has extensive experience in the field of developmental disabilities. He is a hands-on physician who is up-to-date on all of the latest medical advances in our field. He has written numerous publications and taught extensively regarding the provision of best medical practices in our field. His first love is treating patients and is dedicated to providing the highest level of care for the people we serve.

I am pleased to announce that the Intermediate Care Facilities for people with mental retardation (ICF/MR) administered by Orange Grove will permanently remain under the direction of Bev Witt. Bev will serve as Director for both Therapy Services and ICF/MR Services. As you may recall, she began serving as the interim Director for our ICF/MR Services since the Director position was vacated last month. She has performed admirably in assuming this new role and has worked tirelessly in forging a high level of collaboration among all personnel associated with these services. Under Bev’s tutelage, ICF/MR nursing professionals have worked very closely with Lynn Porter (OGC Health Care Director) in order to ensure that uniformed protocols are maintained and followed. Lynn has proven invaluable in this process and has agreed to accept the added responsibility of managing the ICF/MR nursing services. Therefore, all nursing services provided through our ICF/MR program will come under the direction of Lynn Porter. We have added a new RN position entitled Health Care Manager who will report to Lynn and will directly supervise the RN Clinic Coordinator and the RN ICF/MR Coordinator. Of course, Bev and Lynn will work in tandem in the overall direction of the health, safety, well-being and success of the people we serve in the ICF/MR program.

Please mark your calendar for the July 22nd parent meeting (7:00 p.m.). We will meet in the Habilitation Center Training Room, where we usually meet. I will provide additional reminders of this meeting before July 22nd, but please mark your calendar now and plan to join us.

I am pleased to announce that we have just received word on a temporary reprieve from the 6.1% funding cut from the Division of Mental Retardation Services (DMRS), effective May through September 2008. This is great news in that we can at least count on five months of restored revenue. However, the scary aspect of this announcement is the looming possibility that they will enact new and possibly even deeper cuts, if the statewide budgeted per diem average of $202.00 is not consistently achieved. Hopefully, during these next five months, we can successfully educate state authorities as to how counterintuitive it is to punish agencies which stay way below the statewide per diem client budgeted average (like Orange Grove at $73.14) instead of targeting just those agencies which require excessive revenue to maintain services.

Thank you for your ongoing support and dedication to Orange Grove.

MEMORANDUM

To: All OGC Families, Staff and Volunteers
From: Kyle Hauth, Executive Director
Subject: OGC Update
Date: April 21, 2008

I hope you are planning on joining us tomorrow, Tuesday, April 22nd, at 7:00 p.m. for the Parent Meeting which will be held in the OGC Habilitation Center Training Room. We will bring you up to speed on changes that are taking place at Orange Grove and, as usual, have an open forum for questions, comments and general discussion. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow evening. Much has taken place since our meeting in January and I know you will benefit by attending.

Although the Tennessee Division of Mental Retardation Services continues to impose undue funding cuts on our program and every other community agency in Tennessee serving people with mental retardation, we are doing everything possible to withstand the damage. We continue to communicate with State officials regarding the inequity of this decision and hope to soon have additional conversations about possible partnerships which could help the State meet its new expectations and benefit people with developmental disabilities living in Hamilton County. I am happy to report that in spite of this dreadful situation, we have witnessed more people funded through the new self determination Waiver than we have seen in many months. Although I find it perplexing that the State is not fulfilling its responsibility to people currently in the system, I am certainly pleased for the many people who have been stalled for so long on the waiting list.

The outpouring of support for our Capital Campaign from so many people throughout this county, state, union and, in a few instances, outside of the U.S. has given us hope and encouragement. Under the leadership of John Germ and Tom Caldwell, we are making great progress. I have no doubt that we will exceed our goal by the end of June. We have already begun some of the much needed improvements to our facilities, such as the extension of the Recycling Center and upgrading of the Dental Clinic. We should begin the process of creating the new homes for our aging population in the next few months. If you read the April 12th article in the Times Free Press, then you know that we are already beginning the work on developing a comprehensive approach to meeting people’s needs on the autism spectrum disorder. Under the leadership of Hal Baker, we are facilitating meetings with developmental disability and autism specialists across the country in planning a broad collaboration to help those with autism and their families navigate the wide and sometimes confusing array of resources available in the community. This will be another very exciting result of our Capital Campaign.

I hope you are busy about setting up your First Giving site for Orange Grove. This is a very simple way for your friends and family to honor you by contributing to the Orange Grove Center Capital Campaign. You can simply go to our website and click on the link which is in the text of the third paragraph of our home page (www.orangegrovecenter.org). If you prefer to contribute to one of the existing pages, feel free to scroll through the many pages that are up and running. Feel free to contact me, if you would like additional information regarding this project.

We are interested in highlighting a few Direct Support Professionals in some short video series who enjoy what they do, are caring, dependable, passionate, and are loved by the people they serve and their families. If you know of a person that you would like us to consider in this effort, please send me a note, email, call, or come by my office and share your thoughts. Obviously, we are only successful in what we do because of the dedicated efforts of our front line staff. Please share with us any feelings you may have in this regard.

Thank you for your attention in this matter.

Memorandum

To: All OGC Families, Staff and Volunteers
From: Kyle Hauth, Executive Director
Subject: OGC Update
Date: April 7, 2008

Deirdre Anderson, Director for Intermediate Care services is leaving Orange Grove effective April 25, 2008. She intends to devote her full-time attention to her educational pursuits in Knoxville. We wish Deirdre well in her new endeavors and hope that she remains devoted to the field of intellectual disabilities. In an effort to ensure that services do not suffer as a result of the void that Deirdre’s departure is creating, we have asked Bev Witt, Director of Therapy services to serve as the interim Director of that Department. She will be working with Deirdre over the next two weeks to create a smooth transition in responsibilities and oversight. We are most grateful to Bev Witt for assuming these added duties. I’m sure she will appreciate any and all support that you may provide her during this time.

The Hamilton County State Legislators are visiting Orange Grove this Friday for lunch to discuss all of the legislative issues important to Orange Grove. They are coming to receive an update on the Orange Grove Center and the services available to people in Chattanooga with intellectual disabilities. They will have lunch, listen to some of the success and challenges of Orange Grove, take a tour of the facility, speak with staff members, people served and some of the parents of people served. One of the major issues which we will bring to their attention is a request for a special appropriation which would make community agencies in Tennessee serving people with intellectual disabilities whole for the last six months of this fiscal year. This request is directly linked to the decision by the Tennessee Division of Mental Retardation Services to reduce payments for services rendered by 6.1%. This special appropriation would restore this reduced funding for all agencies across Tennessee through the end of this fiscal year.

We are also asking our legislators to support the following pieces of legislation:

1. SB 0895/HB 2091 _ DSP Salaries/Benefits wage parity bill_ HEALTH CARE: Payment to service providers. Requires the methodology of the division of mental retardation services for determining payments to service providers phase in salaries and benefits for direct care staff over a three_year period that are commensurate with salaries and benefits of direct care staff at developmental centers.

2. SB 2782*/HB 3277 _ Authorizes the Division of Mental Retardation Services (DMRS) to identify individuals on the DMRS waiting list to fill the additional 120 ICF/MR beds that are being phased in over a three year period.

3. SB 4205/HB 4204* _ HEALTH CARE: Exemption from nursing licensure requirements. Clarifies requirements for exemption from nursing licensure relative to home health care workers trained by the division of mental retardation services. Refers to those workers under contract or agreement under any Medicaid waiver or other program of the division of mental retardation services. Permits such workers to assist clients with medications, other than injections, upon written authorization by the client or client's authorized representative.

I hope you are busy about setting up your First Giving site for Orange Grove. This is a very simple way for your friends and family to honor you by contributing to the Orange Grove Center Capital Campaign. You can simply go to our website and click on the link which is in the text of the third paragraph of our home page (www.orangegrovecenter.org). If you prefer to contribute to one of the existing pages, feel free to scroll through the many pages that are up and running. Feel free to contact me, if you would like additional information regarding this project.

Thank you for your ongoing support of Orange Grove and the people we serve.

MEMORANDUM

To: All OGC Families, Staff and Volunteers
From: Kyle Hauth, Executive Director
Subject: OGC Update
Date: March 25, 2008

I hope you are planning on attending the April 22^nd Parent Meeting which will be held in the OGC Habilitation Center Training Room at 7:00 p.m. We will bring you up to speed on changes that are taking place at Orange Grove and, as usual, have an open forum for questions, comments and general discussion. I look forward to seeing you on the evening of the 22^nd. Much has taken place since our meeting in January and I know you will benefit by attending.

I am pleased to announce that we have received word from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service that Dr. Cheetham is approved to enter our country and begin his work with Orange Grove. It has certainly been a long and arduous process in bringing this top physician in developmental medicine to Chattanooga to serve as our Medical Director, but it will undoubtedly prove well worth the effort. Dr. Cheetham will be arriving soon to begin his orientation and the process of becoming familiar with all of the people at Orange Grove. We expect that he will begin his Physician duties in the next two months and remain with us for what will prove a long and prominent tenure as our Medical Director. We know you will love him and come to appreciate why we went to such lengths to get him.

There are a number of meetings, conferences and workshops held in the state and around the country each year that generate information which could be very helpful to individuals with disabilities and their families. However, people cannot always afford to attend these events because the cost of travel or registration may be too high. I recently learned that the Tennessee Council on Developmental Disabilities has established a Consumer Education Travel Grant to help families cover the cost of travel when attending such meetings. Grants to individuals may go up to $500 and grants for any single activity or event, regardless of how many people apply, are limited to $2,000. The grant will not advance funds. However, when an award is made, the Council can reimburse for the approved expenses after you have attended the meeting or conference. If you would like more information regarding this service, feel free to contact:

Errol Elshtain

Council on Developmental Disabilities

Parkway Towers, Suite 130

404 James Robertson Parkway

Nashville, Tennessee 37243_0228

Phone: 615_532_6560

E_mail: errol.elshtain@state.tn.us

I wish I could tell you that the DMRS funding crisis has passed, but unfortunately the situation remains as grim as it was at the beginning of the year. Our payments continue to be reduced by 6.1% and there is no prospect for the situation to improve in the immediate future. We continue to petition our legislators to review the situation and intercede on our behalf. According to a letter from DMRS on December 6, 2007, the average daily cost for a community agency to serve one person in October 2007 was $233.00. However the Orange Grove Center’s average daily cost for people funded through DMRS is $73.14. It is clear that our agency is well below the State average cost and should not be held responsible for the excessive costs of other programs. Please remain steadfast in your communications with State legislators and help us resolve this crisis.

Thank you for your attention in these matters.

MEMORANDUM

To: All OGC Families, Staff and Volunteers
From: Kyle Hauth, Executive Director
Subject: OGC Update
Date: February 1, 2008

If there ever was a time for you to become personally acquainted with your State Senator and State Representative, now is the time. Unless some political pressure can be brought to bear on the Tennessee Division of Mental Retardation Services (DMRS), we will experience a 6.1% cut in our main funding which will leave us no option than to begin making cuts in our services. The reason given for this sudden and unprecedented decrease in the middle of a fiscal year is a notable deficiency between the demand for home and community-based related expenditures and available funding from state and federal sources. Essentially, what has happened is the State overextended itself with contract and service obligations and now intends to balance its budget by taking the funds from community agencies. Obviously, the State run developmental centers will not experience a reduction in their funding nor is it likely that they will even make substantial cuts. I strongly urge you to contact your State Senator and State Representative and voice your displeasure with this action.

I do not necessarily disagree with DMRS taking cost containment measures, but it is unreasonable to cut the programs that are running in a cost effective manner. The average daily cost to support one person at a state facility is $874.65, according to the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury. Community agencies support people at a fraction of the cost of a state institution. According to a letter from DMRS on December 6, 2007, the average daily cost for a community agency to serve one person in October 2007 was $233.00. However the Orange Grove Center’s average daily cost for people funded through DMRS is $73.14. You may learn more about this subject by going to www.preventdmrscuts.com or you may call or write me for additional information. I’ll be happy to supply you with sample letters, names and addresses of legislators and various articles that have been written on this subject.

In addition to the payment reductions that are taking place, DMRS is also arbitrarily lowering level of need classification of many people we serve. Each time we are notified that a level of need has changed, we are evaluating the changes and submitting an appeal, if we feel that the change is inconsistent with the person’s need. It is imperative that family members of the people we serve alert us to any communication they may receive from DMRS or TennCare. If we are not informed of the situation, it may be too late to intervene once we learn of the change in services.

The Orange Grove Capital Campaign is now well under way. Gene Stallings gave us a great kickoff event on January 7th and we are now moving forward with our solicitations. We intend to raise a minimum of $4,775,000.00 for facility renovations and improvements as well as the development of new services for the future needs of our population. Please visit our website at www.orangegrovecenter.org to learn all about how the funds will be used to assist us in our mission and see the newest campaign video that puts the whole process into perspective. With the leadership of our Board Treasurer, Mr. Tom Cox, there are now many ways family members, staff, volunteers and interested individuals can get involved in this effort. We can now easily build you a personalized website where you can easily solicit your family and friends to contribute toward your personal goal to assist Orange Grove. This is just another fun and interactive way people can get engaged in our campaign. Please call me today, if you would like to assist in this vital effort.

After 37 years of faithful service to the Orange Grove Center, Fred Galletta, OGC Director of Education and Training, will be retiring on February 29th. Come join us at 1:30 p.m. on February 29th in the Hab Center Training Room as we bid farewell to Fred. You are welcome to share your fond memories of Fred’s leadership and involvement in our programs and services. Please RSVP by calling 493-2911. With Fred leaving us, it was necessary to make some changes in our organizational structure to accommodate for his departure. Please note the Revised Organizational Chart shown below for a full breakdown of each department’s line of authority.

We have added a weather alert line to ensure that everyone knows the status of our transportation routes in the event of inclement weather. Feel free to dial 308-1161 anytime you question whether or not our transportation services may be running behind due to weather conditions. We have also started using our website (first page that loads) for another means of communicating this vital information. We will continue to attempt notification through the local media as well, but for the most accurate information we request that you dial our alert line or go to www.orangegrovecenter.org www.

Thank you for your attention in these matters.

 MEMORANDUM

To: All OGC Families, Staff and Volunteers
From: Kyle Hauth, Executive Director
Subject: OGC Update
Date: January 2, 2008

The Orange Grove Center will host a luncheon on Monday, January 7^th at the Chattanooga Convention Center with special guest Gene Stallings (Former Head Football Coach, University of Alabama). This function will take place at Noon and should conclude shortly after 1:00 p.m. This luncheon will be an excellent opportunity for us to share our progress on the capital campaign thus far. If you would like to join us for this luncheon, please give me a call today or tomorrow and I’ll make certain to save you a seat.

We are making very good progress on bringing our new medical Doctor to Orange Grove. Although it has taken much longer than we anticipated, it appears that all of the red tape and reams of paper necessary to convince U.S. immigration officials to allow him to immigrate from Canada and come to work for Orange Grove are properly assembled. We have a top U.S. immigration attorney working on this case and he feels that the documentation that has been assembled is formidable and should gain him his acceptance into our country. We are so excited about Dr. Cheetham joining our team of medical professionals and becoming an integral element of the OGC Augustus McCravey Health Clinic. It has certainly been a long wait for all of us, but I can assure you that he is worth the wait. Dr. Cheetham is undeniably an internationally renowned physician, advocate, researcher, and teacher who has extensive experience in the field of developmental disabilities. He is a hands-on physician who is up-to-date on all of the latest medical advances in our field. He has written numerous publications and taught extensively regarding the provision of best medical practices in our field. His first love is treating patients and is dedicated to providing the highest level of care.

Our regularly scheduled parent meeting will take place on Tuesday, January 22nd, at 7:00 p.m. Since this program is expected to generate a much larger crowd, we plan to meet in the OGC cafeteria. This special meeting will highlight the Orange Grove Capital Campaign. Tom Cox will share our progress as well as our needs, and we are most hopeful that everyone will make a special effort to join us on the 22nd.

I have been contacted by some local Boy Scouting affiliates who are interested in helping the people we serve to form a Boy Scout Troop. There are special provisions which allow individuals older than 18 to participate in the Boy Scouts, if they have cognitive disabilities. Some very successful troops have been formed in agencies like the Orange Grove Center across the nation, and I have heard some inspiring tales of how these experiences have greatly enriched lives and broadened horizons. The only way for a successful scout troop to develop at OGC would be for a volunteer to come forward who has a passion for the idea and is willing to work to make it happen. If you are interested in this idea and would like to have more information, please do not hesitate to contact me.

The Tennessee Division of Mental Retardation Services (DMRS) recently informed all providers that we will receive a 6.1% decrease in our funding, effective January 1, 2008. The reason given for this sudden and unprecedented decrease in the middle of a fiscal year is a notable deficiency between the demand for home and community-based related expenditures and available funding from state and federal sources. Essentially, what has happened is the State overextended itself with contract and service obligations and now intends to balance its budget by taking the funds from community agencies. Obviously, the State run developmental centers will not experience a reduction in their funding nor is it likely that they will even make substantial cuts. If you are interested in protesting this move by the State, please contact me and I’ll be happy to give you contact information for you to direct your letters to. At this point, the only real impact we can have on this unfolding tragedy is through political persuasion and posturing. If everyone affiliated with Orange Grove wrote the Governor and their State legislators, we could possibly see a change of strategies.

Thank you for your attention in these matters.

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MEMORANDUM