Editorial
Front Page - Friday, June 19, 2009
Orange Grove helping developmentally disabled live remarkably
David Laprad
As human beings, we naturally follow certain paths through life. To earn a living, for example, we go to school and then enter the labor force. In doing so, we become self-sufficient and grow up to be a part of the economic lifeblood of a community.
But there are those who, through no fault of their own, are unable to achieve the same degree of independence or make the same contributions to society. Developmentally disabled, or mentally retarded, since birth, they’re not capable of doing many of the things most people take for granted. For some of them, school and work can be monumental challenges, and overcoming them can take more courage and be more difficult than anything an average person ever does.
Historically, society pushed the developmentally disabled aside, warehousing them in state institutions and denying them the same opportunities afforded everyone else. But in 1953 in Chattanooga, a small group of parents of children with Down Syndrome set out to provide a better future for their sons and daughters and created a school for educating the mentally retarded. That place was Orange Grove Center.
Today, Orange Grove has evolved into a much more ambitious endeavor to meet all of the needs of the developmentally disabled living nearby. From housing to medical care, the services Orange Grove offers those in its charge are all-inclusive. But rather than just looking after their physical needs, the organization is helping to set them on the path to self-fulfillment and becoming productive members of society.
To learn everything about Orange Grove, you’d need to be reading a book instead of a newspaper, and indeed, the private nonprofit has published its own hardback detailing its history. But even a brief tour of its facility on Derby Street can give one a sense of what Orange Grove is accomplishing using an ever shrinking pool of resources.
Education is part of what prepares a developmentally disabled person for greater independence, so any walkthrough of the Center would begin with its school, which operates under the Tennessee State Department of Education. Education planning teams from Hamilton, Marion, Dade and Rhea Counties refer students ages 5 to 22 to Orange Grove, which in turn provides the necessary schooling and other services, including speech and physical therapy.
Dianne Aytes, deputy director of Orange Grove, says the Center handles a broad range of mental retardation. “We have children who are very developmentally disabled. Some have cerebral palsy; others have multiple handicapping conditions,” she says as she opens the door to a small classroom.
Having graduated seven students this year, the Center is now serving 91 school children. The four inside the room into which Aytes steps require the greatest level of care. A nurse tends to a 9-year-old girl named Jocelyn, who’s secured in an upright position; a young boy behind her is resting on a pile of cushions; all are hooked up to a variety of medical equipment. A teacher explains that placing students in different positions provides more stimulus than allowing them to sit in a wheelchair all day. While the nurse cares for a child, the teacher works the other students through a curriculum that includes math, English, social studies and other topics.
“A student might not be able to add and subtract, but he might recognize the number three,” she says, holding up three fingers. The state requires Orange Grove to teach the standard set of courses in order to receive funding.
“We also have mild and moderate mental retardation,” says Aytes, “so everyone in the school has an individual education plan that outlines his goals for the coming year and how Orange Grove can help him reach his highest potential.”
Down the hall, students with less severe developmental disabilities are beating drums and shaking maracas in a music class. In another room, two young adult men with speech impediments are learning to communicate with each other using small devices that allow them to press icons on a computer screen to select a phrase, which the mechanism plays out loud.
Students eventually graduate and enter Orange Grove’s adult comprehensive training program, in which they’re taught vocational skills and learn to use adaptive equipment. Those who are able to work then receive paying jobs in either the facility’s industrial training center, which does contract labor for local companies, or recycling plant, which processes all of the recyclables for the City of Chattanooga. Some employees even go out into the community, collecting recyclables at places like Memorial and Erlanger Hospitals.
At its height of activity, the industrial training center is a site to behold. On this particular day, about 100 workers are stuffing straws into boxes sporting a Sonic Drive-In logo, removing pens from cellophane wrappers or putting together gadgets and packing them in plastic bags.
“Anything that’s repetitive, our folks do very well,” Aytes says. “They can’t handle anything that requires cognitive skills or decision-making.” About 25 staff members are on the clock, too, supervising small groups of workers.
As Aytes walks through the sprawling room, she says hello to several clients, calling each one by his or her first name. In each case, her greeting is returned along with a huge grin. When she speaks to an older woman feeding paper through a shredder, the worker stops, says hi and then returns to the task at hand.
The smiles and diligent labor suggest the training center could house the happiest industrial work force in the city. “They look forward to coming here. Their families tell us they don’t like it when we’re closed for a holiday. They’ll be at their front door, waiting for the bus,” she says.
After a long walk outside, Aytes enters the massive recycling center, where a few dozen workers are taking a breather from sorting recyclables and packing them into huge bundles for sale. The buttery smell of microwaved popcorn fills the break room. Anticipation is in the air, too, because payday is approaching. “They know how much money they’re going to get and what they’re going to spend it on,” Aytes says.
Although Chattanooga is fortunate to have Orange Grove, which also has its own cafeteria, swimming pool and basketball court, among countless other essential facilities, Atlanta and Nashville are without such an organization. But Aytes doesn’t criticize those larger cities, saying it’s becoming more and more challenging to run the Center and continue to offer its array of
services due to ever-tightening finances.
“We’re always looking at how we can maximize our dollars because there’s never enough,” she says. “We serve around 650 individuals, and of those, 256 live in one of our 56 off-site residences. To serve these individuals, we have a staff of about 740 full-time workers.”
Aytes is grateful, however, for the support Orange Grove receives from the community and its dedicated volunteer board members, which number 25 and include an attorney who was part of the original group in 1953.
Above all, she’s thankful for the clients who have become such an integral part of their community and the lives of every staff member at Orange Grove. “They’re wonderful, caring individuals. I have one gentleman that picks clovers for me every day. Where else could I get that?”
To learn more about Orange Grove, including ways in
which you can help financially
or through volunteering
your time, visit www.orangegrovecenter.com. And practice your smile because you’re going to need it.
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