“To improve the living and working conditions and opportunities for persons with severe disabilities.”
EEO/AA/M/F/D/V
 

DIRECTOR’S CORNER
By: Phil L. Taylor

We have just completed our Annual Report and the 3 Year Strategic Business Plan annual update and this a very short summary for your information.  The process of gathering information for this plan involved several levels of management  reviewing the goals for 2003 and revising them for 2004, 2005 and 2006.  The new capacity building management team approach afforded a good opportunity for feedback from several sources in assessing goals that have been met and establishing new ones for the next three years.  The end result is a three-year plan that is tied to the previous years’ planning, the current year’s results, extension of remaining viable goals, and dynamic inclusions of new goals that were developed during the process.
Generally, the 2004 Goals focus on a few business strategies that have been organized in a manner to represent the primary focus of key personnel.  One of the primary ideas of capacity building deep into several levels of management in the organization is to help many people better understand  specific staff and departmental goals and how they relate to the strategic business plan over multiple years.  Ideally, the new developmental goals will actually end up being departmental goals in subsequent years.  Also included as a part of this process was the results of a just completed survey of our Board of Directors which indicated they were supportive of some of the primary focal areas dealing with the global development of our organization.  These focus areas which are important to strategic planning included: diversifying  income to balance medicaid billing; increasing retail outlets as a primary source for new income; creating job/business opportunities for consumers; continuing building up the Blytheville operations; continue searching for options for the Delta area; continuing advocacy for people with disabilities; supporting the CEO’s professional development efforts/involvements; and supporting the CEO’s approach to business related activities.  This survey appears to support the congruence of the Board’s vision with that of the CEO’s vision for the organization.
The senior management team has the identified task of working hard to keep our focus on our mission, mission-based management, and to improve the net income.  Last year’s gross revenues surpassed its goal and the net income finished in the black.  Just as significant is that the Blytheville operations went into the black for the last six months of the year.  Also, the senior management team will get involved in new developmental goals or concepts as directed by the CEO.  These new developmental goals are conceptual and may or may not be realized based on preliminary feasibility studies and input from the Board.  A variety of factors could affect moving forward on any one item.  We are installing a new accounting system which will increase our ability to manage our direct accounting needs and provide management teams with specialized reports.  In addition, our full time staff attorney will provide various legal assistance in the area of employment law/issues, contracts, policies and procedures.
In the area of marketing and public relations we have some access to  professional marketing expertise with our full time HR Assistant.  Her degree is in that area and she will help out with some short term activities as time is permitting.  Although this is not her primary responsibility, it is very helpful to have her be of assistance to Lorene who also has a good marketing background.  Carrie has been used in one of our capacity building activities recently as we were developing a new business line for the organization.  It was short term, very specific, drew on other members of the group, and yielded some good results for the project (auto recycling) and good exposure for the organization in general.

The manufacturing and production departments have several goals to focus on during the year. Each of three locations has a variety of work going on.  Based on the results of 2003 reasonable stretch goals have been established to increase its annual subcontract revenue.   The auto recycling and the new battery recycling are two projects that we envision will have some significant impact on our program by adding more value added training for our consumers.  Meanwhile, there has been a lot of time and effort put into all of the retail store locations.  Lorene and Penny have been working hard with Saprina to get the new 317 E. Main, Blytheville location open.  In addition, Bryan will be  working as our fashion coordinator for all of the stores focusing on changing decorations, accessories, store fronts and sprucing up our inventory.  We feel all of this effort will pay off and will soon enable us to start a new upscale resale shop in Jonesboro.
Consumer Services for the 2004 has several different goals that are carried over from the previous year but are still viable and pertinent.  We are seeking to increase the ARS referrals and more consumers in  Adult Development and Work Activity in  Jonesboro,  Paragould and Blytheville.  A new location in Jonesboro with the Monroe location has opened up more space and programming opportunities.  We want to achieve more efficiency in the methods and staffing with our present Waiver consumers and work toward the best outcomes possible.  PAC continues to work toward maintaining good capacity numbers and opening up more opportunities for involvement in the community.  There are several developmental goals being considered in this area to meet the ever increasing needs of our consumers.
We have a big year lined up and are excited about the opportunities.  I hope you are too.
 
 
 

February Birthdays
Sharon Dachs   1st
 Anna Rutherford  4th
 Darren Smith   5th
 Cindy Lambert  7th
 Keisha Hazelwood  9th
 Micah Ballard  11th
 Stephanie Gotay  13th
 DeeDee Daniel  13th
 Savannah Waldman  15th
 Patty Brewer   16th
 Jon Legvold   16th
 Brandy Taylor  18th
 Ramona Martin  20th
 Bonnie Coleman  25th
 Iva Sue Ring   26th
  January Service Awards
Several employees celebrated their one year anniversary with Abilities Unlimited in January. They are: Amber Hawthorne, Sue Gramling, Frankie Talley and Krystle Morris. They each received a pin and certificate for their hard work and dedication. Congratulations to all of you!

Welcome to A.U.
Marie Brownlee ACS Implementor
Michael Killough Flex
Marlin Brown  ACS Implementor
Purnima Baroi MRC Intern
Judy Pollard  ACS Implementor
Bethany Gambill ACS Implementor
Pearline Young Van Driver (Blytheville)
Cheryl Foster  ACS Implementor
Marsha Mars  ACS Implementor
Sybrina Fisher Flex (Blytheville)
It’s Time to Clean Out Your Closet!
The Unlimited is now accepting Spring and Summer consignments. So, if your looking to make a few extra dollars, clean out those closets and visit Kathy and her staff at The Unlimited. They are located in Paragould at the Ridgeway West Shopping Center at 6002 W. Kingshighway. Store hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Cord Jewelry Arrives at all A.U Stores
Cord Jewelry is being sold at all A.U. retail stores and The Unlimited. There are several styles and colors to choose from. Come by and check it out. And guys, these items make unique Valentine’s Day gifts for that special someone!!

Foundation of Arts Has Consumers Dancing to a Different Beat
By: Chris Paslay

The Jonesboro Adult Development Center has been movin’ and shakin’ to a different beat lately as the Foundation of Arts has teamed up with our company to help color the lives of our consumers through groovin’ dance instruction and eye catching painting/visual art classes.
 Thanks in part to a generous donation from one of our consumers parents, we have been able to team up with the Foundation of Arts in order to provide one hour a week of group dance classes and one hour a week of group painting and art instruction.  The dance classes provide a time for the consumers to express themselves through movement.  The dancing and stretching done in the classes helps the consumers to improve their balance, coordination, and their gross motor skills as well as providing them with the opportunity to learn a new recreational activity.  The painting classes help work on fine motor skills, eye-hand coordination, and idea synthesis, as well as giving them an opportunity to express themselves in a new way.
 The dance class is held on Thursdays at 9:00 am and the painting/visual arts class is held on Tuesdays at 9:00 am.  The classes have been a big hit with the consumers who have really enjoyed the change of pace from the regular classroom settings and the staff has been very impressed with the performance and abilities of the consumers.
 Currently there are plans in the works for a special performance that will be held in the forum and take place sometime in the future.  These plans are still in the discussion phase and we will keep everyone up to date as those plans fall into place.
 In addition to the fine arts instruction that has been added to our curriculum, the Craighead County Literacy League has offered to begin Adult Literacy Classes with our consumers.  The classes are set to begin on February 2nd and occur each Monday and Wednesday at 1:00pm.  We all feel that this is a great opportunity for our consumers to get additional help with their reading skills and feel very fortunate that the Literacy League has volunteered to help with this endeavor.
 If you would like more information about these two programs or about what the Adult Development/Work Activity Programs have to offer feel free to contact Stephen Posey or Chris Paslay for more details.
 

Abilities Unlimited in Blytheville
By: Christy Wyatt
On January 20th, the new store downtown opened up. Thanks to a lot of dedicated teamwork, the store looks better than we ever imagined. With new storefront windows, and a good paint job, as well as a lot of repair and renovation projects, the store has become quite suitable for its planned purpose. The reception we have received from our customers has been very positive. We have already seen a dramatic rise in daily sales amounts. The ribbon cutting ceremony will be on February 6th at 10:00.
Clothing processing will take a more streamlined form, to make it more easily understood and to make clear delineations between the retail process and the production process.
There was a reorganization of the supervision of the Blytheville facility in order to better meet the differing needs of Production, Retail, and Client Services. Christy Wyatt was named the Delta Regional Coordinator. She is responsible for overall management of the workshop and retail facilities while Paul Hedge continues to supervise retail and production. Mr. Phil Taylor’s strategy includes growth into neighboring Delta counties, and perhaps even the Bootheel of Missouri. The people of the Bootheel region remain underserved partly due to an insufficient amount of work at the Kennett workshop and partly due to funding problems in the State of Missouri.
 
 
 
 

Consumer’s Services  - Jonesboro

Depression is Disabling
 By Janet Gregory

Some facts about depression:
1. Depression is one of the most common mental disorders affecting 340 million people in the world today, accounting for a full 10% of productive years lost throughout the world.

2. No one is immune to depression - it occurs in people of all social classes, all countries and all cultural settings.

3. One of four women and one in ten men can expect to develop depression during their lifetime, but it’s not just adults who suffer ... depression affects at least one in 50 children under 12 and one in 20 teenagers.

4. About half of all cases of depression is unrecognized and untreated.

5. About 10 - 15 percent of depressed people take their own lives.

6.  Depression costs the United States an estimated $53 billion each year.

7.  The world Health Organization predicts that by the year 2020 depression will be the greatest burden of ill-health to people in the developing world, and that by then severe depression will be the second largest cause of death and disability.

What causes depression?
The exact cause of depression remains unclear.  The most probable explanation and the one on which treatment with antidepressant drugs is based, is an imbalance in certain chemical messengers (also called neurotransmitters) in the brain.  The neurotransmitters, of which there are about 30, transfer messages between nerve cells in the brain.  Some evidence suggests that depression is caused by a deficiency in two neurotransmitters called noradrenaline and serotonin.  Although this does not explain everything that is known about depression, it does at least serve as a useful ‘pharmacological’ model and is usually referred to as the monoamine hypothesis of depression.

What triggers the imbalance in neurotransmitters?
Genetic factors:
There is growing interest in genetic approaches to understanding a variety of diseases and depression is no exception.  Some people certainly seem to be more vulnerable to depression than others and there is growing evidence that some genes could make individuals susceptible to the disease.  This would also explain why depression often runs in families.  Some studies have shown that people who have relatives with depression have a one in four chance of developing it themselves, compared with only one in 14 for the general population.
 

External factors:
However, in most cases just having these genes is probably not enough to cause depression on its own.  Stressful situations can exacerbate this vulnerability.  Depression can be triggered by a number of factors such as unemployment, bereavement, social isolation or even a severe physical illness.
 
But while it is important to recognize the role that these triggers can play in the development of depression, it is also important to acknowledge that in some instances depression strikes completely out of the blue for no obvious reason.  While this might seem harder to understand for both the sufferer and those around them, this type of depression is no less difficult to deal with or worthy of help.

Depression is one of the most treatable mental illness!
Untreated, an episode of depression lasts an average of ten months.  Treatment is important not just to resolve the individual episode as soon as possible, but also to prevent future episodes.  Many people who have suffered one episode of depression suffer repeated episodes and studies show that the risk of recurrences increases with the number and severity of previous episodes.

There are three approaches to treatment:                                         1.  The use of psychological or talking therapies
2.  The use of antidepressant drugs
3.  A combination of both.                                                           Many people believe that psychological therapies make more sense than the use of antidepressants - but this ignores the fact that depression is a genuine physical illness.  However, the choice of right treatment depends on a variety of factors. Such as severity of illness, presenting symptoms, age, etc.
 

PAC’S VALENTINE DANCE
When: February 12th
Where: 710 Walnut Street
Time: 6 pm till 8 pm
Cost: $3.00 (includes photo)
Please have all money turned to Carrie at PAC by Friday, February 6th.

Reminder
 We need the year on all your case notes / time sheets (not just month and day).  Also, please put your name and date on all of the pages of your case notes not just the top page.

Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)