August, September & October 2013

Volume 16, Issue 139

Allen has enjoyed moving into his new home and new bed-room. He has been attending church and goes to the gym with friends. One and all had a fantastic time when they attended a local pa-rade where they petted horses, saw floats, fire trucks and went out for tacos afterwards. They also had a fantastic time at the Comcare Halloween party and handing out candy to all the children who were out trick or treating.

CARE

MUNICATION

OM

CVTC Everyone would like to welcome Nathan to the day program and to Sparmill. Everyone kept busy making crafts for the annual picnic. All our folks have tried to make the most of warm weather and are picnicking as much as possible till the fall weather comes rolling in. They have a wall decorated with an apple tree that has many hand painted wooden trinkets. They also have paper “worms” lining the top

September brought sunny days and a spectacular Luau complete with beach balls, surf boards, leis, grass skirts, tropical sand and a fantastic meal. Comcare’s Annual Picnic was a delightful suc-cess and everyone appreci-ated all of the hard work it took to put together a won-derful experience for one and all. Special thanks to our clients for making many art projects used as decora-tions. Burkey Paul celebrated his birthday with a party and supper at Vil-lage Square. He had a great time visiting with his family. Paul also tried a Pal’s chocolate shake and thought it was delicious. Tom A. celebrated his birth-day with his housemates and friends. He visited the animal shelter and also petted a llama at the Llama Farm. Mike S. went to Sonic for a snack which he took to the park. He really enjoys his snack outings. David J. had fun going to the park. He likes to sightsee and people watch. David enjoyed going to a car show. Everyone had a great time help-ing Tom and Paul celebrate their birthdays. All the guys enjoyed having their pictures taken at Myers Pumpkin Patch. Creekside Betty did some shopping for a new DVD. She also purchased some new sun glasses and craft supplies. She loves working her puzzles. Debbie L. had fun when she went to the fair. When Debbie visits the park she has been collecting leaves for a fall art project.

of their cubicles. Decorating the center for Halloween with spi-ders, bats and ghosts was a lot of fun and the Spooky Hallow-een Lunch was SPOOKTACU-LAR. Day Program Many thanks to everyone that helped make great decorations for our annual picnic. Our cli-ents did a fantastic job. Several of our folks have worked to make beautiful hand-made quilts that are on display in the day program area. Our day program picnic tables under the trees have been taken advantage of by many of our folks who have eaten their lunches there during warm weather. Different groups have been on an array of outings, picnics in the park, out for snacks and meals, shopping for supplies and visits to local nature areas. Some went to an art exhibit in Morris-town, Ardinna Woods Arbore-tum and Butterfly Garden in Jonesborough, Hands On Mu-seum in Johnson City and the Cocke County Fair in Newport are just a few of the many at-tractions that have kept our folks busy.

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Comcare, Inc.

www.comcareinc.com

Halloween brought out the creative side in Comcare. We

had a variety of activities throughout the week. Several

“Theme Days” saw familiar outfits from the past, present

and future. There was lots of laughing and everyone

had a great time watching to see what outfit they liked

best.

The animal shelter, the dam and the local airport are just a sample of the local places that our folks choose to visit.

Paul makes a friend at the animal shelter. Shirley checks out the airport.

Pictured below is Burney who, while on a Green Therapy outing to Tusculum College, tried to measure a tree—a BIG tree!

visiting with friends and getting together with them for picnics at the park. They attended several youth league football games. Hart House Dustin always has a blast when he visits with his family. They go out for special meals and he is always on the lookout for soda cans to take to the recycling cen-ter. Travis R. does a great job help-ing with the household grocery shopping. He likes to go out for meals of his choice. He recently went to Horse Creek Park for a picnic with his cousin Cathy. After his move to Hart House Hayes has decorated his bed-room to his liking and is enjoying his new surroundings and room-mates. He had a fantastic time going to see Disney On Ice. Everyone has enjoyed going to the park with friends and having lunches together. Johnson Place Travis P. really enjoys attending church services with his girlfriend Heather and her family. Not only did Travis attend the first Tuscu-lum football game of the season he got to visit the President’s box. He also met with some of the players and cheerleaders. Gene called his family members and filled them in on how well his garden did. He harvested many tomatoes and cucumbers which everyone enjoyed having with their meals. He also had a great time at the Fall Festival. Billy Bl. has been watching his TV and enjoying his new home and bedroom. He enjoyed going to the movies and out to eat. The guys have been watching movies and enjoying going out for some of their favorite meals. Kingsprings Danette went shopping and purchased some paper and pens. She enjoys writing and drawing. Danette had a great time at the Annual Apple Festival in Erwin.

The large screen movie area has been a big hit with the clients and they have watched several great movies. Teams 3 and 7 are in the proc-ess of making scrapbooks about their travels around the community. Going to the Roby Center for Bingo and lunch proves to be a pretty popular outing for many of our folks. It seems that Comcare now has a group that formed a “Social Circle” and will be get-ting together for opportunities to learn different activities. The newly organized “Breakfast Club” folks are meeting new people during their weekly breakfast outings. Volunteering for Meals on Wheels continues to provide community participation for some of our clients. Halloween decorations went up and our individuals enjoyed going to the cemetery to do headstone rubbing to be in-cluded in the decorations. Delwood Mark M. enjoyed van rides to see the changing colors of the leaves. Richard likes spending time outside when the weather is nice. Michael L. spends time out-side but also enjoys a leisurely van ride around his community. The Delwood gentlemen en-joyed going out for ice cream and taking in all the changing colors. Green Terrace Burney likes his weekly shop-ping trips to Wal-Mart. He also enjoyed going to the Cir-cus. Melissa G. likes to attend church were she can see her many friends. She also likes to help with shopping and she enjoys eating out at some of her favorite restaurants. The Greene Terrace duo enjoy

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Butch went to Pet Smart and checked out the cute animals. He likes to grab a snack and go to the park. Butch recently saw an exciting wrestling match. Joseph went out to eat on sev-eral occasions and also did some shopping. He had fun going to the Halloween Store to look around. Amy went to the mall and pur-chased some new sun glasses. She also went to the covered bridge to feed the ducks. Amy had a blast at the Shriner’s Cir-cus. Everyone enjoyed attending an ice cream supper at Eden Church. They have been to the park on a number of occasions, took a scenic ride to Buffalo Mountain and Rocky Mount. They also spent some time at the airport watching planes. A great time was had by all that attended the dance at Boones

Creek Christian Church and also the Halloween Party. Maplewood Debbie K. visited with her boy-friend Gene. She has been out shopping for household items. Deb-bie wholeheartedly enjoyed spend-ing time with her sister who came for the picnic. Tammy had a mini vacation and went to Pigeon Forge for a couple of days. Her mother joined her one day for lunch. Tammy went for a massage and she felt really relaxed. She was excited to spend the day of the picnic with her mother. Dollie really enjoys going to the Roby Center for lunch and some

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Staff News Congratulations to Crystal Ricker on the birth of her daugh-ter Hailey Marie Ricker. Ador-able Hailey was born on July 18. Ashley Piatt is receiving con-gratulations on the birth of a son. Tucker was born on August 7th weighing 7 pounds, 1 oz. His big sister Ariel who is 5 has been a big help caring for her baby brother. Brittany Hughes is receiving con-gratulations on the birth of a son born on August 30th weighing 6 pounds, I oz. We hear that Cay-son was born with a full head of hair. Crystal Gosnell’s daughter Kayla just made first time Mamaw very happy. Alexandra Marie Franklin was born on October 21st weighting 8 lbs, 4 oz. We’ve been told that Ally has Mamaw and Papaw rapped around her tiny finger.

Comcare clients took up the chal-lenge of making a scarecrow ex-hibit to enter in the “Scarecrow on Main” contest. The public was asked to email and cast their votes for the display that they liked best. Our folks worked very hard on their scarecrow family and they even made additional scarecrow folks to place at the Comcare sign where you enter our street. Pic-tured above with the scarecrows is Linda. Comcare was awarded Honorable Mention for their ef-forts.

“Scarecrows on Main”

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exciting games of Bingo. She had an outstanding time when her family arrived to take her home for a big family reunion. The ladies had fun attending the Greene County Fair. They also have been shopping at local yard sales. Going to the park for a picnic lunch and watching the ducks are a great way to spend some time relaxing. Marshall Karen is enjoying a newly pur-chased book. She has found that the peaches and cream pies from McDonalds are very tasty but thinks the pumpkin ones are deli-cious too. Nancy F. prefers the banana milkshakes from Sonic. She has been out for snacks and meals of her choice. For exercise Nancy has been strolling around her backyard. Sherry picked out and purchased a new CD while on a recent shopping trip. A frozen yogurt made a delightful snack outing. Cathy R. helped pick out a movie for everyone to watch. She also helped staff bake peanut butter cookies. Cathy picked out a soda and choose to go to the park for an outing. The ladies took a van ride out to the airport. They made arts and crafts to decorate their home. They have enjoyed eating out on several occasions. The ladies feel pampered when staff do their manicures.

(Continued from page 2) Meadow Brook Mark B. eagerly looks forward to getting frozen chocolate yogurt. He loves watching the birds at their new bird feeder. He is looking forward to cooler weather and Halloween. Jon M. has enjoyed having Rocky and Koko as new house-mates. He has been on several outing to sightsee around his community. Jon received some cool pictures of Dale Earnhart, Sr. and Jr. from his mother. Rocky applied for a job at the Arc of Tennessee with their ‘People Talking to People” program and has been hired. He is looking forward to start-ing work. He also enjoyed his trip to Nashville. The guys had fun browsing the flea market in Mosheim. A trip to Pigeon Forge and to Bay’s Mountain are on their list of fun activities. Everyone en-joyed homemade cookies from Jon’s mother. Mountain Terrace Russell had a blast going to visit his sister at her home. He always loves the good food and fellowship with family mem-bers. George had a great time when he went to the movies. He has been out for some of his favor-ite meals and snacks. He re-cently purchased some new headphones. Robert spent time visiting

with his new housemates be-fore he moved in. He really enjoys his new room. He had a good time when he went out to eat and then to the park and relaxed watching the ducks. The guys have been out to eat, shopping and to the movies. They have a great time picking out their favorite restaurants. Oakhaven Marcus had a great time at the Circus. He spends his free time enjoying the sunshine, gentle breeze and fresh air. He also likes to go out into the community for outings. MT loves hay mowing time when the neighborhood farmer mows, rakes and bales the hay in the adjacent field. He likes to watch as they load the hay on wagons. He also enjoys going fishing. When his mom came for a recent visit she brought him some hats to add to his collection. Ben has been on several out-ings to his favorite restaurants. Recently Ben’s mother came and took him for an excursion to the park complete with a wonderful picnic lunch. They both had a fantastic time. Everyone has a great time go-ing to the movies and then out for a favorite meal of chicken at Zaxby’s. They like to social-ize with their friends and going to the gym is a great time to do that.

O’Brien DJ really enjoyed catching a con-cert while at the mall. DJ likes to grab a snack then go to the park to watch the ducks. For his birthday he received a visit from his uncles and his Aunt Til. He had a nice time when he went to the Apple Festival. Steven S. Had a great time watching boats on the lake. He had a fantastic time going out for a special meal at Primo’s. Steven helped make a cake for his friend’s birthday. Mikie had a wonderful time when he joined his family and attended a family reunion. After a great sum-mer off he is now back in school and happy to see his friends. Mikie thought there sure were lots of pumpkins when he recently visited Fender’s Farm. Erik likes to shop for bargains at yard sales. He has been going to the library and enjoys his time there. Decorating his house for fall has been fun for Erik and his housemates. His family dropped by to help celebrate Erik’s birth-day. Everyone enjoyed lots of end of summer activities including picnics at the lake, snacks at local parks and going out for favorite meals. Rockhaven Wanda likes an assortment of music and can be found listening to rock, gospel or country. Watching out the window while listening to staff read is really relaxing for

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On a recent field trip Brandy, Sherry, Nancy F, Jennifer and Darla went to Lowe’s. While there they checked out the different textures of wood, shingles, carpets and many other items. They enjoyed having their picture taken with the large indoor Halloween display. While outside of Lowe’s the ladies tried out the different types of swings.

Staying healthy is very impor-tant to Comcare and heading our staff wellness program is Melody Murray. Nancy Thiessen acknowledged Mel-ody for her hard work and dedication.

Clyde frequently visits his father

Wanda. She also enjoys visiting with friends at the Day Program. Jeffrey goes to the park when-ever he can. He also likes to listen to music and watch TV. He also enjoys watching the VOLS play ball. Otis thinks sitting on his porch watching traffic is a great way to spend time. He also likes to go out for an occasional milkshake or to the park. The Rockhaven bunch likes to watch TV together in their living room especially older TV shows and movies. They also enjoyed handing out candy to all the chil-dren on Halloween. Shadybrook Joey S. loved going to the county fair and concert. He shopped around and purchased a new CD. Joey enjoyed going out to Shoney’s with his mother. Shopping at the annual Tree Street yard sale and the Farmer’s Market were fun for Joey. Daniel enjoyed shopping for craft supplies. He enjoys taking walks in the park. Daniel likes to ride around and recently had a jaunt to the Jonesborough area to look around at the quaint shops. He also enjoyed his birth-day party. Michael M. went to the fair and had a blast. Recently he had a wonderful visit with his dad. Michael is fond of seeing the animals at Pet Smart and enjoys going to the movies. Tennyson had a great time at the Umoja Festival. When his mom came for a visit they both had a great time together. Ten-nyson likes to swing and he has made several trips to the park to enjoy their facilities. The Shadybrook guys had a great time when they went for a picnic at Sycamore Shoals. They have enjoyed the ice cream that they get from Burger King. The guys also like the Italian Ice from Rita’s.

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Volume 16, Issue 139 Page 4

recently went to Morristown to visit with some of his family members. Going downtown to look around and see what’s new is tops on the list of outings for the guys. Everyone had a good laugh while at the park when a staff almost stepped on a rabbit. Chris particularly thought it was funny. On the weekends the guys like to go to church, pool and the gym for some fun. Sunrise Bobby had a blast when he went to the Hands On Museum and out for pizza. He also cele-brated a birthday and received numerous cards from his friends and family. Bobby went for his favorite burger then over to the animal shelter to pet the cats. Kenny enjoyed a yummy apple pie and soda on one of his out-ings. He celebrated his birth-day with his housemates and friends. He and his friend Bobby had a fun time at the Circus. Jerry chooses to go out for Frosties, which he thinks are very delicious. He also pur-chased four new hats that he is looking forward to wearing soon. The Sunrise gents went out to eat on different occasions. They also got together with friends and had a great time visiting. Tusculum Jennifer likes to go to McDon-ald’s for breakfast. She and her mother spend time together over delicious lunches at Ryan’s. Melinda T. really thought the frozen yogurt was scrumptious during a recent outing. Listening to music is a favorite pastime for Melinda and she loves to dance

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The ladies had lots of fun when they attended the Greene County Fair. They enjoyed a trip to the Hands On Museum and out for a special meal. Everyone had a great time going to IHOP and then to Bay’s Mountain. Spruce Pine Brenda loves to talk to staff and listen to music on her IPOD. She is happy to watch TV with her housemates. Billy Ba. watches a variety of television shows. He likes to sit in his recliner and relax to music or a good movie. Johnny enjoys watching televi-sion and likes to listen to music. He gets pleasure from relaxing at home after a busy day. The Spruce Pine folks enjoy going on outings. One of their favorite things to do is grab a snack or meal and head to the park when weather permits. Sun Valley John Pe. is pleased with the new look of his bedroom after purchasing new bedding in his favorite color blue. During Au-gust John visited with his family. While there he had a great cookout and pool party with his family. Barry has been collecting pic-tures from magazines to com-plete a menu picture board. He had a great time visiting with family. Barry has been spending as much time possible outdoors. He is getting to be an expert at yoga and Simon Says. Chris M. had a wonderful time at the Shrine Circus. The dog act was his favorite part. Chris

Sparmill Clark had fun going to the Gray Fair. He has been shopping on several occasions and out for some of his favorite snacks. He enjoyed a visit from his parents. Jason went to the Gray Fair with his friend Clark and he had a great time. He has been to the movies, shopping and he went to the Bris-tol races. Jason enjoyed a visit with his family. Steve B. likes to spend quiet time at the public library. He went window shopping in downtown Erwin. Steve had fun going to Fishery Park. Nathan has settled in nicely and is enjoying his new home. He has been getting acquainted with his housemates and everyone is happy to have him join their household. Nathan has enjoyed trips to the animal shelter, sightseeing in down-town Erwin and going to local parks. The Sparmill guys went on several outings. They especially enjoyed the Apple Festival and Symphony. They also went to a dance at a local church. Springfield Kathy had a delicious healthy snack of frozen yogurt and then out for some personal shopping. She also went to a college football game. Kathy went to visit her fam-ily and celebrated her birthday. Linda had a wonderful time with her friend Lori Ann at the Shrine Circus. She has been out for some of her favorite meals. She had a great time when she went to Knoxville to see The Wizard of Oz and then out for a special dinner. Lori Ann loves working at Tuscu-lum College. She is an active member of the Comcare bell choir and enjoys going to the animal shelter. She accompanied her friend, Linda, to see The Wizard of Oz where she had a great time.

The Day Program has a n e w c h a l k b o a r d . Sharon and Hayes are shown taking advantage of the new board to do some art work.

Clark helping wash van.

Volume 16, Issue 139

to the tunes. Brandy loves to see her family and friends during sleepovers with her parents. She had a won-derful birthday and appreciated her many gifts. Deborah has really excelled at bowling. Shopping and going out for frozen yogurt are also high on Deborah’s list of ways to spend time. She was very pleased to have her aunt attend the annual picnic. The Tusculum ladies are fond of going for van rides and recently rode to the Horse Creek area and to a Car Show. They all had fun picking up their preferred sodas and going to the park to enjoy them. Wexler Alvin celebrated his birthday with a party at his home and an eat out at Asian Express. He has made several trips to his favorite restaurants too. James W. enjoyed several out-ings for snacks and meals. No matter what the weather, James can enjoy swinging on his new

(Continued from page 4) indoor swing or on his outdoor swing. He also celebrated a birthday in Octo-ber. Thomas E. had a shopping trip to Big Lots. He also went out for snacks and celebrated a birthday. Scottie has been out for snacks on several occasions. He has been to the park quite a few times when the weather has been nice. He also celebrated a birthday. Everyone has enjoyed outings at their favorite places to eat. They have been out on numerous times for meals of their choice. Whirlwind John Pa. has been on several fishing outings and even caught a fish on his first try. He also at-tended a Tusculum football game and took a vacation to Pigeon Forge with his mother. When it comes to picking out places to pick up a quick meal McDonald’s is Chris C’s prefer-ence. He likes their hamburgers

but those apple pies make him smile. He also got into the spirit of fall by eating pumpkin pancakes at IHOP. When David C. wants a treat he likes getting a banana milk-shake. He also enjoyed going to the Shrine Circus. Recently he visited with his mother and they had a very pleasant time. Michael B. likes going out for some of his favorite food choices. One of his top picks would be a chocolate Frosty. Going to the park is also a favorite outing for Michael. The Whirlwind folks had a great time when they joined friends to watch a movie at the day program. Willow Andrea enjoys visiting with her family on weekends. She likes going out for her outings of choice. Nancy R. had a wonderful time at the Shrine Circus. She enjoys her weekly phone con-versations with her brother. Carolyn enjoys attending church and feeding the ducks at the park. The ladies had fun when they picked up some pizza and took it to the park for an im-promptu picnic. They attend church as much as possible. Everyone had a blast going to visit the animals at the home of Alice Reeder. Wooded Heights Sharon has been helping out in the kitchen and does fantas-tic. She talks regularly with her family members and loves to visit with friends whenever possible. Darla has been looking for-ward to fall and the fall colors. She really enjoys it when her family comes to visit. Darla is very handy when it comes to making crafts to decorate her home for different holidays. Shirley celebrated her birth-

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day with a cookout. The pump-kin blizzard from Dairy Queen is her favorite treat. Shirley has been assisting with the prepara-tion of dinner and is doing a great job. The ladies enjoy spending time at the park with their friends when weather permits. The ladies take great pride in deco-rating their home for different seasons and they have it looking festive for the fall season. Woodlawn Clyde has been a regular visitor to see his dad. He as been out for some of his favorite meals and snacks. Joey H. enjoys his many out-ings. He likes to make choices about what he wants to eat. Joey has enjoyed using his sen-sory skills to explore the out-doors. Charles had a blast going to see the Astros play baseball. He has been on several outings to have meals of his choosing. Charles does fantastic at his new clean-ing job. Everyone has been to the park on numerous occasions to watch different teams playing baseball. Going to the gym is a great way they get some exer-cise. Wykle Margie enjoys going to local yard sales to look for bargains and treasures. She had fun play-ing bingo at the Roby Center where she also had a very nice lunch. Melinda S. had a great time when she went to Freedom Hall to see Disney on Ice. She en-joyed speaking with her mother. The Wykle ladies spent an en-joyable Saturday watching a movie on Comcare’s large screen and then to the park for a picnic lunch.

Several individuals went to see the baby goats and chickens at the home of Jessica Evarts. Each per-son had a good time and look forward to going again.

Princeton Art Center in Johnson City hosted an art show starting October 1st thru 25th. Burney, Lori Ann and Arlene are shown delivering their framed artwork that was displayed in that show.

Some of our folks participated in bocce ball at Spe-cial Olympics. They did a great job and everyone enjoyed representing Comcare. Our clients were shown wearing their ribbons. Their rankings (left to right) were Charles 2nd place, Donnie 2nd place, Melissa W. 1st place, Kenny 2nd place, Lori Ann 1st place and Arlene 2nd place.

December 2013

12/1 Jon M 12/4 Debbie 12/5 Melissa W 12/6 MT 12/10 Betty 12/11 Jackie 12/21 David J 12/27 Sherry

January 2014

1/1 Arlene 1/6 Steve B 1/10 Melinda T 1/11 Dollie 1/11 Mikie 1/17 Travis R 1/20 Chris C 1/20 Johnny L

Volume 16, Issue 139

February 2014

2/3 Cathy R 2/14 Michael B 2/21 Jennifer 2/21 Mark B 2/24 John Pa 2/24 Margie 2/16 Hayes 2/26 Heather

Those Celebrating Birthdays

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August 2013 All programs scored 88% or above. The following scored 95% or above:

Creekside

*Day Program

Green Terrace

Johnson Place

Maplewood

*Meadowbrook

Mountain Terrace

Oakhaven

Rockhaven

*Springfield

Sunrise

Viking Circle

Willow

Wooded Heights

Wykle

* Scored 100%

September 2013 All programs scored 90% or above. The following scored 95% or above:

CVTC

Kingsprings

Sparmill

Tusculum

* Scored 100%

October 2013 All programs scored 89% or above. The following scored 95% or above:

Creekside

*Day Program

Green Terrace

Maplewood

Meadowbrook

Mountain Terrace

Oakhaven

Rockhaven

Springfield

Spruce Pine

Sunrise

Sun Valley

Viking Circle

Willow

Wooded Heights

Woodlawn

Wykle

* Scored 100%

House Inspections

Once again the folks at the Cocke County Fair have graciously opened their gates to Comcare and provided us with a fantastic afternoon of fun, thrilling rides and delicious food. We really appreci-ate their hospitality.

Special Olympic Bocce Ball Team

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