CLEVELAND, Tenn. – When the music starts each Tuesday afternoon at Bradley/Cleveland Services, all kinds of miracles can happen.
People who never get to lead find a whole room of people following their directions. A man who is silent most of the time steps forward to have a turn at the drums. The beat helps some remember important things, like phone numbers. Staff, clients and visitors alike just smile and enjoy a good time.
The music is just one of the many services the agency provides for people with intellectual disabilities in Bradley and Polk counties. With a staff that teaches workplace and living skills, provides health care and physical therapy for more than 170 people and operates a fleet of vehicles to move them about, Bradley/Cleveland Services is the county’s eighth-largest employer.
By the end of November the agency will have built two new medical residential homes, bought three other homes and expanded some of its campus facilities on Old Chattanooga Pike, said Dr. Luke Queen, CEO and executive director.
The efforts this summer and fall will have a lasting impact on the agency and its services, he said.
“We have been here since 1973, but we have never had 100 days like this,” Queen said.
Bradley/Cleveland Services offers extensive programs, including residential, employment, supportive living and community participation.
Many of its clients are placed in supportive employment in more than a dozen workplaces. Others participate in the agency’s Hunt Opportunity Center workshop, where local industries provide work.
The agency is the only one in Tennessee besides Chattanooga’s Orange Grove Center with a medical clinic. It has five physicians and 50 nurses, including 12 certified for developmental nursing, the most of any such agency in the state, Queen said.
But on a recent Tuesday, clients and staff alike were focused on music.
Gathered in a big room at the agency, clients played the drums – many bought with financial help from Dollywood – and sang and danced as musician and staff member Dr. Corky Alexander cheered them on. The clients sometimes perform for churches, civic groups, the county nursing home and Dollywood.
As the room filled with people and joyous music, Associate Director Allen Nope said a lot of things were happening. Music helps some learn or remember things.
For people with limited mobility, music helps them with dexterity exercises. Dancing and playing music teach social skills, and the happy sound just makes everybody feel good.
“Around here, small things are big things,” Nope said.
All those small things get collected into photos on a very large wall display in the lobby.
In large letters above the photos is the phrase, “Inspire Greatness.” That’s what the clients do, Queen said.
“The folks we serve inspire greatness in us,” he said.
One of those folks is Ritchie, whose father, Terry Tucker, was visiting last week.
“My wife and I were completely amazed when we found this place,” Tucker said. “You couldn’t possibly pay for all the services provided here. When we walked in here with Ritchie, it was electric. You could just feel the enthusiasm.
“Unless you are a parent of a handicapped child, it’s hard to understand the fear you have for them. That is not here,” he said.
The growth over so many years is a sign of community acceptance, he said.