ETTC at Oilpatch Kiwanis Club

Kiwanis President Amelia Free and member Lewis Copeland discuss the work of the East Texas Treatment Center with the center’s Public Relations Director Merlyn Holmes. Holmes spoke to Kilgore’s newest service organization Friday about the services provided by the center. By BRENDA ALLUMS

news1@kilgorenewsherald.com

East Texas Treatment Center (ETTC) is not a drug rehabilitation facility but provides outpatient rehabilitation services in a number of other areas.

Merlyn Holmes, director of marketing for ETTC, spoke to the Kilgore Oilpatch Kiwanis Breakfast Club recently.

“Our services include rehabilitation for burns, strokes, heart attacks, among other areas,” Holmes.

The center, which has been in operation for 55 years, is located at 1200 Dudley Road. It is a comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation facility designed to get the patients to their highest possible level of independence within the limits of their disability by providing quality therapy services.

“It’s hard to believe that a center of our caliber is located in Kilgore,” she said. “This is just another indication of how progressive Kilgore is.”

Holmes said the center was originally started to take care of polio victims.

“The center began as a dream of a small group of citizens who wanted to better the East Texas community by making available local physical therapy services for individuals suffering from cerebral palsy and other physical handicaps,” Holmes said.

The center was created by the Rev. Eugene Harris whose daughter, Caren Jean, was stricken with cerebral palsy.

“Although our name and services have changed over the years, one thing has remained constant .. our commitment to meeting the rehabilitation needs of all East Texans,” Holmes said.

She said the center averaged providing $100,000 annually in free treatments.

“Our policy is not to turn anyone away,” she said. “As a non-profit organization, funding is becoming hard to come by. We’re have to spread the dollars farther.”

The center depends on funding from organizations such as the United Fund of Kilgore, United Way of Tyler/Smith County, United Way of Rusk County, Hallsville United Fund and Gladewater United Fund, as well as gifts from other organizations and individuals.

The center also conducts fund-raisers to augment its budget. The annual golf tournament is one of the center’s main fundraisers.

Services include physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, audiology services, cardiac rehabilitation, prosthetic services, orthotic services, social services and an Arthritis Foundation Aquatic Program.

“Our certified volunteers lead aquatic exercise classes, offering patients a low impact program directed and improving and maintaining general fitness,” Holmes said.

Prosthetic services are for patients who have lost a limb or a portion of a limb due to trauma, disease or congenital deformity.

“Neal’s Prosthetics provides on-site prosthetic fabrication and fitting services to meet the patient’s needs,” she said.

Orthotic services refers to the fabrication and/or fitting of an orthopedic appliance or apparatus “to support, align, prevent or correct deformities or to improve function of movable parts of the body,” Holmes said. “Custom Care Bracing provides on-site services for these patients.”

News Herald Photo by Brenda allums