Arc of the Ozarks

Clint Girlie sits down with Tim Dygon and Dr. Kyle John from Arc of the Ozarks to discuss Autism Awareness Month, as well as Arc of the Ozarks' new Autism and Neurodevelopmental Center.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Well, hello and welcome to ashow that we call iHeart the Ozarks.
My name is Clint gurley On,the vice president of Programming here at iHeartRadio
and Springfield, and I'm excited thatyou're here for this show. You know,
every Sunday afternoon or morning, weget together and spend thirty minutes getting
to know either a group, organization, sometimes just an individual. All of
the groups or individuals have the samething in common though, they're all doing

(00:21):
a ton of good for our community. And excited today because we have a
couple folks from Arc of the Ozarksto talk, not just because this is
is it Autism Awareness Month? Isthat the one that's correct? Yeah,
but also some really really exciting thingshappening for our friends at Arc of the
Ozarks, so joining me. It'sawesome to have him back because he was

(00:43):
great the first time. Big bigshoes or big expectations to live up to
Tim, that's a weird word forme because no one's ever had any expectations
of me, you know, soI never have to deal with that.
But Tim Diegan's the executive vice president. I'm glad you're back, man,
Thanks for doing this. Thank you, and doctor Kyle John is the medical
director. Did you do this before, doctor, Oh, I think I've

(01:06):
been on before. Awesome, Well, because I don't remember. Quiet Yeah,
but I don't remember, And thatmeans you have zero expectations for you.
So you're going into this just atclean slate. It's going to be
great. I'm excited to talk toyou guys because I think it was last
year we joined you guys in Monettefor a golf tournament. We had a

(01:27):
ton of fun down there was meand a couple of co workers and some
bodies and enjoyed that time. Iknow you have another golf tournament coming up
here in a few weeks. Butin promoting or helping to promote the golf
tournament, I learned more than Iever knew about Arc of the Ozarks.
And so now that I've like kindof dove into it, all of a

(01:47):
sudden, you guys have this brandnew center and I mean some really really
exciting stuff. So it's kind oflike almost a yearly catch up at this
point. I want to know what'sgoing on at Arc of the Ozarks and
whatever direction, and you guys wantto go right off the top here.
You feel free to just do that. What's going on at ourk of the
Ozarks. You know, we've beenvery excited about you know, last time

(02:07):
we talked to you about beginning theopening up the center. So we worked
for years and years and years franally, the dream came to fruition on January
tewod we opened the doors to ourAutism neuro Development Center. This center provides
over five hundred multi DII plenty evaluationsfor autism every year, as well as
ongoing therapies which include occupational therapy,speech therapy, feeding therapy, physical therapy,

(02:30):
counseling, group counseling, medication andmanagement, and international psychiatry. So
it's been amazing to get this offthe ground. We're really at the doors
open and our phones rereading off thehook. There's a ton of need.
But we're very proud, not onlybecause we're able to do this, but
we felt like we feel like we'remeeting in an incredible need in Springfield in

(02:53):
Southwesternsuri and we want to be theanswer to the parents' calls and we want
to be the provider that is therefor them and they need need help.
So it's been very exciting. Kylewill talk about details but we finally have
it off the ground and it's buzzing. Clint. I would add, what's
exciting about this center, which Timmentioned has been in the works for years,

(03:15):
actually started maybe ten twelve years agoas a as a partnership between the
Arc of the Ozarks and Mercy andMissouri State. And I mean it started
off assessing kids, maybe two tofour kids a month, and it limped
along, limped along, and finallyTim and the other leaders here at the

(03:36):
ARC were able to secure some financingfrom our state government to renovate and open
our new building here. We're prettyclose to Battlefield in Kansas, and it's
exciting. Is Tim mentioned that,you know, going from two to four
kids a month to five hundred ayear, so that's ten you know,
our goal is at ten a week. We're shooting to us ten kids a

(04:00):
week, most of whom have beenon a waiting list for years, you
know, certainly six months, ifnot twelve, eighteen or twenty four months,
waiting to get their diagnosis or not. And the reason that's such a
big deal, Clint, is thatin the world of autism and neuro developmental
disorders, without a diagnosis, youoften are cut off from certain therapies that

(04:25):
a child or a family may need. And so while here at the ARC,
we don't wait. We don't putyou on a wait list and make
you wait that long to get yourdiagnosis. We welcome you in. We
start our assessment. If we cantell right from the beginning, oh,
this child needs some speech therapy,or this kid needs to go see one
of the child psychiatrists or nurse practitioners, whatever it is, we get them.

(04:48):
We get that going immediately as wegather all the data that we need
from the family, from the primarycare doctor and from any other specialists or
testing that may have already been completed. And when we bring all that information
together with our multidisciplinary team that's ledby doctor Lindsay Reichert. And when I
say multidisciplinary, some people may think, well, what is that, Well,

(05:11):
it means we have a psychologist,a speech therapist, an occupational therapist,
ABA therapist, and a nurse practitionerall on our team, along with
the PhD the psychologist, all workingtogether to make that diagnosis, looking at
that information and then eventually doing thatcompleting that definitive exam called the ados ADS

(05:35):
and determining whether that child indeed hasautism or something else like a speech or
language disorder, maybe they just haveADHD. Whatever it is, we're able
to diagnose that and get that childfurthered in their therapy. So it's a
huge deal to have a center likethis that Tim mentioned with a goal of

(06:00):
five hundred evaluations a year, andit's also a one stop shop, so
families can come here for their evaluation, their diagnosis, and their and their
therapy. And that's not to implythat we we have the staff to treat
the entire region, but we doprovide the services that many of these children
need, from psychiatric services to occupationaltherapy, speech therapy, physical therapy,

(06:25):
feeding therapy, a BA. Wewe do a number of therapies that that
depending on the child particular strengths andweaknesses, they may need to be successful.
So it's exciting to have a newbuilding. It's exciting to have all
of these services under one roof,and we become the seventh state certified autism

(06:47):
center in the state of Missouri andreally fill a huge void down in southwest
Missouri. I mean, our patients, our families from this area have to
go to Kansas City, Columbia orSaint Louis to get to get diagnosis and
often services. So we're excited toreally ramp that up here in our part
of the state. That's doctor KyleJohn, he's the medical director at ARK

(07:10):
at the OZAR. Actually heard TimDagon before. Here we are at the
tail end of Autism Awareness Month,and I'm a big believer. And there
are facts and then there are truth. Is it right? So as you're
speaking, I hear the fact iswe could before only do a very small
number of assessments and now we're doingso many more because of the center.

(07:38):
But it also implies, just usingthe facts, that oh my gosh,
is autism becoming a bigger deal forour community. But that's not the truth
is it is the truth that it'salways been a pretty big deal. I
mean, what are we talking asfar as population and the need for autism
screenings? Yeah, I think ifyou look at the latest cities surveillance data,

(08:03):
they asked me about one in thirtysix children around the age of they'd
have autism. Wow, in Missouri. I think it's closer to one and
sixty the latest data. But theneed is tremendous. We know that it's
even more tremendous than we thought itwas opening. And there's a lot of
evidence that autism awareness is helping,you know, these individuals that oftentimes were

(08:24):
missed, especially girls or older individualsthat just weren't caught earlier. Now that
there's more awareness, they're seeking careand seeking that evaluation. But I would
argue, for certain there is anincrease. We can see that in our
own programs. We know there's anincrease. Experts don't know why, but
it does seem like there is anincrease there. Obviously, increased awareness is

(08:46):
an impacting that, but we certainlysee that there is an increase that not
anyone really knows why. Wow.Well, I mean that's that's yeah,
Clint. I would add to whatKim said that the two theories about why
has the number of kids with autism, you know, increased from one in
one hundred or even higher, downto one in thirty six nationwide, And

(09:11):
Tim's right, we don't really know. Two thoughts. We have more people
who are trained to screen, andby that I mean are wonderful partners primary
care partners, pediatricians and family physicianswho are now screening kids at certain ages
on their well child checks, theirwell baby checks looking for the symptoms of
autism. So that's been huge thatwe're screening more regularly, and then there

(09:35):
are more people who are trained torecognize the symptoms and to diagnose. The
di gnostic criteria themselves have been broadeneda little bit over time, so that
may be that may be adding toit. But you know, we often
get questions like was it because Ihad my children my child vaccinated, or

(09:56):
was it because you know, weI don't know we practice this particular dietary
pattern, or you know, wedon't really know. We know that genetics
are involved because we do see recurrentcases of autism within families. I've treated
a family where five children all hadsome level of autism, so we know

(10:20):
there's a genetic component. The otherreally kind of well researched study, interestingly
on risk factors is as older ageof the parents, including the father.
So having an older mother and fatherincreases your risk for autism. But outside
of that, we really don't know. But we're excited the fact that we

(10:41):
have more people screening and alerting thespecialists to the availability of a full exam,
and we're not the only game intown. I would be remiss if
I said this is the only placeto come there or other good organizations in
the area that are completing autism assessments, and we're thankful for that. This

(11:03):
is not a competition. There somuch need out there. If we do
our job well, we'll be thedestination of some of families from around the
state of Missouri coming down to southwest Missouri for an aval because we can
get them in more quickly. Butwe are certainly glad to join those other
organizations in Springfield and surrounding areas thathave been, you know, attempting to

(11:26):
complete this work, and we're gladto jump in with with Gusto if you
will in a big way. Youmentioned you know that there are some signs,
right, things that you guys arescreaming for, things that from a
very early age, you know,general practitioners or pediatricians are looking for.
And being that it is Autism AwarenessMonth, are there some things, as

(11:52):
say, parents or friends of peoplewho have younger children that I don't know,
maybe like a little toolkit of whatto look for or maybe some signs,
maybe some things that you could passalong that are just kind of amateur
not trying to diagnose anyone, butcertainly something to look out for. Are
there things there? Yeah, Clint, there absolutely is. And I learned

(12:13):
early in my career to never dismissthe concerns of a parent doctor, mom,
doctor dad. You know, nobodyknows their child better than a parent.
So as a provider, if aparent comes in and says, you
know, I think there may besomething wrong with my child. I'm not
sure what it is, but I'mworried. You know, unless it's a

(12:33):
first time parent that has no experiencedparenting and they just may need some additional
education about oh, this is apretty normal thing for a baby to you
know, to stool this many timesa day, or to whatever the issue
is. You know, there couldbe some general education. But when a
parent has a concern that should setoff alarms for most providers that they stop

(12:54):
and listen and go, okay,this is an opportunity for me to listen
and then do a greening a valveso those those well child are well baby
checks, Clint, come with certainmilestones that children should be meeting, you
know, whether it is a languagebased milestone like one word by one year,
two words by two years, soon and so forth, whether it

(13:16):
is a motor milestone, crawling,you know, attempting to stand, whatever,
other things Like I gaze, solooking at a parent, looking them
in the eye, seemingly to respondto something. So you know, if
the mom or dad leans over thecrib and is cooing and you know,

(13:37):
using the baby talk googo gaga,is the child looking at them, making
eye contacts, smiling, seeming toreact to that or are they oblivious to
it? Do they you know,do they act like you're not even there?
Heck, that could be a visionthing, could be a hearing thing,
or it could be an early signof autism. So so if the
child isn't responding in a way thatit seems normal in terms of visuals,

(14:01):
sometimes will use this phrase joint attention. So you hold up the squeaky toy
and you squeak it, and youthink the child's going to you know,
their eyes are going to get bigand they're going to react. Maybe they'll
smile, maybe they'll be scared,who knows, but like, oh my
gosh, what did you do?And they look at the toy and they
look at you like, I thinkthat noise came from that toy. Those

(14:22):
are the kinds of things that you'relooking for early on. And if kids
really act like they're in their ownworld, they don't want to make eye
contact with a parent, they're seeminglykind of oblivious to things going around,
those would be concerns. It doesn'talways mean autism, but it means you
need to go to your primary careprovider and say, hey, I'm not
sure this is normal or not,but I want you to help me figure

(14:46):
it out. That's some fantastic information. That's doctor Coyle John from Mark of
the Ozarks. Tim Daigan also joiningus from Market of the Ozarks. He's
the executive vice president. I gota buddy who just recently moved back into
the area. I said the areabecause he's I think a Kimberling's he's working
with Arc of the Ozarks in Monetteand some of the other areas, and
it just kind of hit me.We were having lunch the other day and

(15:07):
I was like, oh my gosh, Arc of the Ozarks is kind of
everywhere. Tim, Like, youguys are, yes, you have this
neurodevelopment and autism center you just openedup, which is really really exciting,
But I mean Arc of the Ozarksis really all over the entire Ozarks.
And it's more than just autism screenings, right, I mean, you guys
do so much. Yeah, youknow, our mission is to support individuals

(15:31):
with disabilities and directing their own livesas valued members of the community. And
really we do that in a numberof ways. But if you think of
services or people disabilities, we providepretty much everything, everything from a summer
camp to long term service and supports, which includes people living on their own
homes with us providing twenty four toseven staffing. We have officers our clinic,
we have support in their people's ownhomes. We have in home supports

(15:54):
as well as a day service program, and much much more. We actually
have about sixteen hundred staff that workfor us at the ARK. Now we
have three main areas in Southwestern's areaand Springfield obviously, Monette and Joplin,
so we have a big presence inthat area, and then we also have
a branch in Kansas City. We'veactually just perched new building in Kansas City.

(16:17):
We're going to occupy about fifteen thousandsquare feet. We're getting ready to
expand service significant in the Kansas Cityarea. But yeah, things are exciting
and happening here. We're growing.There's so much need and we want to
be that provider that can provide everythingfrom early intervention to support through the lifespan.
You know, people, I thinkwhat's really cool at organization Sometimes we

(16:37):
have kids that come in very youngget our services, and then we can
also make sure we provide people throughend of life. You know, we
have people that may receive long termservice supports their entire life and live with
us until the longer. Here.Have you guys find or found it difficult
to hire within the last couple ofyears. I know that's been kind of
a thing for a lot of businesses, nonprofits alike. Absolutely, and there's

(17:02):
a big burden on us because we'revery labor intensive. You know, we
provide all of our services through people, and it is it is incredibly difficult.
I think we're very fortunate and blessedin this area though. You know,
we were starting our starting pays attwenty dollars an hour and that's been
a big boost. You know,the legislature in Missouri invested heavily in our
services supports for the entire state forall providers like us, and we're able

(17:26):
to raise that wage significantly. That'sbeen amazing for us. We're able to
recruit much more staff. But ifyou look at it the long term and
the short term and the short term, it's been great. And the long
term, we know the trajectory forneed is tremendous and there's not enough people
to do the work. We haveto be more creative and thoughtful about how
we provide the services that are alittle less labor intensive, and we do

(17:47):
some of those things. We havea program called Remote Supports. So what
it is is basically we use technologythat supplants staff. So let's you know,
if there's maybe three clients living ina home together and they normally have
one overnight staff there every night fromeleven p ot to seven am. What
Remote Supports allows us to do isput sensors and technology in the home,
things like formats even or bed mattsto see if they they're still sleeping.

(18:11):
There's sensors in the home to helpprotect There's even where they can push a
button and talk to some staff onthe overnight. So instead of having a
physical staff in the home, weput technology in the home where they can
still connect to staff and be safeand talk to somebody but they also increase
their level of independence so they don'thave to have a staff in their home,
and we're able to actually serve peoplein that program and sometimes like a
one to sixteen ratio one to twelveratio instead of a one to one to

(18:33):
three. So that's been tremendous,and I think we'll continue to see those
technologies advance and for us to allownot only more independence and a greater degree
of people having no control of theirlives, but also less staff. Why
this may be one of the dumbestquestions I've ever asked. Yeah, let's
chalk it up to I was sickall last week and I could barely even

(18:55):
do this show today, and I'mnot normally very good even when I'm healthy.
So let's just bear with me.If there are folks in this area
who are suffering from from intellectual disabilities, physical disabilities, whatever the case may
be, and they have been inthe care in one form or another of

(19:17):
Ark of the Ozarks from an earlyage to now into adult life, and
will more than likely need that carethrough end of life, whether it's through
the Ozarks or somebody else, whyis trying to foster a spirit of independence?
For these individuals such an important thing. Yeah, you know, it's

(19:41):
our core values speak highly to ourability and as an organization to empower individual
disabilities. We want to do theirpresent in the community, to be valued,
to be respected, to be heard, and I think sometimes the best
way to do that is to investin their independence to allow them. You
know, individuals can what this bioscan learn and they can grow and they
can become more independent, and wewant to challenge the norm and make sure

(20:03):
that we can do that. ButI think more than anything, it's very
helpful for an individual to achieve thatlevel of independence, whether it's learning to
cook their own meal, or beingwithout staff for periods of a day,
or being on their own with maybetwenty hours of staffing a week instead of
living in a home was stapped allthe time. We're always pushing an envelope
because we believe it's best for theindividual to be as it independence as possible.

(20:27):
It's our core values, it's ourmission and we view that as a
way of progress. And everyone's different. You know, some individuals may require
the use of a wheelchair to ambulate, but we can always do things help
them become more dependent around the house. You know, whether it's instead of
a manual wheelchair, or they havean electric wheelchair, or if they have

(20:47):
issues grasping utensils, we can actuallyget modified utensils from me to be able
to feed themselves. So it's avery very individualized plant. But the core
of the issue is to push independenceas much as possible degree that's safe,
because we believe that's best for theperson. It's Tim Daigon from Mark of
the Ozarks. He's the executive vicepresident. We're also joined by doctor Kyle

(21:08):
John who's a medical director at Arkof the Ozarks. We've got about ten
minutes left of this show today,and by the way, if you're listening,
thank you for being here. Thisis iHeart the Ozarks. I'm excited
to learn a ton and already havein the last twenty minutes about arka of
the Ozarks. If you're just nowgetting here, these episodes are available on
our podcast after the Facts, soyou can go to iHeart Radio on your

(21:30):
phone there and look up iHeart theOzarks. This episode's up probably already with
now less than ten minutes left becauseI can't stop myself from talking. Apparently,
how can we the non arc ofthe Ozarks employed public help you all
further your mission. I have aquick question for you. First quent,

(21:51):
how does your team do the lastyear's golf tournament. I don't remember.
I was heavily medicated at the time. I don't think we did well.
Here's the thing. We're not great. We're not great at the golf tournament.
We also brought out I brought outa body of mine from the other
side of media in Town TV.And I love Joey Robertson's death, but

(22:15):
I will throw her under the bus. She is a golf rookie. She's
not great. I was supposed tobe Tom Turton, but he backed out
at the last minute, so wegot Joy who I love, but again,
not great, and we didn't dowell. All right, you know
the challenge I think, I thinkyou know. One of the ways that
you can help us is I thinkthe the Ozarks team that we're going to

(22:37):
put in our next golf tournament wouldprobably be your team. Okay, we're
about your rookies, all right,I thinking I think that's the case.
But to answer your question specifically,you know, we have a We do
a number of events both for awarenessbut also to raise money We have an
event coming up, a golf tournamentactually Monday, May twentieth, starts at
eight am shotgun start at River Cut. Yeah, and we are raising money

(23:00):
to really invest heavily in our newautism center for families who can't afford it
and people who are in need.So all this all the proceeds will go
directly to the Autism Center. Golftournament coming up, very very exciting,
and that's that's definitely one of theways you can help. We have a
number of events you can sponsor,and we always accept donations. But even
people that are ambassadors for people disabilities, I think sometimes the general public ask,

(23:26):
hey, how can I help.It's really being aware of the need
and knowing that sometimes when you don'tmeet people disabilities, you just you just
don't know they're there. You don'tyou haven't met them, they're not in
your your circles. Having the awarenessand the empathy and compassion to be to
be the ambassador is really really importantand tell people understand how they can help.
But the most the best way,let's the solf trinment. Glenn,

(23:49):
I think I think our team canprobably bet yours. Okay, well,
I will say going into it one. So we play volleyball, me and
a couple of guys and last game, this is not an exaggeration, last
game, one of the guys whoalso plays on our golf team broke his
toe. I re injured my mclin my left knee and my what is

(24:17):
it tennis elbow? Is that whatit's called? When I've had that for
like six months now, that's beena treat So we're a little banged up.
All right, I'm just gonna makeexcuses now. But also, doctor
Kyle John, would you mind takea look at this knee and this elbow
for me, because I would loveif we get this fixed up. Man.
You know, I don't think youwant a psychiatrist opinion about your knee
and l so you're a doctor.I just figured one way or the other

(24:40):
it's gonna be helpful. Come on. Well, you know normally my response
is and that looks like it reallyhurts. Yeah, And that's and I
love the empathy because I don't havea lot of that. My wife,
My wife is is a therapist whoworks at the VA and does trauma counseling
there and PTSD counseling, and Idon't listen to her when it comes to

(25:00):
that kind of thing. So ifthat's all you bringing to the table,
I'll limp my way through this golftournament and we'll finish probably minus two because
we'll get lucky a couple of times. Where can folks go? H And
I could talk about golf, bythe way, all day, I would
love to. But where can folksgo to get more information not just about
the new autism neurodevelopment center, butalso just ARC of the Ozarks in general.

(25:22):
Yeah, we have a website,uh, the Arc the Airsee of
the Ozarks dot org. And thenwe have a specific website for a new
center too, and it's Autism Centerof the Ozarks dot org. Okay,
so Autism Center of the Ozarks.Then just I would imagine googling Arc of
the Ozarks gives you a new yetbriefly, just out of my own curiosity,
why the expansion into Kansas City?Yeah, that's great question, you

(25:47):
know, For we serve some individualsthat have dual diagnosis, so sometimes they
may have an intellectual develivisability as wellas a psychiatric condition, and sometimes they're
very tough to serve it. There'scomplexity you need to have a clinic team
there to serve them. We wereinvited years ago to support individuals that have
dual diagnosis in Kansas City and westarted with four individuals in one home,

(26:10):
and then we expanded. We haveour fifty five individuals and residential services twenty
four seven services and we now supportand then we fell in love with the
region. There's a big need.There's a lot of eaton Kansas City.
There's a lot of people, andwe were just committed, you know that.
I think there's a lot of needand the ARCS always looking for ways
to further our mission and try tohelp more individuals, and we just felt

(26:30):
like at the time that it makescomplete sense for us to fill a need.
Awesome, Well, I'm glad Igot a couple of minutes here to
visit with you guys. I willsee you at the golf tournament May twentieth
at River Cut And there are stillsome teams available for that right like people
hearing this now, it can goto the website Arc of the Ozarks Online
and then be able to register throughthere. So that's exciting. But my

(26:52):
thanks to Tim Dagon, the executivevice president of Arc of the Ozarks,
as well as doctor Kyle John whocan't fix me physically established that, but
he's a medical director at Arc ofthe Ozarks. Thanks, thank you guys
both for doing this again. Forgiveme for you like the first people I've
talked to in a week, soyou're getting you're a rustbuster essentially like I'm

(27:14):
working it off here. But Ilove hearing about what you guys do.
I love what you guys do andvery excited, So once again, thank
you for joining me today. Youlistening if you are only catching a part
of this and would like to goback and hear the entire thing. We
got into a really nice talk andsome educational stuff about autism and this being
Autism Awareness Month, as well asthe new Autism and neuro Developmental Center,

(27:38):
which is a brand new Arc ofthe Ozarks thing here and it's much needed
and very much being taken advantage ofby the population here in town. So
some really great information at the beginningof this. You could search iHeart the
Ozarks on iHeart Radio and find thisepisode as well as all the back episodes
of this show. Promise I'm betterin those, but for myself. Clint
Gurley are friends from Mark of theark to the rest of our iHeartRadio staff,

(28:00):
thank you for listening, Have agreat rest of your day.