Oak Ridge Today

Hospital discharge options to be discussed Sept. 18

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Meg Tonne

Meg Tonne, parish nurse at First Presbyterian Church, will moderate a panel on hospital discharge options on Sept. 18.

Imagine you’re in the hospital for five days. You receive medications, diagnostic tests, and other hospital services, and you have Medicare.

Then, when your doctor wants to send you to a skilled nursing facility like NHC, you find out you’re classified as “outpatient observation.” Medicare will not cover your stay at such a facility unless you’ve been in the hospital for three nights as an inpatient.

After you’ve been discharged from the hospital and taken home, your son decides to hire a private caregiver for you. The caregiver does not work for a licensed home-assistance agency.

The caregiver, who is not bonded and has not had a background check, steals your expensive jewelry, camera, and some cash, but you can’t prove it. Your son fires the caregiver and hires a contract worker with a licensed agency.

The new caregiver hurts her back lifting you. Could you be sued? How can you avoid getting in such bad situations?

“When you are discharged from the hospital, you face many choices when your stress levels are high and time is limited,” said Meg Tonne, parish nurse at the church who coordinates the luncheons. “You may not understand what the options are for different levels of care and whether you qualify for the level you think you need.” [Read more…]

Bats: Friend or foe? Find out Sept. 4

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Bats are the topic of a free, interactive program on Thursday, September 4. Starting with a presentation at 7 p.m. and ending with a field demonstration with bat detectors, spotlights, and a thermal imaging camera by Melton Hill Lake, the evening will provide ample evidence that bats are friends, a press release said.

Although they sometimes suffer from a poor public image, bats are extremely beneficial animals: They are major predators of night-flying insects. Bat specialist Gerry Middleton, a biologist with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, is the presenter.

Following his 7 p.m. talk and a question and answer period, participants will adjourn to the marina on Melton Hill Lake for a field demonstration: Gerry will use his “bat detectors” (which detect echolocation calls) to help spot the nocturnal creatures as they forage for insects at dusk. He’ll also bring a spotlight and a thermal imaging camera to help participants see bats after dark. [Read more…]

Honors: Girl Scouts awarded grants

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Joyce Maienschein and Miriam Ryburne

Ambassador Girl Scout Miriam Ryburne, pictured with Joyce Maienschein, has been awarded a Joyce Maienschein Leadership Grant of financial support for the service project she created to help needy children in the USA and in Indonesia. (Submitted photo)

 

The Girl Scout Council of the Southern Appalachians has announced recent recipients of Leadership Grants to provide financial support for community service projects. The grant winners, middle- and high-school-age Girl Scouts, have each created and are leading a different community project.

Miriam Ryburne, daughter of Oak Ridgers Nan Shugart and Mark Cantley, organized and taught a team of people to make hand-knitted items for an all-girls orphanage in Indonesia, as well as for six other organizations, including the Florence Crittenden Agency and East Tennessee Children’s Hospital.

Allison Campbell, of Knoxville, is upgrading the East Tennessee Children’s Hospital doctors’ waiting room, designing and printing activity books for the children, and gathering immediate needs for patients.

Sierra Turner of Chattanooga is collecting CD players and CDs for cancer patients at Children’s Hospital at Erlanger. [Read more…]

Vacation Bible School at First Presbyterian on June 12-13

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“Abundant Life” is the theme of the free Vacation Bible School at First Presbyterian Church of Oak Ridge. The VBS will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Thursday and Friday, June 12-13, in the Activities building.

“Learning to care about God’s creation will be our emphasis,” said Karissa Stewart, director of youth and children’s ministries at First Presbyterian.

Parents may drop off their children ranging in age from pre-K to fourth grade between 8 and 9 a.m. and pick them up between 4 and 5 p.m.

The children will learn about creation through crafts, music, games, and storytelling. Volunteers are needed to assist with the crafts and games. Call (865) 483-1318 to register your child for the VBS.

Coffeehouse features local talent, new guitar class to benefit Free Medical Clinic

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Nicolas Cagle

Nicolas Cagle

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Guitars are being restrung, duos are reuniting, and vocal chords are being stretched yet again for the first coffeehouse of the summer.

Coffeehouse veteran Nicolas Cagle is especially excited to be performing for this fundraising series, now in its third summer. A recent graduate from Clinton High School, Nic wins over audiences with his big personality and vocal style. His vocal sound is unique in that he has a crooning quality that some say is reminiscent of ’50s great Buddy Holly.

Nic will be attending the University of Tennessee Knoxville in the fall, and plans on devoting much of his summer to not only performing at the coffeehouses, but teaching a new generation of performers as well at First Presbyterian Church.

An accomplished songwriter and guitarist, Nic will be leading a free guitar class for the next three weeks from 6:30-7:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays for young performers. Just as the swing dancing initiative last summer was created to give high school and college students another creative outlet and place to gather, the guitar workshop hopes to do the same. [Read more…]

Combined choirs to sing ‘Sunrise Mass’ Sunday

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Anna Thomas and Andrew Duncan

Anna Thomas, FPC music director, will conduct the first half of the concert, and Andrew Duncan, FUMC music director, will conduct the four-movement “Sunrise Mass.” (Submitted photo)

The combined choirs of First Presbyterian and First United Methodist churches will sing the “Sunrise Mass” by Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo during a concert on Sunday, May 18, at 6:30 p.m. at First United Methodist Church.

String players from the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra and FUMC’s Sandi Henry on piano will accompany the choirs. The 32-minute symphony mass will be performed in the second half of the concert.

The first half of the concert will include choral music by various composers, including “Ave Verum Corpus” by W.A. Mozart, Dan Forrest’s setting of John Wesley’s “Covenant Prayer,” and Mack Wilberg’s arrangement of Isaac Watts’ version of Psalm 23, as well as works by Kevin Siegfried, Philip R. Dietterich, and Stephen Paulus. [Read more…]

Biblical scholar to give science, religion talk on Sunday

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Stan Saunders

Stan Saunders

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The topic for the 11th annual Jackson B. Davidson Memorial Lecture on Science and Religion will be “A Dwelling Place for God: Recovering the Forgotten Story of God, Humankind, Temple, and Creation.”

Stanley Saunders, associate professor of New Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Ga., will deliver the lecture at 7 p.m. Sunday, April 27, in the sanctuary of First Presbyterian Church, 1051 Oak Ridge Turnpike (at Lafayette Drive).

Refreshments will be served after the lecture, and childcare will be provided during and after the free talk.

“Modern, western Christians typically presume that Christian salvation entails escape from our bodies and this earth, so that we can dwell with God in an ethereal heavenly realm,” Saunders said. “The New Testament, on the other hand, much more clearly affirms a vision of God coming to dwell with us.” [Read more…]

Helen Ross McNabb coordinator to discuss Safe Place outreach on Monday

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Safe Place Logo

The residential program coordinator for the Helen Ross McNabb Center will discuss Safe Place outreach efforts of businesses and community volunteers during a Monday evening meeting in Oak Ridge.

Desiree Miller will be the guest speaker at a Monday evening meeting of Parents, Family, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, or PFLAG, at the First Presbyterian Church of Oak Ridge, a press release said.

“Miller will share information about Safe Place outreach efforts of businesses and community volunteers in the Knoxville area seeking to establish a network of easily accessible places (schools, fire stations, libraries, youth-friendly businesses, etc.) to which children and teens can turn when they are in need of help,” the press release said. [Read more…]

AAUW talk to focus on legacy, challenge of women’s suffrage

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Wanda Sobieski

Wanda Sobieski

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“The Legacy and the Challenge of Women’s Suffrage” will be the subject of a talk by Knoxville attorney Wanda Sobieski during a Monday meeting of the Oak Ridge Branch of AAUW, the American Association of University Women.

The meeting starts at 11:30 a.m. Monday at First Presbyterian Church, Room 102.

Sobieski—who established her law firm, Sobieski, Messer, and Associates in 1993, after having practiced law with Baker, Worthington, Crossley, Stansberry, and Woolf—was instrumental in organizing the Suffrage Coalition, which funded the statues of the three Suffragests: Lizzie Crozier Franch, Anne Dallas Dudley, and Elizabeth Avery Meriweather, which stand in Market Square in Knoxville. [Read more…]

Free coffee concert Sunday features double bass, piano

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The Oak Ridge Civic Music Association will present a free Coffee Concert at 7:30 p.m. Sunday in the First Presbyterian Church sanctuary, located at the corner of Lafayette and Oak Ridge Turnpike.

Preston Davis will perform on double bass along with Will Yager on double bass and Pam Robertson on piano.

They will perform Bach’s “Double Violin Concerto” arranged for double bass and piano, as well as G. Bottesini’s “Passiona Amorosa.” Their musical selection will also include performing other double-bass arrangements.

Presbyterian leader to preach in Oak Ridge on Feb. 23

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J. Herbert Nelson II

J. Herbert Nelson II

The Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson II, director of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Office of Public Witness in Washington, D.C., will be the preacher at the Feb. 23 Sunday worship service at First Presbyterian Church of Oak Ridge.

The Office of Public Witness implements the social justice agenda of the General Assembly of PC(USA) through advocacy with leaders of the executive and legislative branches of the federal government.

For 68 years, Nelson said, this office has been “speaking truth to power.” He believes that grassroots organizing can influence the political sphere in today’s globalized culture. [Read more…]

Violin concert on Saturday will help ADFAC

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Aaron Colverson

Aaron Colverson

Aaron Colverson, a classically trained violin soloist, will play a mix of contemporary and classical music during a Saturday night fundraising concert in Oak Ridge.

The music from Africa, combined with the Appalachian music, will be followed by music from China and from music’s Classical era.

The coffee concert starts at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at First Presbyterian Church in Oak Ridge. It’s presented by the Oak Ridge Civic Music Association, and it will feature visual imagery along with the music.

The concert is free, but donations of $5 or more are suggested. All proceeds will benefit Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties, or ADFAC. [Read more…]