Agency's Disabled Workers

Are A Big Help For Company

By DOUGLAS WATSON

Managing Editor

A Greeneville company, Fit Rite Medical, which markets medical legwear, had a big order last fall from Bi-Lo, a major supermarket and pharmacy chain in the Southeast.

To fill that order, Fit Rite, which only has three people in its headquarters here, turned for assistance to the local Tennessee Rehabilitation Center.

The TRC, whose facility here is at 241 Baileyton Road, is a non-profit organization. TRC tells businesses, "We are a United Way agency that can greatly reduce your costs while helping our clients achieve gainful employment."

In a flyer it provides companies, the Tennessee Rehabilitation Center asks, "Are you paying skilled workers to perform unprofitable work?"

Michelle Keffer is manager of the TRC facility.

TRC says it can perform the following services for industries: small assembly, labeling, collating, mailing, packaging, sorting, bagging and quality control to separate bad parts.

Cathy Cannon and Debbie McAmis, Fit Rite's co-owners, this week praised the work that was done promptly and efficiently by TRC's workers, who are physically or mentally disabled but have shown they can be productive.

Prepared 40,000 Packages

To meet the large order of medical legwear that was placed by Bi-Lo, they said, about 25 TRC workers completed the complicated packaging procedures needed to send out more than 40,000 packages of medical legwear.

TRC workers are officially described as "people with physical, emotional or mental disabilities."

Byron Hansel, the TRC's workshop supervisor, said of those he supervises, "Every one of them was able to do some part of the project."

He said about half of TRC's current 25 workers are adults, while the other half are persons under 21 years of age.

Also prepared for shipment at the local TRC facility were accompanying attractive display and marketing materials designed by Clint Estep, with Triad Packaging, Inc., which has one of its three offices in Bristol.

About Fit Rite Medical

Fit Rite Medical, located at 911 Tusculum Blvd., is a young company that opened here about two years ago to sell medical legwear. It is a sister firm of Southeastern Medical, another company owned and operated by Cannon.

Southeastern for the previous 12 years had been selling medical legwear as well as orthopaedic and surgical supplies.

She said Fit Rite has about 15 persons doing distribution around the country as well as some 25 sales representatives.

Cannon said Fit Rite at first was selling its products mainly to hospitals and other medical facilities.

However, she said, now Fit Rite's products are available in a number of retail locations, including the pharmacies at Food City supermarkets.

Cannon and McCamis said they didn't consent to an interview for the article to talk about their company.

Rather, they emphasized, they wanted to praise the assistance the local Tennessee Rehabilitation Center's workers gave -- and continue to give -- Fit Rite, and to recommend TRC to other businesses with similar needs.