- This month on The SPARK, our theme is "Healing and Transformation".

We'll learn about an animal shelter committed to providing healing and socialization to animals with a focus on fostering an adoption, a nonprofit transforming lives through summer camps that engage youth, college students and churches, and a brain and spine care practice that's a global leader in neurosurgery and neurology, focused on healing and improving lives.

We'll also share a special moment from our SPARK Awards 2024.

- From Higginbotham's founding in 1948, our insurance agency has been built on the values of customer service, leading with integrity and supporting our community.

We believe in promoting the positives, encouraging engagement, and leading by example to power the good.

Higginbotham Insurance and Financial Services is honored to be the presenting sponsor of The SPARK.

- (male announcer) Additional funding for The SPARK is provided by: United Way of the Mid-South, EcOp, The Memphis Zoo, My Town Movers, My Town Roofing, and by First Tee Tennessee Memphis.

- Have you ever been excited by a new idea, inspired by watching someone lead by example?

When we talk about creating change, we start by sharing the stories of everyday heroes who are making a difference in their own way so we can learn and do the same.

I'm Jeremy Park and this is The SPARK.

They're an animal shelter committed to providing healing and socialization to animals, with a focus on fostering and adoption.

We're here with the animal services manager with Germantown Animal Shelter, Lia Roemer-Oakley.

And let's start out.

Give us some background on Germantown Animal Shelter.

- Hi.

Hi, Jeremy.

The Germantown Animal Shelter functions both under animal control and animal shelter.

And so we take care of all the animals that come into our shelter and we're focusing on trying to have live outcomes where we're trying to get them adopted out, fostered out or rescued.

And so, you know, we're a city animal shelter.

And so we're gonna get also calls about loose animals in the Germantown area, and we'll respond to those locations and try to capture the animal safely and get 'em reunited to their owners.

- I know that you all have a waiting list, so talk about the size of the facility, the number of animals.

Give us an idea of capacity.

- We are the smallest shelter in the area, and so we are only able to intake or bring in new animals into our shelter three at a time.

Once they've gone through all the vetting with our partner vet, we can move them onto the adoptable animal side where we can hold about 12 canines.

We can hold about 25 cats.

And so, you know, that poses a delay when you have, can only hold three animals on the intake side at once.

That's including stray animals, any animals that we have captured, any animals that are going through a 10-day rabies quarantine, animals that are surrendered by pet owners who live in Germantown.

It can fill up pretty quickly.

- I know that healing is a big part of this.

And so talk about collaboration with the vets and also, too, talk about the healing process before you put 'em up for adoption or fostering.

- Our partner vet is Germantown Farmington Animal Hospital located on Exeter Road.

And they are, you know, our lifesavers.

They make sure that these animals are getting adequate medical care and that they're up to date on their shots and they're ready, they're sterilized, they're ready to become adopted and live in their forever homes.

And so some of the things that we'll do to get them ready is we will take the animals for walks, you know, through our team or through volunteers or socialize them.

And we really just want them to be able to behave in a way that makes them adoptable.

These dogs, we don't know their stories before they come to us, and they are healing.

And so we want them to have the best outcome.

You know, when they come through the doors of Germantown Animal Shelter, unknowing, not really, you know, sure of what their next steps are, we want them to leave and go to their forever families.

- Touch on the importance of fostering and adoption.

And I think it's, obviously, everyone, you know, should know the power of this.

But touch on the importance of fostering an adoption.

- We would not be able to function without the amazing fosters that we have.

We have a good foster network in the city of Germantown.

When we become at capacity, these fosters come out and they'll take the animal home.

We'll give them a kennel and food and supplies, make sure they're dewormed, a leash, a collar, and make sure that they have everything they need to be a successful foster.

Adopters are also very important.

These animals can't stay long-term in the shelter.

And so when you're making the decision to add a dog or cat to your family, it's so important to think of a shelter first.

We do meet and greets at the shelter.

We can simulate what it's like to have the dog in a living room or area that's more family-friendly because we have a meet and greet room.

We also use that room to introduce, you know, our shelter animals to your current pets.

If you have current pets, they will need to go through meet and greet to make sure they're a good fit for your home and for your family and for your current animals.

- Talk about how the community can help support Germantown Animal Shelter.

- One thing that the community can do is go ahead and go to the Friends of the Germantown Animal Shelter, which is located on Facebook and Instagram and give us a like.

We constantly are posting on there.

We're in the process of planning our next adoption event, which will be hopefully in May.

One way that you can get involved is through your child's school.

We see a lot of elementary schools coming to do tours at the shelter where they will read to the animals on Saturday, and the animals seem to really love it.

You can start a donation drive with your family, school, church, organization, and you can reach out to us to see what our current needs might be.

There's quite a bit of supplies that we run out of frequently.

We're gonna need nitrile gloves, we're gonna need Fancy Feast kitten pate, we're gonna need puppy pads and things like that.

And so you can just reach out to us.

Go to "Animal Shelter" at germantown-tn.gov and email us.

We'll send you a link, a list of things that we might need at the time.

Another way that you can get involved is to become a volunteer and come walk the animals and come cuddle kittens and come, you know, to the shelter on a Saturday or through the week during our volunteer hours.

And you can do that through going to Volunteer Odyssey, Germantown Animal Shelter.

- Wrap up with where we can go to learn more and get involved with Germantown Animal Shelter.

- You can email us at animalshelter@germantown-tn.gov.

You can go to Volunteer Odyssey to see where you can volunteer at and you can sign up for a registration through there.

There is the Germantown Animal Shelters located on the city of Germantown website.

And there's all of these information, all the connections and everything is listed on the city website.

And you can give us a call.

You can just call and ask us questions.

If technology's not your thing, you can call us at 757-7358 and ask us as many questions as you like.

- Well, Leah, thank you for you and your amazing team do to power the good.

Thank you for coming on the show.

- Thank you.

[upbeat music] - They're a nonprofit transforming lives through summer camps that engage youth, college students and churches.

We're here with the executive director of Project Transformation Tennessee Carrie Yoder.

And let's start out.

Give us a little bit of history for Project Transformation Tennessee.

- Oh, thank you so much for having us here, Jeremy, and the whole team.

Project Transformation Tennessee is a part of a national organization that was started in Dallas in the '90s and has landed in Tennessee since 2012.

And we operate, most primarily, we operate summer camps across Middle and West Tennessee, seeking to help connect kids and college-age young adults and churches together in relationships to really help children bridge the summer gap between school years as they maintain and improve their literacy and social emotional health.

Helping young adults connect to and discern what their vocation will be, build some soft skills that are best learned on the ground, and then helping our local community members connect to the children and the young adults in their communities.

And it's a project that we've been proud to run since 2012 and we'll continue to run for sure.

- And you have a camp in Memphis.

And so let's talk about the camp, let's talk about the model, because it's a very innovative model when you look at engaging children, college students and churches to build community.

So talk about the camp in Memphis.

Talk about the model.

- Our camp primarily is located in South Memphis at Centenary United Methodist Church, and they have been a proud partner with Project Transformation since 2016.

And our model is unique.

We believe that each group of people that we work with have unique challenges, and that by working together, they can alleviate each other's burdens through purposeful relationships.

So like I said, children, we know in the state of Tennessee, sixty percent of third graders aren't reading on grade level by the end of their third grade year.

This has to do with a lot of factors, but Project Transformation seeks to come alongside churches and schools and families to say, "Our kids need help, and we wanna be here to provide it."

So we work with volunteers to read with our children one-on-one every single day in our summer camp.

And they read with volunteers.

They do young artist programs where they explore themes like compassion and empathy and being a good leader and learner through art and through movement.

We provide meals for them through a partnership with the Shelby County school system for breakfast and lunch.

And then in the afternoon, they get free play and they get to do something we call Afternoon Adventures where they pick a topic and they explore it with their young adult paid intern.

And so it's really a beautiful program that is unique.

And while I mention our interns, we hire young adult college students to come in to build relationships with the young adults, or with the children, to work alongside each other, making the summer camp happen.

We provide them training and structure and curriculum, but they are the life-breath of our summer camp.

And then our model is our third group, is our churches or community members.

And they come in and they read with our kids and they cook meals for our young adults, and they really support our program through their volunteering, which then also allows them to grow in their life of serving in their community and meeting their neighbors.

- Touch on the feedback from each of those briefly.

- We come alongside children who are struggling to read or struggling to maintain their skills and help them build confidence in themselves and their ability to read, to build relationships with each other.

And those are crucial.

And our parents tell us, "My kid went back in the fall, "and they had so much more confidence in their ability to read."

And our children, we ask them when they come in and when they leave, "Are you a good reader?"

And every year we have an increase in the number of kids who say, "Yes, I can do this and I'm capable of learning."

And that just speaks volume about our program.

Our young adults are coming back to us every year.

It takes a couple of months 'cause when they leave us, they're exhausted.

But you give 'em about three months, and they're calling us on the phone, "That really changed my life, "and I really am opening my eyes to new opportunities that I never thought were possible."

Our young adults who served with us a decade ago appear in our office and want to tell us what's happening and what's going on.

And we love to hear those stories.

And then our churches, they always say, "I thought I was coming to serve the kids, "and instead, I learned and I grew in my life "and I got to know my neighbor.

We live in the same city, and I never even knew it."

And I think those are the most beautiful stories.

And our volunteers will maintain relationships with the young adults and they go to their weddings or their graduations and they support them throughout the year.

So we're a summer program that seeks to extend through the whole life.

- How can the community help support Project Transformation Tennessee?

- We have several ways.

One, if you wanna volunteer, you can contact us.

Our information is on the website.

There is, in fact, in Memphis this year, a community volunteer week that we are arranging.

And Therese can absolutely get you connected with that.

If you are not able to volunteer, of course, finances are always helpful.

Nonprofits in particular are struggling to maintain their funding.

And so individual donors are crucial to nonprofits, and we are not any different than that.

If money is hard and you wanna go shopping for a book, we have a wishlist that is filled with books that we will use this summer in Memphis, and supplies.

All of that is on our website.

And so all of those are just a few of the ways that the local people can get involved, and that is important to us and we need that.

- We'll wrap up with website.

Where do we go to reach out, connect with Project Transformation Tennessee?

- If you go to projecttransformation.org /tennessee, you will find all of our information about our statewide program, and, in particular, about Memphis.

And we hope that you will go, you will learn and you will get connected.

Because together, we can transform our communities.

- Well, Carrie, thank you for all you and your amazing team do to power the good.

Thank you for coming on the show.

- Thank you so much for having us.

[upbeat music] - The SPARK Awards annually recognize and celebrate individuals and organizations that have made outstanding contributions to the community.

The 2024 Education Educator Award went to Dr. Susan Elswick.

[inspirational music] - I'm Dr. Susan Elswick and I'm a professor at the University of Memphis in the School of Social Work.

I am currently a faculty director over ICHC and IIMPACT, as well as the director of the Smart Center.

So I'm really passionate about workforce development and ensuring that students have opportunities to enhance their skill sets for a couple of reasons.

One, we live in a healthcare shortage region here in the West Tennessee.

And so we don't have enough practitioners to serve the needs of the community.

And part of the reason that that's an issue is because students, once they graduate from college, have a really difficult time completing their licensure because it can be so costly.

And so what we hope to do through the University of Memphis clinics that we run is to not only provide a service to the community where we provide direct services to families in need, but also offer an opportunity for workforce development and training for our students.

Well, I really love what I do.

I love school-based practice, I love being a social worker, and our goal is to really enhance the community.

And so whenever there is a need, I'm excited about jumping in and helping with that.

I also love the concept of, it's all about relationships.

So it's about being in a relationship with others and walking a journey with 'em.

So, a lot of times people believe, "Well, I'm gonna come see a therapist, and they're gonna solve my problems."

And we quickly remind them, "No, no, no.

"You have exactly what you need to be successful.

We're just here with you to walk that journey."

And so I love seeing students be able to fulfill that role and to empower the community, alongside their ability to feel empowered about being a practicing clinician and being successful in what they're doing.

We decided to launch the Plate Therapy graduate certificate at the University of Memphis 'cause we realized, one, we don't have as many plate therapists in this area of Tennessee, and we also understood that there were very limited opportunities for students and community practitioners to get the training that they need.

Many of them were having to leave the state.

And so we wanted to bring it to the community where there is a large need.

We have a lot of children and adolescents that have great needs in the community.

We had practitioners saying that they really needed another type of skill set in order to serve that population.

I love working with students.

They bring in really great ideas, issues, and needs.

And when I hear a student go, "Oh, wow, that thing you told me to try really worked like a magic."

And the beautiful thing is that they have the skill sets.

They're always questioning whether or not they're good enough to be practicing or providing that level of service.

And when they come back and they seem empowered and they realize they do have those skills and they are a great practitioner and they're gonna be fine when they move into programming and serving families, I just really enjoy seeing that growth.

[inspirational music] - They're a brain and spine care practice that's a global leader in neurosurgery and neurology, focused on healing and improving lives.

We're here with the CEO of Semmes Murphey Clinic, John Lewis.

And let's start out, John.

Give us some history for Semmes Murphey Clinic.

- Yeah, sure.

Thanks for having me, Jeremy.

So Semmes Murphey is an independent physician-owned spine and brain care practice.

We were founded in 1912, so we've been part of the Memphis community for a really long time.

But at the most basic level, we treat everything that has to do with the nervous system.

So that would include the spine, the brain, endovascular system.

And our founder, Dr. Semmes, grew up in Memphis, went to Christian Brothers, found his way to the Johns Hopkins University Medical Center.

What's remarkable about him is that he trained under Dr. Harvey Cushing.

And Dr. Cushing is generally considered the most influential American neurosurgeon of the early 20th century.

And so from time to time, Dr. Semmes would return to Memphis and visit, and he recognized there was a need for neurosurgical care here.

And so when he finished training, he returned to Memphis and was the first neurosurgeon to set up practice here.

And then he did that for a number of years, and then he had his first partner join him, Dr. Murphey, which is where we got our name from, in the 1930s.

And they practiced for a number of years and began to gradually add surgeons until we get to where we are today, some 100 years later, where we're a multi specialty practice with 40-plus physicians and 3 neuropsychologists and a full compliment of, you know, physical therapists and physician assistants.

And we treat everything from headaches to complex spine, to spinal deformity, brain tumors, endovascular issues like strokes and aneurysms.

- Talk about your team and the levels of education, the diversity and what that includes.

- Yeah, so we're a pretty diverse practice in terms of subspecialization.

So we treat spine, which includes everything from simple spine to complex spine to scoliosis.

We treat cranial and brain tumors, both pediatric and adult.

We treat endovascular issues, which are strokes and aneurysms.

In fact, we have one of the largest endovascular teams in the country.

We have several non-surgeons.

So physical medicine and rehab, neurology, both general neurology, stroke neurology, multiple sclerosis, you name it, and then neuropsychology.

So we treat a number of neuropsychology issues, including things like dementia.

I think another important aspect to think about is teaching.

So one of the overall missions of our clinic has been teaching and training the next generation of physicians.

And so our doctors are very committed to publishing routinely.

They're cited quite often in their publications.

They lecture and teach both here and abroad.

And then we host a number of outside physicians from all over the world to come to Memphis and observe and train with us.

So a lot of our physicians are internationally recognized.

And then I look at our campus, and we offer almost every service that you need to treat patients.

So not only do we provide just general clinical services, but we have advanced imaging like MRI and CT. We have a state-of-the-art surgery center with, you know, fully equipped ORs.

We have a block center where we do lumbar and cervical epidural injections, physical therapy, infusion therapy.

We have a neurophysiology lab where we do EMGs and EEGs.

And I think one of the things that has worked really well for us all these years is that we've remained an independent practice.

So our doctors can see patients at any hospital in the greater Memphis area and even outside of Memphis.

So we go places like Jonesboro, Oxford, Jackson, just basically go anywhere we need it to see patients.

- One of the things that is really unique about Semmes Murphey Clinic is also the innovation, the groundbreaking care.

And so when you talk about some of the innovations, you've had some big ones that have been a big part of the industry.

So give us maybe one or two of the innovations.

- Yeah, a lot of our physicians are very actively involved in research and innovation projects.

A lot of this work is done through our Semmes Murphey Foundation, which we established about 15 years ago.

If you think about minimally invasive spine surgery, which is generally considered standard of practice, minimally invasive is a type of surgery where the surgeon makes a much smaller incision when they're doing a procedure.

So it's much better for the patients, much faster recovery time.

And that was something that was developed by Dr. Foley and some of the other surgeons here back in the 1990s.

I think the other two things worth mentioning are our residency program and our fellowship program.

So we have a very active residency program at University of Tennessee Health Science Center.

And it's one of the best training programs in the country, I think, because of the hands-on experience and exposure to our doctors that the residents have.

In addition to the residency program, we have a very active fellowship program.

We have fellowship programs in pediatric neurosurgery, complex spine, neurosurgery, endovascular, and many of these fellows and residents have gone on to lead other practices around the country.

So we've developed quite an alumni base.

I think a lot of people don't realize that, you know, Memphis is a relatively small metro market, but we've really, as a whole, we have a fantastic first tier healthcare system.

You think about all the great hospitals and private practices that are here.

We have a first tier, top tier neurosurgery training program.

And because of all these things, we are able to offer really exceptional neurosurgery care right here in Memphis.

- Where can we go to learn more about Semmes Murphey Clinic and also to the Brain & Spine Network?

- Yeah, there are a couple of ways.

So if you go to the Semmes Murphey website, so it's S-E-M-M-E-S dash Murphey, M-U-R-P-H-E-Y.com.

You'll see a big "Request Appointment" button.

And we've created, for cityCURRENT listeners, we've created a special form.

So if you go to semmes-murphey.com/citycurrent, there's a form there that you can fill out and it will come directly to one of our navigators to process.

For the Brain & Spine Network, there are a couple of ways you can access.

So you can either go to baptistonline.org/coe or you can go to semmes-murphey.com/coe-contact.

And you can fill out that form, and again, that will come to one of our navigators and then we can process the form and get the patient set up pretty quickly.

- Well, John, thank you for all you and your amazing team at Semmes Murphey Clinic do to power the good.

Thank you for coming on the show.

- Oh, thanks, Jeremy.

I really appreciate the opportunity.

[upbeat music] - As we saw in this month's episode, healing comes in many forms.

A second chance for an injured or abandoned dog or cat, a life-saving surgery for a patient in need, a young mind awakened through literacy and leadership.

Whether it's through expert care, compassionate rescue, or empowering the next generation, we're fortunate to have so many individuals and organizations committed to healing and transformation here in our community.

Germantown Animal Shelter is not only providing healing, but they're providing safety and second chances for pets to find hope and loving homes.

At Project transformation Tennessee, young hearts and minds are nurtured, unlocking the potential within every child to dream bigger and reach higher.

And at Semmes Murphey Clinic, lives are restored through groundbreaking care and the belief that healing the mind and body can change the future.

Their focus on education, innovation, and collaboration are creating new opportunities for our community, like the Brain & Spine Network for employers and their employees.

Healing minds, saving lives, transforming futures, that's the power of community.

So where can you help power the good and become a spark?

To learn more about each of the guests, to watch past episodes, and to share your stories of others leading by example, visit wkno.org and click on the link for "The SPARK."

We look forward to seeing you next month and we hope that you'll continue joining with us to create a spark for the Mid-South.

- From Higginbotham's founding in 1948, our insurance agency has been built on the values of customer service, leading with integrity and supporting our community.

We believe in promoting the positives, encouraging engagement, and leading by example to power the good.

Higginbotham Insurance and Financial Services is honored to be the presenting sponsor of The SPARK.

[upbeat music] [acoustic guitar chords]