Nationally, Oklahoma has one of the highest rates of staff turnover in nursing homes – 68 percent — a statistic that affects the quality of care that residents receive.
To address that problem, the Fran and Earl Ziegler University of Oklahoma College of Nursing is creating the Long-Term Care Leadership Academy, a training program that aims to develop leadership skills through education and mentoring for staff members at nursing homes across Oklahoma. The goal is that a resulting culture change will improve staff retention and the care that residents receive.
The program is funded by a nearly $400,000 grant from the Civil Money Penalties program, administered by the Oklahoma State Department of Health. When nursing homes are fined, that money goes to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and part of it returns to the Oklahoma State Department of Health, where it can only be used for quality improvement projects that help residents of nursing homes.
“Improving the nursing home workplace culture by developing staff leadership skills is an important determinant of quality care for nursing home residents,” said Gary Loving, Ph.D., RN, interim dean of the OU College of Nursing.
Recent studies have shown staff turnover to be more important to nursing home outcomes than staffing or skill mix. Nationally, certified nursing assistants have the highest turnover rate at 51.5 percent, followed by registered nurses at 50 percent and licensed professional nurses at 36 percent. With an overall staff turnover of 68 percent, Oklahoma’s nursing homes lose significantly more employees than the national average of 43.9 percent. In addition, Oklahoma’s Medicaid reimbursement for nursing homes is one of the lowest in the nation, which adds to the difficulty of retaining good staff.
“It is extremely difficult to work on improving the quality of life and care of residents without adequate staff,” said Diana Sturdevant, Ph.D., RN, of the OU College of Nursing. “High turnover depletes limited resources and reduces productivity because of the added costs of hiring and training new employees.”
Sturdevant is leading the Long-Term Care Leadership Academy with OU College of Nursing colleague Teri Round, M.S., RN. The curriculum is being developed by incorporating evidence-based practices and the expertise of college faculty and nursing home experts.
The program will be geared toward three levels of nursing home employees. Level one consists of the director and assistant director of nursing and the administrator. Level two includes RNs and LPNs who have direct leadership responsibilities of co-workers. Level three consists of certified nursing assistants and their roles in affecting the quality of life and improved care for residents.
Four face-to-face regional meetings will be provided, with one day for each level’s education. The fourth day will be a half-day period for all three levels to practice the skills they’ve learned. Program topics include communication and teamwork, giving and receiving delegation, generational differences, person-centered care, culture change, co-worker engagement, retention and succession planning.
Leadership skills will be an important focus for nursing home supervisors, Sturdevant said. Nursing homes typically employ RNs as directors and assistant directors of nursing, and LPNs as charge nurses. They usually do not receive leadership training as part of their academic education.
“They often lack skills in conflict resolution, effective communication and inclusiveness,” Sturdevant said. “Many use an authoritative approach with top-down communication that does little to facilitate teamwork.”
Following the Long-Term Care Leadership Academy, staff members will continue to be mentored. They also will undertake projects designed to support culture change and to meet a need specific to each nursing home. Projects will potentially address antibiotic stewardship, infection prevention, antipsychotic medication reform and others.
“The OU College of Nursing faculty and staff have expertise in leadership training, development and implementation of quality improvement processes and systems change,” Round said. “We are excited to work with nursing home staff members across Oklahoma on meaningful ways they can retain staff and create a better culture for both employees and residents.”

The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center has announced Jacob E. “Jed” Friedman, Ph.D., as director, Harold Hamm Diabetes Center at OU Medicine, and associate vice provost for diabetes programs, commencing January 1, 2019.
The announcement comes on the heels of a new $34 million dollar gift made to the Harold Hamm Diabetes Center. The gift from The Harold Hamm Foundation will be allocated over the next 10 years to fund research, technology and talent such as Friedman.
“We are enthusiastic that Dr. Friedman will grow the national and international research stature of the Diabetes Center, competing for sponsored funding, and recruiting and mentoring talented researchers,” said Jason Sanders, M.D., MBA, senior vice president and provost, OUHSC, and vice chair, OU Medicine. “He brings a clear vision for changing the course of diabetes prevention and treatment.”
Friedman comes to the Harold Hamm Diabetes Center from the University of Colorado School of Medicine, where he served as the director of the Colorado Program in Nutrition and Healthy Development and director of the National Institutes of Health Nutrition and Obesity Research Center laboratories for cellular and molecular metabolism. He was also a professor in Pediatrics, Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, and Medicine.
Friedman has earned numerous National Institutes of Health and industry funding awards, as well as a Gates Grand Challenge grant. He has more than 134 peer-reviewed articles to his credit, selected for publication in a number of prestigious journals, including the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Nature Communications and Diabetes.
Friedman has led teams of researchers, working in both basic and translational research areas. He is the lead investigator on numerous multi-Principal Investigator team science grants, and is involved with several clinical trials based on his basic science work. He was awarded the 2014 American Diabetes Association Norbert Freinkel Award, the highest award given for lifetime achievement in advancing the science and clinical care for diabetes in pregnancy.
“My vision for the Harold Hamm Diabetes Center is a focus on the emerging science of the developmental origins of diabetes and obesity identified in the first 1,000 days of life,” Friedman explained. “Research has established that a variety of adverse events in early developmental phases lead to life-long metabolic problems.’
Friedman’s research will involve studies on metabolism, mitochondrial malfunction, microbiome and epigenetics, and he will advance clinical and translational research in women with gestational diabetes and their infants to halt the growing trend for obesity and diabetes in the next generation.

Photography and Text by Terry “Travels with Terry” Zinn t4z@aol.com

Even in the depths of winter, Wichita, Kansas can be an inviting destination. My wintry escape included a traveling Broadway show, museums, dining, A Cowtown Christmas and quality comfort in an expansive historic hotel. And its two and half hour drive north of Oklahoma City on smooth interstate 35, made it even more appealing.
Over the decades, I have seen several theatrical events at Century II, Wichita’s modern convention and entertainment venue, and it was my starting point in planning my weekend get a way. Having never seen, and needing a humorous musical entertainment, Once I booked a ticket to see the traveling, “Young Frankenstein.” It was performed admirably, and despite the inevitable comparison to the movie, it held up rather well as an evening’s respite from reality.
The convenience of my hotel stay at the Drury Broadview, across the street, added to my pleasure as did the perfect meal at its adjoining restaurant Avi. My filet was prepared to my directions as was the three blue cheese olive Stoli Martini, which got the evening off to a fine start. Completing the meal it was hard to choose from the dessert offerings of: Carrot Cake with German Chocolate Ice Cream, Chocolate and Orange Vanilla Cream Brule, Apricot Almond Goat Cheese-cheesecake, or a Chocolate covered Cranberry Chipolte bread pudding with Mixed Berry ice cream. But I did.
Besides the complete renovation of the Drury’s interior, the free extras of Internet, a hot buffet breakfast and the offerings of 3 free cocktails at their evening breakaway, complete with heavy additional treats that might include hot dogs, macaroni and cheese and nachos, and free internet, made the reasonably priced stay even more of a pleasure. Of course the pool and hot tub along with covered parking let you know you were an appreciated guest.
The highlight of my weekend’s theatrical entertainment was the surprise virtuosity of the Diamond W Wrangler singers at the Empire House Christmas Dinner at the living history Cowtown venue. Their close harmonies ~ reminiscent to the “Sons of the Pioneers”~ along with tongue in cheek humor, and a sufficient western style meal made the evening worth the effort to venture out in the cold.
Of course I was there during a Santa Claus visit, with his lap venue for good little girls and boys, along with singing in the western church ~ complimented by guitars and dulcimers courtesy of the Great Plains Dulcimer Alliance and Acoustic Treasures ~ and wandering in the moonlight over boardwalks past wooden stores and Victorian styled houses lit by kerosene lamps, set the stage for a congenial wintry outing.
Wichita has a number of exceptional museums and galleries, including the Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum with its authentic recreation of an 1890 Wichita Cottage; the Kansas Aviation Museum with its collection of everything aviation; the Wichita Art Museum with its traveling exhibits and the Museum of World Treasures with everything from pre historic Dinosaurs to movie memorabilia.
A visit to Hat Man Jacks, in the historic Delano district, will custom fit your head to the appropriate covering for comfort, utility, and most expertly for an appealing appearance. Jack is the couture of men’s hats. He also has an extensive knowledge of early Wichita, and his stories are not only educational on frontier Chisholm Trail times, but entertaining.
Of course in our mobile society some venues may have changed or even closed so it is wise to do a little on line checking before taking your Wichita visit.
As there is more to share of Wichita, so please explore on your own by visiting, www.gowichita.com and asking for their visitor guide.
Drury Plaza Broadview – druryhotels.com/content/broadview.aspx
Wichita Historical Museum – www.wichitahistory.org
Wichita Art Museum – http://wichitaartmuseum.org
Century II – www.century2.org

Mr. Terry Zinn – Travel Editor
Past President: International Food Wine and Travel Writers Association
http://realtraveladventures.com/author/zinn

Fundraiser will feature a performance by country music group Runaway June
Next month, break out your dancing shoes to benefit a great cause at the Mercy Gala, hosted by Mercy Health Foundation Oklahoma City.
The annual fundraiser will be held on Friday, Jan. 18, at 6 p.m. at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. This year’s event will feature dinner, a silent auction, a raffle, a special performance by country music trio Runaway June and an after party hosted by DJ Kirby.
Recognized by Billboard as the “Next Hot Trend in Country Music,” Runaway June is the first all-female trio in more than a decade to earn two Top 40 hits. The group also received a 2018 Academy of Country Music nomination for “New Vocal Duo or Group of the Year.” They just released their debut project for Wheelhouse Records and are preparing to join Carrie Underwood on tour in May.
“For more than 30 years, the Mercy Gala has been a way for the community to come together to help those in need receive medical services and we are so thankful for that support,” says Lori Cummins, executive director of the Mercy Health Foundation Oklahoma City. “And, we are thrilled to have Runaway June performing and DJ Kirby hosting our after party this year.”
DJ Kirby has a distinct style of mixing and blending classic party music spanning every music genre. He has performed with The Black Eyed Peas, Bon Jovi, Britney Spears, Maroon 5, Justin Bieber, Jay-Z, Justin Timberlake, Kid Rock and many others. He also has a mix show every Saturday on eight different radio stations across the country.
Because Mercy provides care to all patients, regardless of their ability to pay, all proceeds from the gala will support the charitable needs of patients at Mercy. Last year’s event raised more than $280,000 for programs like Mercy’s Project Early Detection, which provides free breast health services to uninsured or underinsured Oklahomans.
This year’s event will help support the charitable needs of patients at Mercy in Oklahoma City to include the Mercy Good Samaritan Clinic, Project Early Detection and other forms of patient assistance like help with medications, transportation, nutrition and more.
To learn more about the gala, to purchase tickets or to become an event sponsor, visit www.bit.ly/MercyGALA19 or call (405) 486-8944. Individual tickets are $200 and sponsorship opportunities are still available.

By Darlene Franklin

What would you do if you only had six months to live?
That question confronted me during a recent close brush with death. A blood clot had formed in my lungs. I filled a tiny red notebook provided by the hospital with thoughts on how to leave nothing important unsaid or undone.
Living intentionally is like carpe diem, seize the day. Don’t put off to tomorrow what is on my mind today. But it’s also not carpe diem. I’m not ignoring the future; I want to live life to the fullest today because tomorrow is uncertain.
I’m not talking about doing more. I’m talking what I choose to do. Yes, prioritize. After all, I won’t care if I have 100 unique book titles written before I die (although I hope to) but I will regret not sharing as much of myself as I can with my grandchildren while I am still able and they are still listening. My to-do list (which gets longeron a daily basis) will probably still have unfinished projects on it when I die, and that’s okay. God’s got it covered.
But there are things only I can do in the time where I am, in the place where I live, with the people around me. That’s where I want to make a difference while I can.
What did I add to my intentional living list? What last things did I want to make sure I focus on?
My relationship with God, my Father, my all in all, whom I will worship for all eternity. Since I want to see the world as He does, I need to spend time with Him every day..
My relationship with my family. To pour my unconditional love, joy and pride into them. To pass on our family legacy, things they won’t know if I don’t tell them.
My interactions with people. To grow in graciousness and friendliness, to make people a priority.
Using time wisely. Don’t accept opportunities because they exist. Accept them only after careful consideration.
My health. Take better care of my body, to prolong my days on earth or at least the quality of living.
My tasks. To be faithful in the jobs God has given me to do; to continue writing unless God gives me permission to stop.
While I do the above, I want to suck as much joy as possible from each day.
How about you? What would be on your list? Your priorities may be different than mine, especially if you’re at a different age or stage of life.
Having a clear view of what I want from each passing day, from every person I encounter, will make living intentionally easier. If I can get to the end of a day without regrets, so much the better. If I mess up, I confess where there’s sin, give myself grace where I just was thoughtless, and start over again,
The bigger question is, how do we get there? How do we avoid Blame Lane because we set ourselves up for failure?
Here’s a few tools I use:
Plan ahead. I realized I spent most of my visits with my grandchildren talking with their parents. I’ve started planning activities for us to do together. They bring things to share as well. We may read about trains, play a board game, write poems.while we talk about their lives, and mine. The planning allows for spontaneous moments that are the best of all.
Let go of schedules and allow life to happen. If someone drops by, invite them in for a visit. Human beings always trump things and work. I had to ask my grandson’s forgiveness when he broke a Christmas ornament. For a moment I lost sight of the fact the ornament was meaningless compared to his precious life.
Forgive myself when I mess up. God’s rule to forgive someone seventy times seven starts with me. When God has forgiven me, why can’t I forgive myself?
Let go of the small stuff.
Follow through. What made me examine my life in the first place?. Seek reconciliation with that person, take care of my health, spend more time with my family.
Keep track of your progress. I keep a record in my prayer journal, thanking God when I meet my goal, asking for help when I allow small things to get to me.
Examine your priorities periodically. Is there something I need to change?
When we live life intentionally, we’ll have fewer regrets when we reach the end.
You can find Darlene Franklin online at www.darlenefranklinauthor.com .

Travel. I’d like to take a road trip to Mississippi or a cruise.

Dairl Ogle

I’m too old for resolutions. I’m 98.

Raymond Duncan

I guess quit eating so much candy and cookies.

Don Hockersmith

I wouldn’t keep them if I did.

Red Cavnar

By Bobby Anderson, staff writer

Growing up on the family farm, Brandon Steffens, RN, never saw a contractor’s truck pull up in the driveway.
No plumber, no electrician, no drywall guy and no painter ever set foot inside the house.
“I just grew up always working on the house with my dad. We never hired anything out,” Steffens said. “We did all the electrical, all the plumbing – whatever it was we did it ourselves.”
That work ethic carried the eventual float pool nurse through a seven-year stint with Home Depot and now to his current side business, Brandon’s Home Improvement.
Before he was working in the ICU and the ER, Steffens was plying the knowledge bestowed on him by his dad.
Elbow grease and a passion to make things better would make his dad proud.
Then nursing school and working with his hands took on a new meaning.
“People come to you in nursing in their worst states and it’s an emergency,” Steffens said, taking a break from an apartment remodel in Midwest City. “They’re dilapidated, sick or injured and we get the opportunity to put our hands on them and fix them and make things new again.”
Working nights four to five days a week for the past five years brought Steffens to a crossroads.
“Everyone told me to watch out, you’ll get burned out,” Steffens recalled. “I said ‘No, I wouldn’t’ but you get burned out.”
So Steffens decided to pour more of his time and talents into something else.
Being a contractor was a vocation he held before nursing. That took him into Home Depot, where he oversaw the entire local install business for the big box company.
Whether it be a sink or a door, a microwave or a dishwasher, Steffens was in charge of the contractors who carried out the work under Home Depot’s name.
It taught him even more about the business.
“I realized there is a huge need out there for people who just don’t know how to do home improvements or they didn’t have the time,” he said.
Or too often, they didn’t have a ton of money.
Home improvements are expensive. Steffens knows all too well the retail costs associated with a remodel.
And he knows the sizeable markup that goes with it.
Figuring things out and finding ways to save people a dollar are a challenge for him. Sometimes he challenges himself right out of a bigger check.
He showed up for a recent garage door opener install job one night. The customer had the new opener waiting for him in the box.
Steffens went up to unplug the old wire and noticed an electrical short.
“I saved him $400,” Steffens said. “I like that sense of accomplishment.”
For some reason Steffens’ specialty has always been tile. Projects that most contractors avoid like the plague, Steffens has a certain affinity.
“Most contractors shy away from it because it’s hard, lot of up and down and on your knees. That never bothered me,” he said. “I like the perfection of it, just to lay each piece of tile in a certain way. It’s kind of like art because you can do different things with tile that really finishes a house off.”
For Steffens, the business venture has been a source of freedom. It’s not a straight 12-hour gig, meeting sometimes unreasonable expectations with limited resources.
“I like the sense of accomplishment,” Steffens said. “In nursing, I talk to people all day long and doing home improvement I get a lot of alone time. I get to just lose myself in work for some time and get to be creative.”
“You go in and see something nasty and absolutely turn it around and make it new,” says Steffens, who has remodeled two of his own homes. “I like to touch every surface. I like when people come in to a house I’ve remodeled and every surface in that house has been touched by me.”
He admits he really hasn’t advertised since taking on more work.
He hasn’t had time.
“You do a good job and people tell people,” explained Steffens, who can be found on Facebook under Brandon’s Home Improvement. “People are always asking if you know anybody. It just snowballs from there.”
With four kids, age five, 10, 15 and 22 – Steffens has a full plate at home. But he’s already taken a couple of his kids along to start learning the trade.
“My 10-year-old has shown interest,” Steffens beamed. “He helped with carpentry on a door frame. He had all these wonderful better ideas how to fix it. There’s no science behind it.”
But there’s definitely an art.
And for now, the combination of science and art suits this nurse just fine.

by Kaylee Kain, Director of Communication

Art becomes the platform for discussion surrounding history, race, sex and injustice in The Westheimer Distinguished Visiting Artist Chair: Mildred Howard and Testimony: The Life and Work of David Friedman, both opening on Jan. 25 at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art.
San Francisco-based artist Mildred Howard, who has achieved an international reputation for her collages and installations, will serve as the seventh Jerome M. Westheimer, Sr. & Wanda Otey Westheimer Distinguished Visiting Artist Chair. An exhibition of Howard’s work will open at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art on Jan. 25 with a public opening at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 24.
Mildred Howard’s work incorporates a variety of media to create nuanced examinations of gender, race, politics and other issues central to contemporary society. Through her use of collage, sculptural assemblage and large-scale installations, Howard blends American folk art and family photographs among other appropriated objects to explore these increasingly relevant issues of sexual harassment, racial oppression and class struggles found in America.
Her methods for creating these pieces is just as diverse as the themes behind them. Over the course of her influential career, she has not limited herself to any one medium. Her Casanova series is a perfect example of her versatility, in which she uses both collage and jacquard woven tapestry. The endless possibilities and combinations for multiple materials is what fascinates Howard most. “I started off with collage, and I love the mixture of materials,” says Howard. “That’s always interested me – patterns within patterns. You can make art out of anything. That’s my reason for using those materials, because I’m interested in history, because I’m interested in memory and in place, and looking at objects in other kinds of ways that what they were originally intended for.”
Her work in this exhibition provides a platform for discussion revolving around political and sociological topics currently making headlines in regard to the #MeToo movement and immigration, among others.
Also opening this month is Testimony: The Life and Work of David Friedman, which surveys the artist’s long career, with a focus on his series Because They Were Jews!, a visual diary of his time in the Lodz Ghetto in Poland and his internment at the Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Friedman(n) was born in Mährisch Ostrau, Austria (now Ostrava, Czech Republic), but moved to Berlin in 1911, where he studied under German impressionist Lovis Corinth. With the rise of Nazism, he and his family escaped to Prague in 1938, where he continued to paint for himself and sold artwork until 1941 when the family was deported to Lodz Ghetto. Most of the work from earlier in his career was lost, destroyed, or looted by Nazis.
In 1944, Friedman was separated from his wife and daughter, never seeing them again, and was transferred to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Friedman survived his internment at the infamous concentration camp and married fellow survivor Hildegard Taussig. After living in Israel for five years, the family immigrated to the United States in 1954, eventually becoming citizens and settling in St. Louis, where he worked as a commercial artist for an advertising company, later retiring in 1962. As a Holocaust survivor, Friedman found a new purpose in life to fight anti-Semitism and racial hatred by depicting the horrors he had witnessed and to show them to the world.
Testimony offers a glimpse into the lifelong effects of the Holocaust, but also serves as an affirmation of survival. An event is scheduled on Feb. 28 featuring the artist’s daughter, Miriam Friedman Morris, and Lorne Richstone, associate professor of music at OU, will honor the legacy of Friedman’s work and will include musical excerpts from Jewish composers who were lost to the Holocaust.
More information about these exhibitions and related programs is available on the museum’s website at www.ou.edu/fjjma.
The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art is located in the OU Arts District on the corner of Elm Avenue and Boyd Street, at 555 Elm Ave., on the OU Norman campus. Admission to the museum is complimentary to all visitors, thanks to the generosity of the OU Office of the President and the OU Athletics Department. The museum is closed on Mondays. Information and accommodations are available by calling (405) 325-4938 or visiting www.ou.edu/fjjma.
A new exhibition at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art focuses on artist Mildred Howard (b. 1945) and her influential career. She has used a variety of media to engage in pointed yet nuanced examinations of the history and politics of gender, race and other issues central to contemporary society. Howard serves as the seventh guest artist in the university’s Jerome M. Westheimer, Sr. and Wanda Otey Westheimer Distinguished Visiting Artist Chair program. A native of San Francisco, Howard received her master of fine arts degree from John F. Kennedy University in Orinda, California, in 1985, and has worked in the Bay Area for the majority of her career. This exhibition will be on display Jan. 25 through April 7.
Mildred Howard (U.S., b. 1945)
Casanova: Style, Swagger, and the Embracement of the Other I, 2018
Jacquard tapestry, 72 x 54” Courtesy of Magnolia Editions and the artist
Testimony: The Life and Work of David Friedman surveys the career of artist David Friedman (1893-1980), from his early days in Berlin to his late career in St. Louis, Missouri. The exhibition includes portraits and landscapes as well as his powerful series Because They Were Jews!, a visual diary of his time in the Lodz Ghetto in Poland and his internment at the Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau.Testimony is both an indictment of the horrors of the Holocaust and an affirmation of survival. This exhibition will be on display Jan. 25 through May 26.
David Friedman (Austria, 1893-1980)
Cattle Train to Auschwitz from the series Because They Were Jews!, December 1963, Charcoal, 18 x 24”
Copyright © 1989 Miriam Friedman Morris All rights reserved

The Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation has received its share of interesting donations over the years. Along with the typical gifts made by check and credit card, there have also been cars, houses, jars of change collected at a lemonade stand, and even a toy soldier collection.
But none quite rival the estate gift that Claremore’s William Edgar Riggs left to the Oklahoma City nonprofit.
Riggs’ brother Lynn penned “Green Grow the Lilacs,” the 1931 play that Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II used as the basis for the musical “Oklahoma!” When Lynn died, he willed equal shares of his 1-percent royalty on the musical to William Edgar and his three other siblings.
William Edgar lost his wife to heart disease and his daughter to cancer. So, when he passed away in 1977, he left his royalty share to OMRF to benefit research for those two diseases.
“It was a really generous and foresighted thing to do,” said OMRF President Stephen Prescott, M.D.
With the gift, OMRF receives one-quarter of 1 percent of the musical’s box office share each year.
The show enjoyed a series of revivals from 1979 through 2002, including two on Broadway and one in London’s West End starring Hugh Jackman, and is still performed approximately 700 times a year. As a result, William Riggs’ gift has now provided OMRF researchers with more than $700,000.
“I’ve worked in the nonprofit sector my whole life, but I’d never heard of a donation like this until I joined OMRF,” said Penny Voss, OMRF’s vice president of development. “It truly is a gift that keeps on giving.”
Indeed, the donations will continue as long as “Green Grow the Lilacs” remains under copyright. In 2017, OMRF received just over $10,000 in “Oklahoma!” royalties.
With “Oklahoma!” celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2018, the musical saw a surge in the number of productions. That should mean a corresponding boost in revenues for OMRF.
“Even though OMRF didn’t yet exist when Lynn Riggs wrote his play, I hope he’d find it fitting that his work benefits Oklahoma’s homegrown research institute,” said Voss.
Grassroots support from Oklahomans in all 77 counties helped make OMRF a reality in 1950. “Those are the same kind of people portrayed in the musical—strong, caring, forward-looking,” she said. “We still see that spirit in our donors today.”

Eliza Chakravarty’s journey to better health started with an impulse buy in a checkout line.
“It wasn’t some grandiose plan to get in shape,” Chakravarty, an immunologist at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, said of the beginner’s Pilates DVD she tossed in her grocery cart years ago. “It was just a small step in the right direction.”
Despite her busy schedule as a new mom and medical resident, she committed to doing the 17-minute video every evening while the baby napped.
It didn’t seem like much, she said, but soon she felt more energized, happier and, generally, better about herself.
“That was several years ago, and I’ve slowly built on that foundation. This year, I completed my first half-marathon, and it all started in that check-out line.”
Chakravarty said it’s these small, positive decisions that ultimately lead to real lifestyle changes. Overly ambitious goals are a big reason more than nine out of 10 Americans fail to stick to their resolutions.
So instead of pledging to drop 30 pounds or run a marathon, start slowly instead. Go for a walk three days a week or give up one poor food choice. Then, once the changes become routine, add on new goals in bite-sized pieces.
OMRF President Stephen Prescott, M.D., agrees. “You only have so much willpower and self-discipline, and you don’t want to set yourself up for failure. Focus on one tree, not the whole forest.”
Big goals can lead to setbacks that discourage you and knock you off course. Small, manageable goals have the opposite effect. “Small steps allow you to build gradually on your successes. The more you succeed, the more you crave that feeling of accomplishment,” Chakravarty said. “The little lifestyle changes really add up.”
These principles, she said, can be applied to anything from fitness to passion projects or even financial health. For example, consider saving just $10 a week in a separate account, Chakravarty suggested. “It might not seem like a lot, but by the end of the year, it adds up and might help adjust your attitude on spending.”
Over time, she said, little changes can pay off in a big way for your health, both physically and mentally.
“Before you know it, you’ve done something you didn’t think you could—and it didn’t require a total system shock or radical lifestyle change to do it,” said Chakravarty. “That can be incredibly empowering.”